Implementation Fail

I have worked with many agencies that have implemented agency management software and found that it doesn't work…for them. Often, rather than an issue with the software, they experienced implementation fail.

You invested time and money into fantastic technology. But it can be really expensive if you don’t do your homework beforehand, and don’t implement properly. So read on – there may be some familiar sounding reasons things didn't work out like you planned…

Now I’m all about an integrated solution because – get this – everyone collaborates on the input, and it is compiled in one place. Then everyone has access to the same information. And if you enforce just a little compliance – like requiring that they use the system, information will be real-time. Return on investment.

Imagine that.

Failed implementations usually come down to these often-overlooked issues:

Didn't really define what problem you were trying to solve. Usually agencies look to software because there’s something wrong. I know what it is but I can’t define it. Well you need to do this first step and it takes asking a lot of questions.

There is a lot of single-purpose software, to do schedules, or estimates or manage assets. Give it plenty of thought, and pull colleagues into the evaluation - before you make your investment. Because going back and undoing something creates a lot of unhappy employees. And a lot of extra work. And skepticism for any ‘new’ solution you bring to the table later on.

Management didn’t support the software – and the change that goes along with it – 100%. Staff will complain because routines are different and they may be asked to do something – like timesheets – every day. They will go to the big bosses who must push-back and re-direct issues to The Implementation Team. Without management’s full support change will not stick.

Thinking that software will fix everything. Nope, it takes process and people too - who actively use the software. That means a big slice of change management pie. Be prepared.

Everyone else in the agency is unaware that change is coming. If ever there is a way to completely alienate your staff, it is blind-siding them with the introduction of a New System – which usually includes software.

 The entire agency uses software every day to create Cannes Winners. But put in agency management software and all of a sudden they hate you. And the software too. “It’s too hard and doesn't make sense.”

So to get buy-in and include at least one individual from each department to take part in evaluation, customization and implementation. And then they will take their insight to their colleagues, and spread the good word. While you’re at it, give them some sort of perk for managing these duties – it’s out of their creative sphere.

You didn’t plan who would manage, or how you would implement the software. You need someone to drive the bus of change management. It isn’t automatic and it takes time away from other duties. Someone in your agency who really knows the ins-and-outs of the program will be able to close the communication gap and make it more relevant. As for timing for a comprehensive system, expect three months minimum. Really.

You thought you were buying a ‘plug ‘n play’ system. Pay attention here: Nothing is out-of-the-box and ready to use. You will have some set up to do prior to roll-out so that it operates – the way you want it to. Shame on your sales person if that is what they told you.

There’s a second part to that as well – decide which features you really need to get started, then test out and add new features as staff gets comfortable. Trust me on this – your lovely colleagues will cease to be kind and gentle if you throw too much at them at once.

You didn’t train – or which is usually the case – you didn’t require staff to attend training, and pay attention (e.g. turn off your iPhone). Further, you didn’t supply documentation, like at least a cheat-sheet on how to get from point A to point B. Uh, where do I click? Something as simple as this will keep people on task.

There was no follow-up. A new system needs follow-up. Because there is a lot of change that goes along with a new system, how people end up using the software can surprise you. I have witnessed work-arounds I didn’t know could be done. Remarkable.

People are resourceful if they don’t like change, or if they don’t understand something. So follow-up is essential to ensure the technology is used – as you meant it to be used. Your data is more useful if entered properly. Additionally, your staff MUST let go of old systems. They do not need to waste valuable time doing everything twice. If you can remove / block / turn-off old systems - do it. Or they may be prone to just keep doing things the old way. 

Keep your implementation team together for a few months after going live to check on their respective departments and then report back. Adjustments can be made anywhere along the way if there is something that simply doesn’t work – or if there had been an issue that wasn’t considered. 

There are a lot of little things that will surface when you put new systems in place.

A time of change is when you get to see your colleagues in their best temperament. So plan ahead, get buy-in and learn to take (just a little) flak.

And if you need any help, or just someone to talk to, I'm here for you. I've been there.

Cloud 365 Project - My Daily Diversion

Here's a link that takes you directly to the Cloud 365 Project About page.

Scroll down to: Art, Learning, Determination, Process and Patterns. 

Read it.

Sometimes I forget where I am, what I want to do, or just some basic things that are really important - like appreciate beauty. This is absolutely one of the most lovely, well-written sites I have ever read.

Check it out. And donate so Kelly DeLay can keep up the incredible work.

Beer Fridays and Music

Alright, I admit I’m old. Way back in the day, during high school, my Very First Job was in a radio station.

Doesn't seem that cool? Well, back then, AM Radio Ruled – but it was comprised of tinny songs around two minutes long. And lots of spots. For local things. Because radio was really local back then.

FM Stereo was gaining ground. People were buying very cool home equipment, but it was really expensive to put it in your car, and at that time, 4-Track Stereos were The Thing. 8-tracks followed shortly – progress!

Because life was so amazing, we’d drive around at night looking for things to do – as we switched back-and-forth from station-to-station to find a good song – and take in that two-minute version with all the guitar leads cut out so it fit on a 45 record.

So at my Very First Job after school, I worked at the first FM Stereo, Album Format Rock & Roll station in Portland. The music was safe during the day. But after 9pm, the DJs played the long versions of everything. Which, in those days was about 17 minutes.  Extended versions. With all the guitar leads. Do you know what the two-minute-version of the Allman Brothers’ Whippin’ Post sounds like? Neither do I.

That. Was. Awesome.

To complete the picture, I had a ’63 VW bug with a safari top. Adorned myself in Indian print shirts and Sea Farers. Got free tickets to concerts, and I hung out with people who were a lot older than me. It all fit so well.

It was a cool job for a teenager.

In the world, we had a war to protest, bras to burn, consciousness to raise, and music that defined a generation. I’ve heard it said that music is the soundtrack for your generation. It was true for me.

I still love the old music, hear it sampled here and there – and resurrected in a TV spot or two.

I was ‘too young’ to participate in Beer Fridays, but we had plenty of them. We were creative, hard-working and had a lot of fun – and the DJs knew how to put a set together.

The music always got us in the mood for the weekend. Glad I was there.

Happy Beer Friday! And what are you listening to?

How To Fix It

There are lots of blogs written, and consultants with sites who work with / write about agencies and in-house marketing departments. These experts assess and refine your business skills, coach leadership, or even define your brand. Most are highly qualified and very successful – plus they’re really nice folks.

They work with Owners / Partners, EVPs, SVPs, VPs, Accountants – all those guys and gals who lament, “There’s something wrong.”

When your car doesn't start do you get out, take a look, and decide it needs a wash and wax? Nope. Instead, you have someone get into that…place…under the hood, where you never look.

I am like...an automotive technician. I check out the moving parts of your agency or department. Disassembly and observation tells me what is wrong. Management usually doesn't go there.

I work with the day-to-day everyperson (which probably represents, a large percentage of your staff), and their seemingly drudgery-related stuff that can sap your organization of…joy.

I know joy exists in advertising, because I have witnessed it. In between crises.

Joy: things that make you want to go to work. Like doing awesome creative, bonding with appreciative clients and turning a profit.

I have done the work myself, dealt with the powers-that-be, and know exactly what they’re thinking:
We’re always over budget (not making money on X client), or late, or employees are hatin’ on one-another – as in, no joy. Fix it.

I've said it before and I’ll say it again – if you want to know what’s going on, or going wrong – ask the people doing the work.

Well, for God’s sake, do not crowdsource a solution. Because like any committee, they meet; issues get discussed (interminably); ideas cheered; a task force is assembled; a manifesto written; then everyone gets busy and nothing changes.

The suggestion box is for management who doesn't want, or is ‘too busy’ to take a little time and have direct contact with staff. And, have you ever read the suggestions? “Let’s have Stone IPA instead of that lame Bud Light. Trust me, I have seen that.

If it sounds like I’m beating up management – I am. Quit thinking you know everything and listen to your employees. Incessant whining is one thing, complaints are something completely different. Let the whiners go elsewhere to spread their gloom; listen to the complaints because those can be fixed.

I invite you to descend from that throne and pay heed to your employees’ ideas, complaints and solutions – all the time. The complaint department is a laser-quick path to enlightenment.

Give those ideas/complaints/solutions some air time. Ask that person to flesh-out the idea, provide a simple plan, and bring it back. Then give it thoughtful consideration – right away – and act. They did the work, you owe them. And it just could fix the problem. Then you wouldn't need to hire a consultant.

Back to process.
Most agencies have competent accounting staff. That’s because they have learned to follow strict rules - there are specific procedures for that role. There are amazing programs out there that will give you every kind of report you can imagine. And if you have good process in place – a process for the other 90 percent of your agency – you will be able to rely on those reports. Imagine, getting rid of Excel.

But a lot of agencies – and in-house marketing departments – don’t have a good process for managing (e.g. documenting, tracking) the day-to-day that feeds those important reports. You know, the ones that tell you if you are making money – or not.

The problem usually is this: management doesn't like to hear whining about process, so they forego structure for just a little quiet. This stuff doesn't just go away and fix itself.

As an aside, if your staff doesn't have the time to assess, define and implement process and tools; and you (managers) don’t want to field the, “why are we doing this?” I can help. Short term / long term solutions are available.

So all those things you hate, and your staff says takes too much time – like process, forms, schedules, budgets/estimates, and – timesheets. You need them. And to be effective, they really should be accurate – like updated – real time.

It isn’t drudgery if you define your process, put good tools in place, and ensure compliance.

It will become a habit. Like having Beer Fridays. You will experience joy.

Shortcuts = Disasters

I have this book The Logic of Failure by Dietrich Dörner. Amazing – there is logic to making really stupid decisions. I bought the book because I was trying to make sense of the tragedy that is, Projects Gone Off the Rails.

Since I seem to be on the subject of illustrating the disaster of Deviations and Justings aka Tiny Daily Decisions, I’ll talk about a little something that went completely out of control.

Never had one? Then you aren’t in advertising. Or ever worked. Anywhere.

One word: Chernobyl.

I could have used a million others (there are so many from which to choose), but this is so graphic – and long lasting – like millions of years, that it begs comparison to your Tiny Daily Decisions and their lasting effect.

In the book, the author states, “[t]he tendency to ‘oversteer’ is a characteristic in human interaction with dynamic systems…We regulate the situation and not the process.”1

In a nutshell – or a sarcophagus – a series of decisions to override tested and proven systems (official procedure), in the name of haste (a holiday weekend ahead), caused that irreversible chain reaction – and meltdown. And spewing a radioactive cloud, which wasn't reported until some heads-up folks in Sweden detected it. A couple days later, denial was impossible (they tried – it’s under control) and the explosion was news.

How does a disaster of this magnitude beg comparison to your Tiny Daily Decisions in advertising? Well, because folks in advertising think that every error (or little change the client wants) deserves Level-One Trauma Status and the patient is going to die if we don’t act NOW. Therefore, rather than taking a step back and determining how much of a disaster you have on your hands, you dive in and keep trying to regulate the situation.

If you have a process in place (you do don’t you?), you actually have a set of steps to prevent oversteering – or at least be able to recognize the effect of what you are about to do.

Or, if some numskull decided to deviate, you can actually identify that crafty departure before it’s Too Late.

The problem, like at Chernobyl, is that when things go horribly wrong and you ignore process, every individual who touches that job keeps oversteering.

Voilà! You have blown the budget, delivered it late, and it is unrecognizable from the original plan. Worse, you have no idea when or where it started heading to the path of ruin, much less who initiated it.

But you delivered the job. The client isn’t really happy. And you send a bill – for the original estimate.

Yep, I keep harping on it, but this will keep you from making (too many) stupid, expensive decisions – put a process in place and use it. Think about the action you are about to take, document it so everyone is on the same page, and then make sure it’s covered in the budget.

You start pushing that crap through without a second thought and someone will have a meltdown. And the folks in Sweden will let me know.

If you don’t know how to get process in place, call me. If you don’t want to damage fragile egos with oh-so-cumbersome procedure, call me anyway. Everything will be okay.

1 pp. 30 The Logic of Failure

Open a Job for Every Project – I’m Not Going to Nag

I just re-read this article in AdAge Small Agency Diary, "Beware Those Tiny Daily Decisions: They Can Come Back to Bite You". It speaks to the creative-side, but there is another side – and it comes down to resources and cost.

Call me a control freak – or a nag if you don’t get it – but I like to know what’s going on in my agency. As I said yesterday, a hundred little things really add up. Even ten little things add up. One little thing can trigger a chain of events that will throw all projects – and your fabulously creative staff – into chaos.

Chaos is bad. And very expensive.

Actually, I’ll change that paragraph – I need to know what’s going on in my agency. Because someone has to pay attention. If not, you have a bunch of people running around asking who has the latest version of X, and upon locating it, wondering if it really is the latest version. Such a waste.

You need a few rules to keep life orderly and just a little predictable.

So those rules include writing a job order (job start, ticket, whatever you call it) for every project that comes in the door. If this little quickie is part of a Bigger Project – like a campaign – was it factored into that plan or are you just sneaking it in under the veil of the Big Project?

Sneak it in and you just gave away something for free. I will find out, hunt you down and make you fill out a form. Dang. You just screwed up our planning, time allocation and budgets – not to mention the potential to make a little more money. So we can stay in business – and get bonuses.

I’ll explain. The purpose of a job order is to outline your direction on the client’s desires. In other words, it is the plan. We will know what is expected, and when – in writing. Other than someone’s weird interpretations – it should be pretty clear what the deliverables are.

Now come those small deviations (from the original job order) and justings (just do this or that).

Document the deviations and the tweaks – through a collaborative app like BaseCamp,  or at least on the file or proof - or better yet, invest in agency management software. Email is NOT collaborative software, sorry. Remember that game of telephone? Projects go the same way. Who made this change anyway?

When it’s time to send that little job back to the client, you’ll know why project X now looks completely different than the original job order. It’s documented. Further, when you check the accrued hours on the project you’ll know exactly why the Quick Little Job is now in the thousands of dollars. And late.

Of course, in my perfect world, I’d have you do a change order.

You’d be amazed at how ridiculous some changes are when you actually have to write them out. The mere act of articulating a change makes you think about it. Speed doesn’t equal efficiency.

If you don’t find documenting changes compelling, there is this: It will become crystal clear the origin of all those little things that send a project into the stratosphere of time and cost, or delayed to the point it is no longer relevant. A client who has become creative director; an AE who can’t say no; an AD who just wants to do a little more; a studio that has to re-work the file because it has morphed into something unrecognizable.

You get the idea. And by the way, never work on anything without a legit job number. We can all be gatekeepers of profitability. 

setting expectations makes you look – psychic

A long, long time ago I was a freelance designer, and a single mom with a couple of young kids. I had a phrase “Boring is good”.

I like knowing what to expect. That means you have a routine, a plan for the day and expected outcomes for your chores and tasks.

There were plenty of times when life was not boring. Like when I had to pull an all-nighter to get a project to a client for a 9am meeting, then my son awoke at midnight and couldn't breathe. With my sleepy daughter in tow, we rushed to the hospital. We were in the emergency room until 5am, while I watched the clock, calculating how I could finish my project when I got home - while feeling guilty that I wasn't fully mentally devoted to the more important issue at hand.

My son was, in fact, just fine – it was scary though – I rushed home and I got the kids to bed, and got to work. By 7am I knew I couldn't make the deadline, so I called the client and told her that I needed a little more time and asked for a 10am meeting – delayed one hour.

I managed to get the project done, kids to the babysitter and to the meeting by our new, revised time.

I had a wonderful meeting – my client asked what happened, and I told her. She had several colleagues in the room. Everyone was like, “oh, you could have had another day; I've been there myself; when my kids were young…” You get the idea. They were human, empathetic, kind.

They were a client for a long time.

So, think about planning for outcomes. As it relates to an agency or an in-house department, plan everything. It gives you breathing room when you have a real emergency.

Yep, planning means... create a schedule, allocate time for every task, and be diligent about it. And have contingencies, like moving staff around, or getting more help. This isn’t advanced math, just common sense.

I would never tell you to do busywork – this is planning. A quick turn-and-burn, get it on the schedule, allocate time. A hundred little things really add up. Use a schedule template and it is easy. Assign, adjust hours and SAVE. DONE.

When you do this, then you will know immediately if you can actually get all your work done. In fact, if you have everything on a schedule, you can even confirm before you commit.

You become a…seer.

You really can tell a client – “let me check to make sure we can get that to you by xx time”.

Clients become jerks when you let them make endless, unreasonable demands – and then fulfill them. Grow a spine and train your client. You do have more than one client – right? One dictator can ruin deadlines for everyone. Train client-facing staff; replace or reassign the weak or the eager-to-please. They may be nice, but are the undoing of profitability. Your goal is to stay in business. Sorry.

Setting expectations is Rule One. Delivering on time comes right after. Okay, you can include awesome creative.

And, when you ask a client for more time, have a legitimate reason. It had better be an emergency. Bad planning just makes you look irresponsible.

See…boring is good. But you, somehow, already knew that.