The Tipping Point
I've recently had the opportunity to work with well-known brands that are scaling. They've come to Wrike because the amount of work on their plate is outpacing their current capacity to do it. Often these are marketing teams, but the story applies to any organization.
As organizations adopt tools like Wrike, they often find friction around certain people or teams that have grown fond of their current software. This post isn't a pitch for Wrike - but those who know me know I like Wrike. So instead, this article is more of an exploration of the tipping point, the switch, and the friction.
Story Time
The narrative I'll use here is a creative team, which is part of a marketing organization and a medium size emerging brand.
Five years ago, this creative team was a small family consisting of a few designers, writers, and a manager. The team used low-cost but easy-to-use software to manage their to-dos. The team has yet to care much about bouncing between a few different tools or communicating via email. It just works. They handle about ten projects a month with grace.
Things get interesting as the business scales. First, there was the acquisition of a marketing company, a series of funding, and the purchase of a new space. The pipeline is starting to look like 50 creative requests a month. Now the small family needs to look more like an extended family reunion to hit their mark. So they do what every business does; they put in a few more processes and more people. They lean on talent to overcome their clunky and outdated systems.
Then things got exciting fast—first, the merger. Then, the acquisition. Make that acquisition(s). Not only did the number of incoming creative projects rise to 150, but now the team is seeing requests like language translation and localization, creative assistance with executive presentations, and a sizeable board-instigated brand refresh project. A Creative team is a business unit interacting with HR, IT, Legel, and the Executive. The creatives are now spending more time managing their email and bouncing between meetings - than creating content.
So the team says, "we are an enterprise; we better start acting like one" Alas, they adopt the tool recommended by the leaders in the space.
So, where was the tipping point? From afar, most would recognize it was when the family became ... extended. Of course, they should have switched earlier for many reasons, but let us look at the two I see most frequently: clicks and communication.
The Switch
Most organizations admit that communication is the most challenging thing about their business. It doesn't take much of an argument here. We must find a better way to communicate, and there is a suite of tools to do that. You need to catch up if you are still primarily communicating via email.
In the world of Collaborative Work Management, we look at things like:
- How often do you spend time in your email box or Slack?
- How do people ask you for help?
- How do you ask others for help?
- How many tools are in your tech stack?
- How much software does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Remember when our family became extended? Those designers were using 8 - 10 pieces of software to work. A change request would come in by email three times a week, right when they are nearly finished with their design. The designer would print the image and stick post-it notes on it when finished. (If this is you, please stop this immediately). Somewhere along the line, the family grew loyal to their software instead of being faithful to their business.
Here is a hot tip if you are in this position. Creative Designers and Writers are not artists; they are manufacturers. So like manufacturing, let's apply the classic Lean DOWNTIME acronym and see how many of these wastes you can find:
- D - Defects. How many errors are caught too late?
- O - Overproduction. How many assets have been made and forgotten?
- W - Waiting. How long did the post-it note graphic sit in the boss's bin?
- N - Non-Utilized Talent. How are you balancing resources?
- T - Transportation. How long does email take?
- I - Inventory. How much time does a creative spend looking for "parts and pieces?"
- M - Motion. A click takes 3 seconds. Think about it.
- E - Extra Processing. Do you need five rounds of reviews?
When deciding to switch platforms, the best question is not an "if" - it's a "when." A wise man once said, "Mo Money Mo Problems" As your business scales, so do your risks and costs. So it will always be harder to change next quarter. Always.
The Friction
Work Management software dramatically affects how people work. It's a considerable change to introduce a new platform, migrate, and integrate. Knowing and anticipating the tipping point can help bring the conversation to the front. Bring the "not if, when" mentality to the change conversation and bring the experts to the chat.
Lastly, if you need to become more familiar with concepts of Organization Change Management, now is the best time to learn.