BlitzMetrics

What do you do when a client won’t respond to email and won’t use your project management system?

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Some of them prefer to use Facebook messenger and text, which leads to side conversations.
And that’s fine if the agency is just you.  But when you have a team involved that has to coordinate, this quickly becomes a mess.

We use basecamp so we have an audit trail– to prevent “he said, she said”.

Our rule, that all clients and team members know, is “if it’s not in basecamp, it didn’t happen”.

We still have calls, emails, and such. But everyone knows that if we agree to do something or have details about a project, we post it in basecamp.

The ugly reality of running an agency is that there is turnover on the agency side and unrealized expectations and miscommunication on the client side.

So you must have systems in place to keep things going if the client fails to reply or a team member fails to deliver.

Why am I seeing a “continuation” thread in Basecamp?

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Gmail has a 100-comment limit per thread. So when we’re getting close to that number of comments, we start a continuation thread which references back to the original thread.

If you’re a client, this is a good thing, since it means we’ve gone through a lot of communication and iteration cycles to tune your campaigns.

Rather than wait to 100 comments in a thread, we’ll start a new one at around 80, since we don’t want to hit that limit, which would kill our ability to track and follow-up. Our team members use the Boomerang by Gmail app to track follow-ups, so sometimes you’ll see us start a continuation thread at only 50 comments, since there might be a few dozen internal follow-ups that you don’t see.

We allow any team member to start a continuation thread if they see the thread count start to get high– it’s not like fine sheets, where you want a really high thread count!

If you want a peek at how large-scale project management is done, you might be amused to know we have some threads that have 7 continuations on them, meaning that we have 700 iterations on that one thing. This is the case for our Team Roster, which we update every couple days, as well as some of our core courses– Dollar a Day, Social Amplification Engine, and so forth.

8 Key Points Of Good Communication

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Scenario: your team is assigned an article for a client due in one week. You’re good at writing, so you knock out the writing requirements. You then send it to your editor, who knocks out the editing. Now it just needs to be beautified, so it’s off to the graphic designer.

Then it sits with them. Despite your efforts to contact them, the due date rolls around and the client fires you… all because of one person.

In a business setting, communication ties in with iteration. That’s why they’re part of the same concept. You can’t coordinate without communication. As elementary as this seems, it’s still a big reason projects drop and clients end up becoming dissatisfied.

With that in mind, here’s a simple set of strategies that may help you break down the communication barrier:

  1. Better to get stuff out that is decent than delay and not ever post.
  2. Put together a simple framework on how to communicate– whether it’s replying to an email, attending a meeting, writing an article, or whatever.
  3. No fear = no procrastination.
  4. Learn how to manage your email/schedule.
  5. Consider the importance of iteration and how basic communication (even saying “I don’t know”) is the easiest way to avoid failure from lack of response.
  6. Always tell others what you are doing when asked. Post your work, and pass it off if you can’t finish it.
  7. Don’t get caught up in the details of planning so much that you fail to execute.
  8. Do, Delegate, Delete (DDD). Either do it or pass it off, and then delete it. Don’t save it for later when you see it. This breeds procrastination, and as more things shovel in on you, it will slide further back and languish.

As elementary as these tips may seem, it’s failure to implement such practices that results in failure to succeed. In fact, because they’re so elementary, people tend to think they don’t need to put them into practice because they’re already “second-nature” to them.

That’s not the case.

–Logan Young, Vice President, Strategy BlitzMetrics

“In sports, they always preach the importance of mastering the fundamentals. Any team working
together on a project should operate by this same principle. Being a good communicator might seem simple, but I’m constantly surprised how often problems boil back down to someone’s inability to communicate effectively.”

The more people and more steps you have in a process, the greater the risk of failure.  When the “weakest link” doesn’t do their part, they ruin it for the team.

Having you and your team consciously practice good communication will gradually transform your setbacks into desired results.

Ridding Excuses Through Open Communication

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We’ve all heard excuses, and, most likely, have made some ourselves. How many of us have heard or used one of the following? I’ll let you pick the excuse that sounds best to you:

  • I don’t have time / I have this thing coming up / I’m busy
  • My computer / car / pen is broken
  • I didn’t feel good
  • I don’t know how / I’m afraid I’ll ______ / I got stuck
  • I forgot
  • My dog died
  • I just didn’t feel like doing it

Yes, things come up. Life is full of uncertainty, and there are only so many hours in a day.

So, how do you squash excuses?

There’s no secret word or Jedi mind trick that fixes it. However, two things that will greatly help you squash your excuses include developing and sharing your big ‘Why’. In addition, having open communication; letting everyone know your status, and if a project / task needs to be delegated.

This article focuses on how to more effectively use communication to overcome excuses.

jakob-hager-foto.1024x1024Jakob Hager, who co-founded TaskWunder, stresses the importance of having a framework in place for when communication fails.

“A business is a set of rules, of which communication is a major part. In an ideal world, we would only have to build rules that regulate how good communication works. However, I believe that a good (and scalable) business also builds rules for what happens when communication fails or misunderstandings happen. CID (Communication, Iteration Delegation) is a good general framework for building those rules.”

Mike Gingerich from TabSite offered the following advice on how to keep communication open by providing a comfortable environment.

a7W_3WhE“A central key in getting others to communicate effectively is to create an environment where they can feel comfortable, safe, and valued.  Within that type of respectful environment, people are more open to communicating.  A second key aspect is creating the expectation that communication is expected.  This comes from laying out groundwork early on and demonstrating over time a commitment to following through on the communication expectations.  Together this can help foster a creative environment where team members contribute and participate in a valuable way.”

We’re proponents of open, clear communication, outlined in our 9 Triangles, to keep us organized, and to help us plan every aspect of managing and running projects:

9-Triangles-Business-Framework-v1

The very first triangle that makes up the strong foundation is Personal Efficiency. It’s made up of Do, Delegate, Delete (DDD), explained by this video:

It’s simple: Want to (D)o it? Take it on and do it immediately. If not, (D)elegate it to someone else. Once you’ve decided on which option to go with, (D)elete it. If you leave it lingering for later and don’t answer it immediately, there’s a good chance you’ll continue to procrastinate, and the project will languish as more emails come in and bury it.

The next triangle in the foundation is Leadership. It is composed of Communication, Iteration, and Delegation (CID):

This builds on your personal efficiency, instantly (C)ommunicating your status when asked, and providing (I)terations through updates while (D)elegating as needed to spread the workload.

Here are some responses to the frequent excuses you may encounter:

Notice how we’re able to apply the concepts from above, which heavily rely on the CID framework:

1. I don’t have time / I have this thing coming up / I’m busy.

Restructure your time to be more efficient and prioritize your tasks with DDD. If you’re still unable to fit it in, delegate it.

My computer / car / pen is broken.

Let everyone on the project know you’re experiencing equipment issues, how long you estimate it will take to fix it, and delegate accordingly if you’re not able to complete it in a timely manner.

I didn’t feel good.

This one is common. If you’re ill to a point that you’re unable to work until you feel better, let everyone know (communicate!) so they aren’t left in the dark thinking you went AWOL, and delegate your projects.

I don’t know how / I’m afraid I’ll ______ / I got stuck.

Fear and vanity often get in the way of one taking action. Unwilling to show ignorance, they will soldier on blindly hoping the problem will fix itself or go away. Don’t be a deer in headlights! Ask someone for help before the metaphorical car runs you over. Don’t be afraid of failure either, since you won’t ever learn without honest effort. CID helps greatly here, since any issues that come up can be quickly addressed.

I forgot.

This one often comes up as a reaction not from not following DDD, but finding yourself forgetting to follow up or check on a project. There are multiple tools to assist you in combating this. We’re a big fan of Boomerang for Gmail.

My _____ died.

If the project is due during the time of grievance, let everyone know and delegate it to someone who can complete it.

I just didn’t feel like doing it.

That’s fine. No one is holding a gun to your head to do something. Delegate it to someone who wants to take it, and reconsider taking on projects you don’t want to do.

If you are shaking your head and thinking, “It’s as simple as saying something!”, you’d be surprised that lack of effective communication is the most common reason why projects fail.

The excuses above can be simplified into “Have an issue? Let everyone know. If it affects your ability to complete it, assign it to someone else”.

One of our analysts, Michael Dediu-Whealey, had this quote that we should all keep in mind: “Excuses are a reflection of our priorities. Our priorities are a reflection of our values. Our values are a reflection of who we are.”

and it was Aristotle who said “We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act but a habit”. So what does the habit of making excuses say about you?

Next time, instead of reaching for an excuse, try preventing it by encouraging open communication, and utilizing your team.

How has lack of communication hurt your projects? How have you combated it?

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