Framing an Engagement - 1 of 4

I’ve helped several businesses implement configurable software to streamline and scale home renovation projects. While the needs of every client are different, there are a few big decisions to land in framing an engagement to make sure we deliver the most business value as quickly and consistently as possible. These articles steps through the four big points to scope before we build or implement new tools:

1. Clarify the Exam Question

2. Work Backward from “Done”

3. Walk & Document the Gemba

4. Set the Leading and Lagging Indicators

Clarify the Exam Question; What’s the Problem We Need to Solve?

Every business has challenges; every business has room for improvement; and almost every business has a solution-oriented person who likes to charge in and declare “here’s what we’re going to do now!” After all, most ventures didn’t start by having a founder analyze an opportunity to death; they started because a founder had a bias for action, and started separating customers from shoppers by asking them for money. But before a team starts running full speed at a project or task, it’s crucial to pause and articulate the main problem we need to solve.

Starting with why is invaluable when proposing any change. Change management itself takes time and resources, from planning to implementation, to training and support. The change you want to make needs to deliver more business value than the total cost of planning, building, communicating, and measuring/enforcing that change. So, just like on a construction job, it’s extremely valuable to measure twice before you cut, and get a clear understanding of why you’re bothering to change something.

When I led the program management organization at Redfin Home Services, we settled on a one-page change management template that began with “What’s the problem we’re trying to solve” in the biggest type size. We asked business managers and program managers to articulate the issue and its business impact upfront before itemizing how we could change something to address it. At a 200-person organization, there is no such thing as a small change; if you want to make a change big enough to deliver business value (i.e. a change worth implementing), the only way you will achieve that value is to budget the time for communicating and measuring it adequately.

So: get clear on the problem that’s impacting the business, ensure major stakeholders agree that that is the problem to solve, and come back to that problem statement regularly in the life of the project. If you solve nothing else, but you address that problem, you’re moving the ship in the right direction.

Sample Exam Questions in Construction Operations

In home renovations and construction, teams might consider implementing or re-implementing tools to address any number of problems and goals. Here are some I’ve encountered:

If your problem is …

• Project costs are too high; we need to lower them

  Then you should consider…

  • Itemizing your menu of services to clarify pricing upfront, and negotiate unit pricing with vendors.

  • Clarifying the scoping process to make sure the right person sets the right scope with consistent standards on each project.

• We can’t ensure that we get what we pay for on every project

  Then you should consider…

  • Enforcing “after” photos per work item, per room, or per trade as part of receiving work and paying vendors.

  • Adding a quality audit for a trusted manager to sample 10-25% of completed projects digitally or in person; celebrate high-quality performers, and coach performers with repeated quality gaps.

• Projects are running too slowly

  Then you should consider…

  • Reviewing handoffs and approvals throughout each project–after getting the scope right, the next biggest drain on velocity can be too much back-and-forth.

  • Reviewing the overall workflow–clarify whether the issue is that the $/day working speed is too low, or that it’s taking too long to start projects; it $/day is truly too low, look back at scoping and change orders to see if the scope is clear enough upfront, or if projects are being designed on the fly.

• We can't see all A/P commitments

  Then you should consider…

  • Implementing a Purchase Order system to document contracts with partners and reconcile work received each month.

  • Setting/updating a policy on credit card spending; some accounting systems like Coupa support allocating credit card spend to individual jobs to help organize true job costs.

• We aren't developing consistent scopes

  Then you should consider…

  • Building a menu of services that blends labor and materials costs, and a workflow that involves a desk-based person reviewing and setting up projects to ensure consistency.

  • Retooling the scoping process around the clear deficiencies being observed that map to expected remedies in your catalog.

• I don't know what we're spending money on

  Then you should consider…

  • Building a very detailed menu of services that separate each item into labor and materials.

  • Centralizing the purchasing of materials.

  • Setting benchmarks for the top five services in the top five labor categories (paint PSF, cleaning PSF, flooring PSF, lighting per unit, plumbing per fixture) and building a vendor engagement team to work with partners in negotiating set prices.