It was now time to follow up on what the team leads were up to. There was a lag in performance from the promised estimates. It was time to analyse why.
The leads were asked what went wrong? They looked at the possible reasons why their estimates went wrong - bad planning or bad implementation.
In this case it pointed to inaccurate planning. The Christmas vacation and Pongal vacation had to be taken into account before estimates were made. Secondly there was no real plan in terms of weekly or monthly plans with a proper basis. In the absence of a weekly plan and a weekly check, a whole month had gone by with only half the expected result.
The leads said that they had been hoping that things would fall into place. They were told that to double the sales or revenue, they either had to double the workforce or double their efficiency. If efficiency was to be doubled, planning had to be spot on, with everything under control and with backup plans when things might go wrong.
The leads were now asked to make plans by cutting out all areas where they were hoping and reducing uncertainty by planning to the last detail. They were asked to run through lists, names, attach percentages and then come to a proper basis for their plan. All plans were to be made on weekly basis for the next seven weeks. Each week they were to check their achievement and accordingly review effort. At first level all work to be done, then all work done more efficiently and then comes creative work.
Once plans were clear and conveyed to their team with clarity on delivery, team leads were expected to support and encourage the team to deliver. Those who fell short were to be empowered, shown the way and after three warnings, moved to another role. The idea is to cut losses early if the person is not able to fulfill the role.
A proper plan - week and month wise - was to be discussed by the team at a meeting that day and the plan followed for the coming week. Results to be on track with estimates now.
Lessons:
1) Unclear and loose plans
2) Too much hoping instead of going after actuals
3) Being casual about delivery
4) No monitoring system in place to self-correct
5) Sharper, deeper plans that have taken into account all possibilities needed
The leads were asked what went wrong? They looked at the possible reasons why their estimates went wrong - bad planning or bad implementation.
In this case it pointed to inaccurate planning. The Christmas vacation and Pongal vacation had to be taken into account before estimates were made. Secondly there was no real plan in terms of weekly or monthly plans with a proper basis. In the absence of a weekly plan and a weekly check, a whole month had gone by with only half the expected result.
The leads said that they had been hoping that things would fall into place. They were told that to double the sales or revenue, they either had to double the workforce or double their efficiency. If efficiency was to be doubled, planning had to be spot on, with everything under control and with backup plans when things might go wrong.
The leads were now asked to make plans by cutting out all areas where they were hoping and reducing uncertainty by planning to the last detail. They were asked to run through lists, names, attach percentages and then come to a proper basis for their plan. All plans were to be made on weekly basis for the next seven weeks. Each week they were to check their achievement and accordingly review effort. At first level all work to be done, then all work done more efficiently and then comes creative work.
Once plans were clear and conveyed to their team with clarity on delivery, team leads were expected to support and encourage the team to deliver. Those who fell short were to be empowered, shown the way and after three warnings, moved to another role. The idea is to cut losses early if the person is not able to fulfill the role.
A proper plan - week and month wise - was to be discussed by the team at a meeting that day and the plan followed for the coming week. Results to be on track with estimates now.
Lessons:
1) Unclear and loose plans
2) Too much hoping instead of going after actuals
3) Being casual about delivery
4) No monitoring system in place to self-correct
5) Sharper, deeper plans that have taken into account all possibilities needed
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