Hi there,
Do your processes need some optimizing?
Or maybe you want to quantify the often-mushy impact of process improvements over time?
Or maybe you just love data?
Today’s newsletter is for you.
⚡ Supercharge of the Week
Remote Octopus recommends checking in with your team at least twice a year to measure their understanding of project processes.
Why?
When we’re moving quickly, we can easily get caught up in different patterns with leading our projects – for better or worse. As a leader, what might seem clear to you is as clear as mud to your colleagues.
It’s also incredibly challenging to quantify the often-mushy impact of process improvements over time. You’re really not sure if your team is operating with a higher level of efficiency than six months ago…
So how do you optimize your projects? And measure change over time? 📆
All it takes is one question. Twice a year.
Drop the question into a Google Form or survey tool. Consider making it anonymous if you’d like.
So what’s the question?
EXAMPLE IN ACTION
I clearly understand the process of leading a team project – from kickoff to launch.
Provide a rating scale of 1 to 5. Specify that 1 represents do not agree and 5 represents strongly agree – or a similar set of words. Allow only one response per person.
Ask your team to complete it twice a year – ideally about 6 months apart.
Gather the responses. Pop them into a bar chart (Google Forms does it for you!). Calculate the average for each question.
🔥 Boom. That average is the metric to optimize your projects and measure change over time in the efficiency of your team project processes.
You might even consider adding in a few additional rating-based questions such as:
Roles and responsibilities are clear on our projects.
Our projects successfully navigate cross-functional challenges and blockers.
The balance of my time is efficient between project management and subject matter expertise.
So, what are you looking for in the data?
High Average: This typically means your colleagues strongly agree that they understand project processes (if you used the question above).
If your projects are running smoothly overall, then this is a win!
If your projects are struggling to meet deadlines or budgets, then this is an opportunity for a conversation with the team because there is likely a mismatch taking place – they’re rating themselves highly in understanding the processes, but actions speak louder than words and the projects are underperforming. Use this data point as part of your team discussion when identifying opportunities for improvement.
Low Average: This typically means your colleagues feel they do not understand the project processes.
You might consider how to clarify or simplify the project process for your team. Can you map the process into Confluence or Figma? Or remove a few unnecessary stages?
You might also consider additional opportunities for learning and upskilling the team on the project process. Consider quick async videos or Looms on how to move through the project process – or even a lunch and learn with a few colleagues as speakers who can speak to the process & answer questions.
Bi-modal Distribution: This often looks like a camel hump in the bar chart – maybe you’re seeing a bunch of people rating a 2 but also a bunch of people rating a 5. This is important because it means some of your colleagues are feeling very confident in processes while others are feeling very confused.
You might consider if you have a set of new hires or a set of new processes that might be causing this bi-modal distribution.
You might consider additional data gathering to determine if it’s a specific sub-team that is feeling less confident in the processes – and in need of either the clarification or upskilling mentioned above.
Change Over Time: This is what you’ll look for on the second, third, & future surveys. You’ll compare the metric from survey #1 with survey #2 and calculate the change – is it 10% higher this time? Or maybe 10% lower? This is not a perfect metric – that’s ok. It’s still a valuable data point to evaluate.
Positive Percentage: Amazing! This likely means growth in project optimization! Identify how you can continue to improve even further over the next six months.
Negative Percentage: There’s been a decrease in understanding about project processes over the past six months. Maybe your team has different people on it or maybe you went through a reorg or introduced new processes recently. Use the metric to inform next steps and guide strategy to improve process optimization over the next six months.
🐙 Remote Octopus Resources
Ready to level up operational excellence for your team? Check out our resources:
