A quick field guide
Download PDF5 signs your team needs systems,
not another hire
When a team's stretched, hiring feels like the obvious fix, and sometimes it is. But a lot of the time the work just needs a better way to move, so here are five signs to look for and one small thing to try for each.
Status updates eat whole afternoons
People spend hours chasing where things are, pasting numbers into slides, and answering "any update?" in three different channels.
Try thisSwap one recurring status meeting for a written check-in: the same three questions every Friday (what shipped, what's stuck, what's next), posted in one place. Skip the meeting for two weeks and see what you actually miss.
Every brief starts from scratch
Each project kicks off with a blank doc, and the same questions get asked (or forgotten) every time.
Try thisPull up your three best recent briefs, list the questions they answered, and turn that into a one-page template. Use it on the next project and tweak it as you go.
Your best people do the busywork
Senior folks are formatting decks, renaming files, and redoing first drafts, so the work only they can do slides into their evenings.
Try thisAsk two senior people to jot down, for three days, every task someone (or something) else could handle. Pick the one that shows up most and write down the steps so it can be handed off.
AI tools everywhere, no system behind them
Everyone's using a different tool with their own prompts, results are all over the place, and the good stuff never gets shared.
Try thisStart one shared doc of prompts that actually worked on real tasks, each with the task, the prompt, and a sample output. Ask everyone to add one this week.
The answer is always another hire
Whenever things get busy, the fix is a new role, but nobody's sure where the hours go now.
Try thisBefore you open the next role, have the team log one normal week in rough buckets: client work, admin, reporting, rework. Circle the repeat stuff a template, checklist, or small automation could take off the pile.