Problems I've solved.

The problem

As businesses grow, processes that worked for a small team stop working.

What was happening

• A way of working built for a handful of people was still in place after the team had doubled.
• Coordination that used to happen in one conversation now needed four, and things fell between them.
• Nobody was doing anything wrong. The process simply had no design behind it.

What I focused on

• Process design that matched the current size of the team, not the previous one
• Explicit ownership for each stage of the work
• Reporting that made status visible without anyone asking
• Accountability built into the weekly rhythm rather than into individuals
• Workflows that could absorb more volume without more chaos

What changed

• Work stopped depending on informal memory and started following a defined path.
• Status questions were answered by looking, not by chasing.
• Adding people became a matter of onboarding into a process rather than absorbing them into confusion.

The problem

Critical processes are being managed through spreadsheets, messages and individual memory.

What was happening

• Important operational information lived in personal spreadsheets and chat threads.
• Two people could answer the same question differently and both be citing real data.
• When someone was away, part of the process simply stopped.

What I focused on

• Mapping the workflow as it actually ran, including the undocumented steps
• Standardising the steps and the language used to describe them
• Dashboards so the current state was visible in one place
• Automating the repetitive, predictable parts
• Documentation so the process outlived the person running it

What changed

• The spreadsheet stopped being the system of record and became one input among several.
• Repetitive re-entry work reduced because the same information stopped being typed twice.
• Absences stopped being operational risks.

The problem

Leadership cannot quickly understand what is working, what is delayed or where problems are developing.

What was happening

• Reporting was assembled manually, so it was always slightly out of date by the time it was read.
• Problems surfaced when a customer complained rather than when they started.
• Different people measured the same thing in different ways.

What I focused on

• A small set of KPIs that genuinely reflected operational health
• Reporting produced by the system rather than by a person
• Dashboards aimed at decisions, not at decoration
• Escalation rules so exceptions were raised early
• Clear accountability for each number

What changed

• Leadership could see the operational picture without requesting it.
• Issues were caught while they were still small and internal.
• Discussions moved from arguing about the numbers to acting on them.

The problem

Sales promises, operational execution and customer expectations become disconnected.

What was happening

• Commitments were made in the sales conversation that delivery hadn't been told about.
• Handoffs happened over messages, so context was lost between the two teams.
• Customers chased for updates because nobody owned communication after the sale.

What I focused on

• Defining the handoff: what information moves, when, and in what form
• Single ownership for each customer commitment
• Proactive customer communication instead of reactive updates
• Vendor coordination aligned to the delivery promise
• Delivery workflows that reflected what sales could realistically commit to

What changed

• What was sold and what was delivered started describing the same thing.
• Customers heard from the business before they had to ask.
• Internal friction between the sales and delivery sides reduced sharply.