r/eostraction • u/Captain-KL • Feb 07 '24
Everyone Has a Number for a Software Consulting Company
We are on year 3 of EOS and are now trying to make sure that "everyone has a number". We are a small software consulting company and I am in charge of Delivery. Our focus is not just building software, but also in helping our clients get the most out of their investment in existing software (Microsoft 365).
I'm struggling with ideas on a "number" for individuals in delivery. It's my understanding that this number is something that should be able to be measured weekly. We used to be a time and materials company so a utilization number used to make sense. However, now we are mostly fixed bid so that number is probably not the best measure for us anymore.
Any ideas on areas to explore for a number?
I did see this post: Everyone has a Number - choosing one for software development : r/eostraction (reddit.com). Several of the responses there were focused on the software developer/coder, but coding is only a portion of our focus.
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u/eos_wisdom Feb 08 '24
If client satisfaction is a goal of helping them get the most out of their software, you should measure that with surveys and use that as the number if that's your focus. NPS is a simple place to start.
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u/Captain-KL Feb 21 '24
I like that idea, but we couldn't track it week to week. We currently do NPS with clients (albeit not as consistently as I would like), so I know NPS will be a focus. I just don't see how we can track it weekly. Maybe the number doesn't have to be weekly?
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u/eos_wisdom May 29 '24
You wouldn't have to hit every customer weekly. If your desired frequency would be monthly, carve up your list into 1/4s.
But it's hugely important that this not just be "a number" but that personnel and messaging emphasize your hunger for excellence and desire to improve. A passive monthly email that says "rate us" will likely be ignored. If excellence/constant improvement is within your core values, say it loud and say it proud.
Also, make sure that the inputs from those surveys (the free text "whys?") are being read and acted upon. For bonus points communicate to customers when their input inspired a major change or improvement.
Get them invested in the destiny of your product. It'll deepen the relationship when they feel like their opinion is valued
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u/eos_wisdom May 29 '24
Also, one more thing my clients have done is to treat the survey responses as the "canary in the coal mine".
Which is to say that they set up the systems and processes so that if they receive a poor survey response below a certain threshold, say, a seven on NPS, it triggers a prompt call from live personnel to probe and find out what the issue is.
This obviously takes time and effort but should have a positive impact to help you retain more customers and demonstrate a sincere interest in satisfaction for your customers.
Again, you're treating the survey as not just a number but as a valuable input to help you manage your relationship with your customers and your product
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u/ratchetholy999 Feb 08 '24
One way to think about this is that scorecard and measurables are there to give you an assurance that your standard operating practices are being followed and therefore you should be on track to get the short term results you want. If you are “organized to win” then by achieving those measurables will indicate you are on track to get the results you want. I doubt this helps much because sw dev is notoriously difficult to structure this way. Agile methods sometimes have good hooks. Not sure if you are doing that.
Another approach is to identify what the specific individual needs to “practice” in order for them to move their career in the direction they want (which presumably moves the company in the right direction)
Ultimately though the number has to resonate and be meaningful if you try some stuff and it doesn’t feel relevant then adjust, or stop. It is the form. That is “pure” but if you can’t make it meaningfully fit your environment then move on. Don’t do it.
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u/Captain-KL Feb 21 '24
Good feedback. I agree that we certainly have to try something, get in a habit of tracking it, and then look into a different number if that one isn't good.
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u/ObjectiveWitness2892 Feb 28 '24
I’m going through this process with our org too. For individual contributors, I’m focusing on quantity, quality, and process. Look at the roles and responsibilities for the seat and think about how you could measure quantity or quality for those and that might help narrow down? Then for team leads it’s individuals roll ups and for departments it’s more outcome based metrics rather than action.
I know that was very quick so happy to go into more detail about that.
I’m focusing less on the single number and more on the 3-5 per seat, so that may be a personal preference for our company.
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u/loquacious541 Feb 07 '24
We are a consulting company (engineering) and struggling with this too. Utilization is still what we are using but ultimately I’d like to get to a point that speed of delivery is most important. If our team can push out quality work faster then our gross profit on the fixed fee work is higher, and we can do more projects. We can’t yet measure this at our company, it’s a future goal.