Case Study: Work Management - PACE System
Situation:
A small financial investment firm has grown quickly over a short period of time, resulting in the need for better-defined work management practices. Starting as a small firm, staff was able to perform work through informal and ad-hoc business practices. As a result of growth, the staff needs to perform work through more defined, repeatable, predictable and scalable practices in order to efficiently use their resources to consistently meet customer needs as well as board and investor expectations.
Approach:
Direct Effect Solutions (DES) began the engagement with an understanding of the history, growth and accomplishments to date. Through one-on-one interviews and observations of meetings, DES learned about the capabilities and capacity of each team member. Using our proprietary P.A.C.E. methodology (Projects, Ancillary, Core Services and Exceptions), DES was able to help each team member clearly articulate their responsibilities for their work efforts and production. DES worked with the staff to define practices and processes that used existing resources for the appropriate level of effort in the time frame necessary to meet expectations. This became an iterative process to repeat each time a new team member was brought into the organization.
Results:
Formalized, repeatable and predictable practices were put in place, along with a common language for team members to use to talk about work progress and productivity.