Case study: a management system that finally runs itself at a video production company

The brief: bring order to the product side and secure enough resources.

Goal: a stable product management system, so the company can sell more.

Review from the owner of the video production company, Kamal Sotavov

What was valuable was the precision and painstaking care with which the system was built, and that pain points were identified and promptly resolved. It was valuable that I got more than we had agreed. That a strong employee was hired. For the advice and wisdom.

BEFORE

1. Not enough scriptwriters and social media specialists in the team. No development system for scriptwriters (grades, processes).
2. No transparency in how product projects were run.
3. No project manager in the team. The managing director lost focus because she had to handle project-management tasks.
4. The sales process and the contract template did not set a specific number of shoots or make the production company's clients responsible for paying for extra shoots. Lower profitability, or losses, on some projects.
5. No system in financial accounting. Not all expenses were recorded. Project profitability was not calculated.

AFTER

1. Staffed and developed a team of sufficient size in the product department (hiring, a written grade system, team development processes)
2. Introduced the Kaiten service for product projects (transparency, a standard set of tasks for each new project).
3. A junior project manager was hired and now delivers part of the product projects.
4. Adjusted the contracts and the sales customer journey map (CJM) to raise profitability (agreeing specific terms with a transparent cost price at the point of sale; contract clauses for when terms change). Built a price calculator to assess project profitability at the point of sale and to set profitable terms for one-off orders.
5. Introduced a cash flow statement and a P&L with a one-month-ahead forecast and an assessment of actual project profitability.