By Gabby Krite, Head of Operations
When something’s not working in your agency – a process bottleneck, a delay in campaign delivery, or that persistent sense that things could be better – the instinct is to fix it fast. We reach for a new tool, a workflow redesign, a “quick win.”
But here’s the catch: most quick wins don’t win for long. Because if you haven’t diagnosed the type of problem you’re solving, you’re probably pulling the wrong lever.
Before you start fixing things, ask a better question: what kind of problem is this?
Most operational issues in agencies fall into one (or several) of four buckets:
- Process: how the work gets done
- Technology: the tools we use
- Infrastructure: the systems and platforms everything runs on
- People and Skills: the capabilities, behaviours, and capacity of the team
Let’s unpack them.
- Process: When the steps are the problem
Sometimes, it’s not the people or the tools, it’s the messy middle. Handoffs get clunky, ownership blurs, and too many cooks end up stirring the same pot.
When to look here:
- There’s confusion about who does what, and when
- Tasks get duplicated or dropped
- Work takes longer than it should, even with good tech
Example: New client onboarding. It’s launch week chaos; Slack’s on fire; the media plan is final-final-final. A month later, everyone realises key info was never captured – and suddenly the campaign’s off-course. In our experience, a huge percentage of client issues trace back to onboarding. A clear, documented process with owners, timings, and checklists doesn’t just make life easier – it prevents fires before they start.
- Technology: When tools get in the way
Tech should make life easier. But when systems are outdated, disconnected, or over-engineered, they create friction instead of flow.
When to look here:
- Manual tasks could be automated
- Data lives in too many places
- People spend more time workarounding than working
Example: Your customer data sits in five spreadsheets and three reporting tools. Nobody’s quite sure which numbers are the latest. Introducing a single CRM or data hub can turn “Which version is this?” into “Here’s the insight.”
- Infrastructure: The quiet foundation that makes or breaks scale
Infrastructure is the behind-the-scenes stuff – servers, integrations, data models, and platforms. It rarely gets airtime until it starts falling over.
When to look here:
- Systems are slow or unreliable
- You’re scaling fast and need stronger foundations
- Security or compliance risks are creeping in
Example: Your planning, reporting, and billing data all live in separate silos. Teams spend more time stitching it together than analysing what it means. A shared database with consistent inputs doesn’t just save time, it lets strategists focus on strategy, not spreadsheet acrobatics.
- People and Skills: The lever that quietly underpins everything
Even the best process, tech, and infrastructure won’t deliver if the people behind them aren’t equipped, empowered, or engaged.
When to look here:
- Confidence or capability is missing in key areas
- Teams resist change or don’t understand the “why”
- A few individuals are holding everything together
Example: You’ve rolled out a powerful new analytics tool. A handful of people love it; everyone else avoids it. The blocker might not be the tool, it’s the skills upstream. Investing in capability (not just training) helps people connect how the tool helps them do better work.
Diagnose before you fix
When you’re under pressure, it’s easy to jump straight to solutions. But lasting improvement starts with diagnosis.
Map the problem to one or more of these four levers and sequence your fixes, usually starting with the most foundational. Process and people tend to be the hidden multipliers; tech and infrastructure are only as good as the humans using them.
Problem solving isn’t about putting out fires. It’s about building smarter, stronger, more sustainable ways of working, so teams can spend less time firefighting and more time doing great work.
If something isn’t working, don’t reach for another shiny tool. Ask: what kind of problem is this? Once you know that, you’ll know where to pull.