We are trying to find weekly leading indicators for our operations manager seat, but we are stuck in a rut of tracking generic lagging outputs. How do we run the Great Day or Lousy Day exercise specifically for this seat to uncover true predictive numbers?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To break out of the lagging metric trap, the operations manager and the Integrator must sit down with a blank legal pad to run the Great Day or Lousy Day exercise.

Start with the Great Day column. Ask the operations manager to describe what happens when everything runs perfectly.
- Are projects delivered on time?
- Are client communications proactive?
- Is the team operating at peak efficiency?
Write down these scenarios in plain, descriptive language.

Next, fill out the Lousy Day column. Write down the operational friction points that cause headaches.
- Are clients calling to ask for project updates?
- Are team members working unplanned overtime?
- Are quality errors slipping through to delivery?

Once both columns are full of real-world scenarios, look for the underlying weekly activities that prevent the lousy days and guarantee the great days.

For example, if a lousy day is defined as a client complaining about communication, the leading indicator is not the complaint itself. The leading indicator is the weekly percentage of active projects where a scheduled status update was sent to the client. If that number is at one hundred percent, you prevent the lousy day.

If a great day means team members are focused, the leading indicator might be the number of weekly capacity reviews completed before work is assigned.

By translating emotional, real-world operational experiences into weekly measurable activities, you generate highly predictive scorecard rows that keep your operations manager seat ahead of bottlenecks.