Our operations managers keep putting lagging project delivery milestones on our scorecard because they claim their work cannot be measured with weekly leading indicators. How do we help them transition from tracking lagging milestones to true leading activities?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is a common excuse that creative or operational work cannot be measured with weekly leading indicators. When managers put lagging project milestones on the scorecard, they are telling you what happened in the past. By the time a milestone is missed, your project is already late, your client is upset, and your margin is gone.

To change their mindset, you must help them define the activities that guarantee a milestone will be hit on time. Every lagging output is the result of specific leading inputs.

For example, if the lagging milestone is completing a client website design, the leading indicators are the raw inputs required to do the work. These could include client onboarding assets received on time, weekly design review sessions completed, or internal wireframes approved.

If the lagging milestone is onboarding a new client, the leading indicators might be kickoff calls scheduled within forty-eight hours of contract signing, or technical configurations completed in week one.

Ask your operations managers, what are the primary activities that, if done consistently every week, make it virtually impossible to miss our project deadlines? Those activities are your leading indicators. Track the work that is being done today to prevent the project delay of tomorrow. This shifts your team from a reactive state of damage control to a proactive state of operational control.