OPERATIONS MASTERMIND: What Does an Ops Rebuild Look Like in a Fast-Growing Agency?

When ITCH doubled in size, everything that used to work suddenly… didn’t.

Projects were slipping, people were using different templates, and no one was looking at the same data. Craig Newton has spent the last year trying to fix that.

“Everyone was doing things slightly differently, which meant loads of double handling,” says Craig, the agency’s head of creative operations.

 

He realised that the agency had outgrown the systems in place: “Monday.com was fine when there were 25 of us. Once we hit 45, it just wasn’t fit for purpose.”

So Craig pressed pause and led what he called ‘Systems 2.0’: a rethink of how the whole agency operates. This meant ripping out three systems, and replacing them with new ones – all in one go.

He gave the project a name so people could rally behind it. Then he built a long runway and over-communicated on purpose.

“You have to repeat things four times in four different ways. Some people read. Some people listen. Some people just need a chat.”

Figuring out which systems would work, committing that spend, and then hitting live, were all big challenges. But once the dust settled, the difference was instant.

“We’re not wasting energy anymore,” says Craig. “Everyone knows where things live and even better, what good looks like.”

If you’re struggling to get your agency to sing from the same hymn sheet, this session with Craig might just be the antidote.