Content Tracker - April 2023
Tracker is condensed and has more info. Same checkbox mechanics. Assigned clients on the left. Additional work to the right. Do your assigned clients first unless something from the previous months comes through. Any additional pieces will go to the right of your assigned pieces (including previous month’s requests). This is how we showcase how SEO’s late requests and responses affect us. New package clients have been distributed evenly. Grab requests from The Overflow column (DS Writing Board) when you’re done with your assigned pieces.
What is it?
Same tracker with same mechanics (mark checkbox when done).
New info on pieces.
One column for assigned work.
One column for additional work.
Why?
Better visualization of workload.
Ability to gauge expectations vs. additional work.
Cleaner view.
What do I need to do differently?
Nothing! You’ve already been clicking those checkboxes and adding new pieces to your tracker. We’ll explore how you’ll approach additional pieces moving forward a little later in this guide.
Where are my goals?
April is social experiment month (it really isn’t, but, ya know…). You already know that you should have completed 50% of your assigned workload by the middle of the month. We trust that you can hold yourselves accountable. In fact, we think that when team members are self-governing, they are less stressed.
Your ultimate goal is to complete your assigned workload.
Your additional goal is to dip into The Overflow to help out.
THE OVERFLOW!?
The Overflow, formerly known as the Unassigned column, is the leadership team’s way of gauging how the team is doing and if a backlog might be in sight.
You may recognize these clients from your past. These are clients with old Gold packages. We picked Old Gold packages clients because they are 1-for-1 and easy to calculate for the management team. This refers to one card equaling one piece or one hour (rounded up, usually) of work required.
The Overflow prevents management from assigning unreasonably. We must accept that we are at capacity, and this is the visualization that can be presented to our executive team to create a business case.
The Math Behind the Madness
In April, we decided that each DS writer should be assigned 100 piece-hours of work.
Piece-hours: The hours it requires to complete 1 piece.
New packages take twice as long in the first 3 months, thus:
(1) 2022 Silver package = 2 piece-hours: 1 piece, 2 hours to complete each.
(1) 2022 Gold package = 4 piece-hours. 2 pieces, 2 hours to complete each.
(1) 2022 Platinum package = 4 piece-hours. 2 pieces, 2 hours to complete each.
After 3 months, these pieces go back to consuming maintenance piece-hours because.
We have also implemented a new countdown timer on our DS assignment sheet in order to evenly distribute work each month.
This shows us how many days are remaining in the client’s first 3 months (see orange column).
New Features!
Column L (top number): How many pieces you have been assigned for the month.
Column M (top number): How many pieces you have completed (automated, probably needs to be relocated next month).
Column M (Pkg.): SEO package associated with client.
Column N (top number): The total weight of your assigned workload. Everyone gets 100 in April.
Column N (Wt.): The weight of the client’s workload a.k.a. piece-hours (i.e. New pieces take twice as long, so they weigh 2x a normal piece).
Column R (Additional Pieces): This is where you should start recording your additional pieces.
Column S (Pkg.): Additional piece’s package. It should be Gold for April, unless you’re working on leftovers from the previous month.
THERE’S NO PLACE FOR NOTES!
There certainly is, but we should start using spreadsheets the way they’re meant to be used! Lengthy notes do not belong in cells.
Right click on the name of the client you’d like to write a note about, then select Insert Note and start typing. Once you’re done, click away from the note window.
A visual cue that a client has a note attached is a black triangle at the top right of the cell.
Hover over the cell to read or edit your notes. If you want to delete it completely, click on the same cell and click Delete Notes.
Now I won’t know if a card is missing!
You can begin color-coding your client’s cells. Refer to the Legend tab on the tracker for more information.
Keeping a clean spreadsheet is great business practice! It also reduces anxiety for the user and the viewer.
Thanks for reading. Let Reina Underwood know if you have questions!
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