Management Tools
Data Driven decision making in Design activity is intended to remove perception based and personal biased decisions. With that said, Design isn't the only thing that can be derailed by inaccurate perceptions.
Here are a couple of home grown tools I've developed over time to help departments make fact based decisions regarding funding and team growth.
Proportional Forecast Tool
The Problem: Unbalanced Growth across teams creates bottlenecks.​
The Purpose: To ensure proportional resource build up and reduction based on project/business needs.
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Additional Benefit:
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Provides more accurate resource estimates for future project budgeting.
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Allows for cross department estimates and billing for dedicated resources sitting within team.
Cost of Design Artifacts
The Problem: The perception that external Agencies cost less than internal resources.
The Purpose: A complex calculator that takes in costs of each team/skill (contractors and FTEs) against the specific artifact output. These numbers are held up to current agency rate cards to determine savings to company.
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Additional Benefit:
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Increased tracking showcases productivity and resource utilization, making for more efficient resource allocations.
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Allowed for KPI tracking at a more granular level.
Contractor Conversion Costs
The Problem: Perception that Contractors are cheaper than FTEs due to benefits expenses.
The Purpose: By including FTE costs to include benefits, bonus forecast and annual salary increase, an "apples to apples" comparison can be made as to cost of a specific role whether FTE or contractor.
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Some roles are more cost effective as contractors, others as FTEs. This calculator gets to the bottom line to make informed resource budgeting decisions.
