Dave, Mark & Ant · Co-founders of Outlign
01
For years we didn't really have a process, making it up as we went along. At the same time, we failed to understand why every single project was over budget.
Spoiler alert: no process = no profits.
02
We also stumbled mightily when we hired new staff. We didn't have the time to train them properly. As founders we'd always had an idea in our heads of what to do at each step, but that doesn't really help anyone else.
It also meant we weren't learning from our mistakes, or improving our process to make it better.
03
So then we finally got wise… We needed to put a clear process in place for each type of project we ran, and get it down on paper so we could follow it every time.
We spent a bunch of time outlining all the phases and steps for our key services in a wiki, adding notes and guides on how and why to do each part, pre-written messages to clients, and checklists for each part so we didn't forget anything.
04
And then… we promptly went back to what we were doing and forgot about the wiki.
So after banging our heads against the wall over and over, watching our profits disappear while our team and clients got frustrated, we decided to do something about it.
05
We wanted to build something simple and easy for our team and our clients to follow, that would visually show off our process and keep everyone on track.
That's what led us to build Outlign, and to put process at the centre of project delivery_
Principles
Ideas and core principles for building a process‑based agency
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01
How you work is unique, so capture your value
Every agency has a unique take on how they work, design processes and deliver the work. When documented into tools, the value of these workflows can be unlocked and shared with the team.
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02
Master your workflow by practising it
Mastery in any form comes from practising. By documenting and then practising your processes consistently, your team becomes masterful at delivering your services.
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03
Creative work will vary, the process shouldn't
Making up your process each time is a waste of effort. Decide on the process and stick with it, so your team can focus on delivering top-notch creative on the regular.
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04
Everyone using the same process is powerful
Find the PM who's best at delivering the process and build on that. Then have everyone on the team follow that exact process, bringing a higher, more consistent standard to every project.
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05
Talk about your process, mostly to clients
The process should be a big deal in your studio. But it's just as important to share your methods and ways of working with clients, to instil confidence, trust and expert status.
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06
Before scale comes great systems
If scaling your agency is important, great systems must come before growth. Commit to documenting and running processes across teams and projects, bringing automation and structure to your workflow.
Outlign helped us to systemize and productize how we ship our projects. What I love most about it is that it has all the features we need to deliver top-notch design and Webflow tasks at scale, but not more. It is lean and minimalistic by default, and that’s what makes it so powerful.
Magier_
Put your process at the centre of every project.
Start with one client and one project, and see how a clear process changes the way your agency runs. It's free for 30 days, and you won't need a credit card.
