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James Fischer-Myall · Sign out

1 | Getting to Know the Client's Business

Learning the business through the committed pipeline

I'd get to know the client through the work it's doing right now. That way I learn quickly, I don't pull people off delivery to brief me, and I can start being useful straight away.

Level 1 Start with the committed pipeline

Week one: sit down with the owner and list every committed job with its client, value, stage, deadline and owner
Agree what "complete" means for each: handover, client sign-off, final invoice, retention release
Walk each live job with the person running it: what's going well, what's at risk, what's in their way
Note the blockers I can clear without changing how anyone works

Level 1 People

Owner: the history of the business, what must not change, what he's concerned about and how he likes to be kept informed
General manager: what's been promised to clients, what's coming through the pipeline and what clients are saying
One-on-ones with managers, supervisors and the office team, fitted around their workload
Time on site with the crews, asking the same three questions: what works, what gets in your way, and what should I leave alone

Level 1 The numbers that already exist

For each live job: quoted versus actual cost to date, variations, invoiced and still to invoice
Cash: debtors, and when the committed work converts to cash
Safety: tickets, inductions and incidents on current sites
I'd use whatever reporting is already in place. Where a number doesn't exist, I'd note it for later rather than build something new mid-delivery

Level 3 Noted for later

Double handling, spreadsheets and manual approvals
Gaps in systems and reporting
Structure and capacity questions
These go on a list for the day-30 recommendations and aren't touched while the pipeline is being delivered

Output at the end of week 1

A short note for the owner and general manager covering where each committed job is at, the risks to completing it well, what I'm doing to help, and what I've noted for later. We'd agree it together, and nothing material changes without that agreement.