Do scopes of work actually work?
Robert Solomon
Consultant, coach, and workshop leader, author of the widely read and respected book, "The Art of Client Service," expert in achieving behavior change with advertising/marketing/PR agencies, clients, and individuals.
In terms of background, consultant and author Michael Farmer and I have three things in common:? the first is both of us received our undergraduate degrees in literature, although his is from Princeton (prestigious) and mine from George Washington University (not prestigious).?
From there our professional paths diverge.? He gets at MBA from Harvard, ultimately and to this day runs his own consulting practice, plus writes a book.? I get a Masters in literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wander in a wasteland of jobs for ten years, then accidentally and serendipitously arrive at my true calling, as an advertising agency Account Management/client service person.?
The second thing we have in common is I, like Farmer, write a book.
The third thing we have in common: ?both of us want to fix what’s wrong with advertising.?
Farmer writes regularly on substack under the moniker “C-Suite Blues.”?? He recently posted, “Transforming the Effectiveness of Madison Avenue’s Scope of Work Management – to Drive Improved Performance; Ten Problems and Ten Corrective Steps.”?
I suppose you could take exception to some of the ten articulated but unsubstantiated problems, but even so I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, except for problem number four, where he claims, “Media and creative SOWs?are developed unilaterally by advertisers and given to their agencies for execution.”?
Unilaterally?? By advertisers??
Perhaps things have changed in the time since I worked for an advertising agency, but in my experience, clients never wrote scopes of work for us.? The agencies where I worked always wrote them for our clients, based on a briefing they provided us, which would vary in both content and delivery, depending on the knowledge and sophistication of each client.
In our scopes we typically would recap the assignment, then detail the deliverables, timing, and cost associated with addressing the clients’ brief.? We would share the results then discuss any needed adjustments, but once we agreed on an approach, the scope – whether it was in the form of a letter of proposal, or a presentation, or a detailed budget and timeline – would govern the work to be done.
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The point:? clients did not dictate a scope of work; instead, they articulated a problem, issue, or opportunity, which we then converted into a solution to address the need.
Taken as a whole, Farmer uses the ten solutions to lay out in a series of imperatives – “do this, do that, do the other thing” – that speak to “the what” of the problem.? After the tenth solution there’s nothing to guide readers on how to do the things he proposes.
Stepping back from what Framer has written, I realize what he’s talking about:? call it what you will, this is about “Scope Creep,” meaning how client assignments have grown and fees have not grown with them.
The Art of Client Service also has a chapter on scopes of work, called “Perfect the Perfect Scope of Work.” ?It begins with a definition of scope creep, explains why it happens and to whom, then recommends eight steps readers can take to avoid the very thing Farmer complicates.
The recommendations are straightforward and simple:? do a scope-of-work, make sure it’s accurate and complete, make sure to financially account for the unexpected, make sure to review it regularly, and, when necessary, revise it.? It explains “the how” in a clear, concise, and put-it-into practice way.
In reading what Farmer has written, it felt as if I were sitting in a conference room, with him taking me through a series of PowerPoint slides, with no intent to actually execute what he’s talking about. ?His goal instead:? another gig, another PowerPoint presentation, another opportunity lost to solve the problem.
Farmer has never worked in an advertising agency; he might be able to identify a problem, but solve it?? He has no idea.? His “solutions,” such as they are, are textbook, remote, and more theoretical than real.?
Do scopes of work work?? If you get tangled up in Framer’s overly complex, consultant-driven, I-want-you-to-retain-me-again analysis, they usually don’t.?
If you follow what I’ve written, however, they usually do.