Creative/Marketing Agencies are characterized by high speed, constant changes from client feedback, and cross-functional teams jumping between multiple projects. Our client—a 20-person Agency—was hitting "Burnout".
Their reality: Using Trello for personal tasks, Slack for internal chat, Zalo for client chat, and Google Drive for files. Consequence: Fragmented information. PMs didn't know whose capacity was free. Clients complained because asking for a status update took half a day for a response.
Re-architecting Work OS with ClickUp
The problem wasn't that Trello is bad, but it lacks deep hierarchy levels for Portfolio management. We migrated their entire system to ClickUp, establishing a standardized Hierarchy:
- Space: Segmented by Department (Design, Content, Production).
- Folder: Representing each Client.
- List: Representing specific Campaigns.
- Task & Subtask: Detailed workloads assigned with assignees and deadlines.
Automating Communication Flows
To free PMs from acting as "postmen", we implemented Automations: When a Designer moves a task to "Internal Review", the system automatically @tags the Art Director. When moved to "Client Review", Make.com grabs the design file link and sends it directly to the client's Zalo group.
Optimizing Client Experience (Client Portal)
Instead of sending weekly PDF reports, we utilized Shared Views. Clients are given a real-time Dashboard link: showing project stage, completion percentage, and budget consumption.
Quantitative Results
After 8 weeks of operation: Missed project deadlines dropped to 0. Net Promoter Score (NPS) from clients rose by 30% thanks to transparency. The team stopped late-night file hunting, saving an average of 5 hours of wasted work per PM per week.
