Mid-market SaaS (~450 people, 2 product lines). Two releases slipped. Handoffs amidst Product and Eng and Ops were fuzzy. Leaders sat in 10–12 hrs/week of status calls. OKRs existed but weren’t used in reviews or were brushed off lightly.
What we walked into
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- Three weekly “reviews” that were 75–90 mins each and mostly updates.
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- No single owner for release readiness; prep decks ballooned to 30 40 slides.
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- Work changed hands with comments in Jira and Slack, but no clear “done with evidence.”
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- Managers carried the load; ICs waited for direction.
What we changed (without adding ceremony)
1) One-page 12-week plan, then we worked the plan
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- 3 priorities per line of business, each with an owner, a measure, and a review slot.
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- Anything not on the plan needed an explicit trade-off.
2) Reviews became decision rooms
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- Renamed and timeboxed:
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- Product Progress (Tue 10:00–10:30)
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- Release Readiness (Thu 2:00–2:30)
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- Ops Health (Mon 4:30–5:00)
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- Renamed and timeboxed:
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- Each had a charter: purpose, 4–5 “must-show” signals, what can be decided in-room.
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- Prep moved to a 2-page evidence pack (trend chart + blockers + owner notes). No decks.
3) Ownership you could point at
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- Mapped “who owns what” at the handoffs (Product Spec – Eng Build – Ops Enablement).
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- Simple RACI only where handoffs repeatedly failed.
4) Blockers got a lane
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- 15-min “Blocker Bust” huddle after readiness when needed.
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- Anything older than 7 days needed a named owner and date.
5) Managers got air back
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- Cut attendance lists; ICs presented their work in the evidence pack once a week.
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- Leaders stepped out of two meetings entirely by Week 6.
What we didn’t do: new tooling, big reorg, or a heavy OKR reset. We used what existed, made it usable, and made the rhythm stick.
12 weeks in snapshots
Weeks 1–2
Kickoff, quick audit readout, 12-week plan locked. First cleaned-up reviews run with the evidence pack.
Weeks 3–6
Handoffs stabilize. “Definition of Done with Evidence” agreed. Two long-running blockers closed.
Weeks 7–9
Ops Health moves to 30 mins. Leaders step out of Product Progress – kept the charter, not the hierarchy.
Weeks 10–12
Release #1 hits the date. Next 12-week plan set with fewer priorities and clearer owners.
Outcomes by end of Quarter 2
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- On-time releases: 2 of 3 (from 0 of 2 in prior two quarters).
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- Leader meeting load: -32% (calendar hours, quarter avg).
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- Rework at handoffs: – 41% (stories reopened across Product – Eng; Eng – Ops).
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- Prep time: – 60% on average (2-page evidence vs. slide decks).
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- Confidence: managers reported “I know what to bring and what will be decided.”
How we measured
Pulled from the same tools the team uses (Jira, release notes, calendar analytics, retro notes). No parallel tracking.
Client words (anonymized)
“We stopped doing theater. Reviews now end with decisions and owners.”
“My Thursdays aren’t a blur anymore – I know what gets decided and what doesn’t.”