Stage
Sales handoff
What to observe
Scope, promises, owner and input completeness
Possible friction
Missing commitments or acceptance criteria
How I work
How I examine a stalled implementation.
Follow the evidence from a delayed handoff to a proposed change, an accountable owner, and a check on whether it worked.
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A hypothetical SaaS case
Sales is working. Delivery is doing too much improvising.
Imagine a Series B B2B software company with strong demand and a growing implementation queue. Sales handoffs vary. Data readiness is unclear. Customer success inherits unresolved work. Leaders want predictable delivery without another layer of bureaucracy.
This is a hypothetical example, not a real client engagement. The records, measures, and proposed actions are illustrative. They are not achieved results.
01 / Value stream mapping
See where delivery actually stops.
Agree what first value means for this customer. In this example, a trained user completes a production workflow with validated data and accepts the result. Trace the stages that lead to that outcome.
Illustrative current-state map
Stage
Readiness
What to observe
Customer data, access and dependencies
Possible friction
Projects enter the queue before inputs exist
Stage
Configuration / integration
What to observe
Work time, wait time, rework and specialist demand
Possible friction
Shared specialist queues
Stage
Validation / training
What to observe
Acceptance evidence and decision turnaround
Possible friction
Unclear sign-off owner
Stage
First value / transition
What to observe
Outcome accepted; remaining work assigned
Possible friction
Launch declared before a usable outcome
Record stage dates, waiting time, staff effort, ownership, and rework. Separate elapsed time from hours worked; identify both customer and internal dependencies.
Compare project records and ask the people doing the work what interrupted each step. A small review identifies hypotheses to test; broader conclusions need a representative sample.
The future-state hypothesis
Test a readiness check, a named delivery owner, and explicit acceptance criteria on comparable projects. Record any approved exceptions.
02 / Root cause analysis + action planning
Stop fixing the same problem twice.
The sample problem
Several reviewed implementations begin configuration without validated customer data. Work stops. Specialists revisit the same project. Measure the frequency and business impact before setting an improvement target.
Test competing explanations
Use Five Whys to investigate the delay, then check the explanation against records. Was the input late because the customer missed a request, the request was unclear, or nobody owned it?
Illustrative hypothesis: readiness ownership is absent from the sales-to-delivery handoff, so missing inputs surface after configuration starts. Compare delayed and on-time projects. Test competing explanations, including integration complexity and specialist capacity.
Make the reasoning visible
An A3-style summary records the problem, evidence, proposed cause, countermeasure, owner, review date, and result. Mark assumptions that still need testing.
Pilot action
Define minimum data-readiness check
Accountable role
Implementation lead
Evidence of completion
Checklist tested on a sample handoff
Pilot action
Name customer input and sign-off owners
Accountable role
Project lead
Evidence of completion
Owners acknowledged at kickoff
Pilot action
Create a visible blocked-work queue
Accountable role
Delivery manager
Evidence of completion
Each blocker has a next action and review date
Pilot action
Compare pilot with similar prior work
Accountable role
Operations lead
Evidence of completion
Baseline, cohort and confounders documented
Agree due dates with owners. At the review, check both whether the action happened and whether the problem changed.
03 / Daily management + KPI scorecard
Keep blockers and decisions visible.
Use a short review to identify exceptions, assign decisions, and clear blockers. Move detailed troubleshooting to the people who can resolve it.
Daily
Blocked work, near-term commitments, and decisions needed.
Weekly
Trends, capacity, and corrective actions with delivery leadership.
Monthly
Whether improvements hold and targets still reflect customer needs.
An illustrative weekly KPI scorecard
A target-versus-actual scorecard, sometimes called a bowler, connects each gap to an owner and an action. These are invented examples, not benchmarks or achieved results.
Delivery lead
Ready at handoff
- Sample target
- 90%
- Sample actual
- 70% (7/10)
Response: Inspect three incomplete handoffs.
PM lead
Blockers with owner + next action
- Sample target
- 100%
- Sample actual
- 80% (8/10)
Response: Assign two missing owners today.
CS lead
Median first-value days
- Sample target
- ≤30
- Sample actual
- 36 (8 completed)
Response: Review cohort and waiting stages.
First-value days: use an agreed start event and an accepted customer outcome. Track open aging separately so unfinished projects do not disappear. Keep segment, time window, and sample size visible.
Check speed alongside acceptance failures, rework, and early support escalations. A faster handoff is useful only if the next team and the customer can use it.
Use Plan–Do–Check–Act to decide whether to adopt, revise, or stop the test. Standardize changes that hold up in the workflow.
Methods and their uses
Choose a method for the decision at hand.
Each method has a specific job. The review determines which ones the problem calls for.
Problem
Delivery waits are invisible
Core method
Value stream / process mapping
Practical output
Current flow, queues and a future-state hypothesis
Problem
The same failure keeps returning
Core method
Root cause analysis + action plan
Practical output
Tested causes, countermeasures and owners
Problem
Actions fade after the meeting
Core method
Daily management
Practical output
Exception board, escalation path and review rhythm
Problem
Teams disagree about performance
Core method
Target/actual bowler
Practical output
Defined measures, gaps and accountable actions
Other methods for specific delivery problems
Need
Clarify who decides
Candidate approach
RACI / decision-rights matrix
Use with judgment
One accountable owner; avoid paperwork
Need
Define a messy process boundary
Candidate approach
SIPOC / service blueprint
Use with judgment
Inputs, outputs, customers and handoffs
Need
Reduce repeated variation
Candidate approach
Standard work / playbooks
Use with judgment
Minimum repeatable steps plus exceptions
Need
Control too much work in progress
Candidate approach
Kanban / capacity planning
Use with judgment
Visible queue and explicit capacity constraints
Need
Prioritize recurring failures
Candidate approach
Pareto / risk assessment
Use with judgment
Reliable categories and impact evidence
Need
Test and sustain an improvement
Candidate approach
A3 / PDCA
Use with judgment
Hypothesis, pilot, evidence and follow-up
Need
Connect work to priorities
Candidate approach
Goal-to-metric mapping
Use with judgment
A few outcomes with named owners
A focused first step
Start with one delivery workflow.
SaaS Onboarding and Delivery Review
Starting at $3,000. Review one agreed workflow, identify evidence-backed priorities, and leave with one completed operating template and a prioritized 30-day action plan.
The examples above span a broader improvement engagement. The entry review includes one completed template and an action plan. Workflow mapping, management routines, facilitation, and implementation are separately scoped.
See the review’s scope and deliverables