The Cost of Moving Fast Without A Plan

This post originally appeared in my weekly newsletter, BL&T (Borrowed, Learned, & Thought). Subscribe

Borrowed

"Agencies need to think about how clients engage with them — how clients ‘enter’ their businesses, how they ‘arrive,’ and what their expectations are. Agencies need to establish new front doors to greet their clients and provide entry to the agency’s capabilities."

From 'Madison Avenue Makeover: The transformation of Huge and the redefinition of the ad agency business' by Michael Farmer [Book]

Learned

Just over a month ago, a new client ended their engagement months early. We canceled all upcoming invoices and absorbed over 100 hours of work. While not ideal, it was the right decision and reminded us of a few important lessons.

What Happened: This client came through a referral and was eager to get started. They had a lot they wanted to tackle but weren’t sure where to begin. We proposed a bucket of hours, thinking it would offer flexibility and allow us to move fast with their timeline. After just one call, they signed on. The engagement started well as we began planning, prioritizing their needs, and making progress. However, one major initiative—a Shopify re-theme—derailed things. We dove in without properly aligning on the scope, process, or client expectations.

After burning through nearly 100 hours, we presented our first draft of the website. The client panicked—it wasn’t in line with their vision.
I heard what happened and worked with the team and client to come up with a new approach. Despite our offer to start the work over at no cost, we had already lost the client’s trust, and the project stalled.
When the client resurfaced, they decided not to continue. They expressed satisfaction in working with us but also pointed out where things went wrong. Ultimately, they told us they realized they weren’t ready for this kind of investment.

I appreciated the positive comments, but I know that if we had properly managed expectations and delivered, we’d have a happy client. However, the problem wasn’t just in the execution—it was in how we set up the engagement from the start.

Here's what we learned:

Don’t sign engagements without a clear plan: We’ve successfully managed hourly engagements before, but this one lacked clarity. Instead of aligning upfront, we moved fast without a solid plan, which backfired.
Avoid the big reveal: Normally, our process is designed to avoid "the big reveal," but this wasn’t how we typically work on big initiatives. We went too with the re-theme and left the client in the dark. The client’s disappointment reinforced the importance of managing expectations and facilitating a collaborative process.
Check-in more regularly: While the team kept day-to-day communication going, I could have done more to check in with the client directly. Earlier feedback might have allowed us to course-correct before things went off track.

This experience is timely as we work to move away from hourly engagements. Selling hours, especially without proper planning, instead of deliverables can lead to misalignment and frustration. Hourly billing can also cause clients to scrutinize every minute, like this client did, which can strain relationships and distract from delivering real value.

Moving forward, we’re focusing on engagements with clear processes and deliverables, allowing time for client alignment upfront. While hourly work may still have a place for specific situations, like ad-hoc bug fixes, we’re excited to create more structured, value-driven partnerships.

It won’t be perfect, but the momentum so far has been good and we’re committed to learning and evolving.