From Hand-Counted Deliverables to a Live Production Board

By Konstantinos Karamatzianis · Co-Founder, Dabster Labs · Client engagement, anonymised at the client’s preference

A video ad agency now runs its whole month of production on one board, and can tell at a glance whether each client’s retainer has actually been filled. The counting by hand is gone.

The situation

The agency ran its video production and its retainer counts by hand. There was no single place to see what stage each deliverable sat in, so work slipped between people and getting a status meant asking around. Worse, there was no easy way to check whether the month’s contracted quota had actually been met for a given client. The number of videos owed was a figure someone held in their head, not something the team could look at.

What we built

A drag-and-drop board that moves each deliverable through seven clear stages: Brief, Scripting, In Production, Review, With client, Delivered, and Approved. A card can be dropped anywhere in a column, not just onto the cards already there, so re-ordering work feels natural. Each card carries its editor notes, an assignee and editors, due dates, and the video file itself, with uploads of up to 450 MB per file.

Sitting alongside the board, a per-client monthly quota shows usage against target, for example 5 of 8 videos this month, so the team sees on sight whether it is on track, over, or behind. The same work can be viewed three ways, as the board, as a Calendar by due date, or as a grouped List, all sharing one Group-by control, and each person’s chosen layout is remembered for them.

What changed

• Every deliverable now sits in one visible stage, from brief to approved, so nothing gets lost in the hand-off between people.
• Retainer progress is a number the team can see, for example 5 of 8 videos this month, instead of a count kept in someone’s head.
• Each card holds everything the work needs in one place: editor notes, the assignee and editors, due dates, and the video file at up to 450 MB.
• The same pipeline reads three ways, as a board, a calendar, or a grouped list, and each person keeps the layout that suits them.
• The monthly quota view replaces manual counting entirely, so being on track or behind is obvious rather than a guess.

How it works

A deliverable is created for each piece of work and lands in the first column. The team drags it across the stages as it progresses, dropping the card wherever it belongs in the next column. Notes, editors, due dates, and the uploaded file travel with the card the whole way. Each client carries a monthly target by deliverable type, and the board counts finished work against that target for the current calendar month, so the quota reading is always current.

Where it stands

The board is live and running the agency’s production. Deliverables move through it day to day, and the monthly quota gives the team a single, honest read on whether each client’s retainer has been met.

Counting your own delivery by hand? We build boards that make the work, and the quota behind it, impossible to lose track of. Talk to us.

Related service: Workflow Automation