Incsub


Achieve multi-million dollar long-term savings by leveraging process improvement methods for bug eradication and enhanced member retention.

The business challenge

After a decade in business, WordPress website and blog developer Incsub had become one of the world’s largest WordPress sites. The Australian-based company operates across three business areas. WPMU DEV, Edublogs, and CampusPress. WPMU DEV offers around 100 subscription products for members. Edublogs powers millions of blogs in the education sector. And CampusPress specialises in hosting educational WordPress sites. Like many successful startups, Incsub experienced rapid and organic growth. However, the absence of proper process improvement methods led to client losses. As mistakes, duplications, and staff confusion disrupted task execution.

The approach

The team agreed that the immediate focus should be on the WPMU DEV business. Once Damien Lacey of OE Partners had surveyed Incsub’s staff and interviewed stakeholders, two business objectives were set. One was to build foundations to allow scale. And second was to achieve measurable improvement of business performance in customer retention and growth.

The results of our process improvement methods

The team tackled the reduction in software bugs and client cancellations as the first project. They achieved a 96% reduction in the number of reported but unsolved bugs. That reduced the number from 878 at project commencement to 29 at completion. And also reduced member cancellations by 58%, bringing the weekly numbers down from 60 to 25. The project has already delivered savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not to mention the potential to save millions of dollars in the long term.

Multi-million dollar long-term savings from bug eradication and better member retention

When Incsub CEO James Farmer realised the company had reached the tipping point between a small team operation and a complex medium-sized company which required a formal structure, he called in OE Partners.

“We were at the point where operations had become too much to handle without proper processes and systems. The team found that tasks were duplicated, mistakes occurred, and staff were confused.”

“We realised we needed some structure, and OE Partners were great given their background in engineering and systems, particularly their experience with Toyota. While we knew things were going wrong, we weren’t sure how to identify the actual problems, but OE Partners really helped us to do this,” James says.

“They have an impressive capacity to draw out plans, and also to identify where things are falling apart. They very personable, and very open to reaching out and going through issues with people.” Damien says that to achieve scale, it was clear the company needed to transition from an owner-driven business to a business driven by systems and processes.

Process Improvement Methods
“We wanted to achieve measurable improvements in business performance, including better retention of existing clients through better designed and more reliable products and services, fewer product problems, faster updates and issues resolution."

“More frequent product and service releases would also assist in a drive to increase the number of new clients,” he says. Three measures of success were to:

  • Drive down the number of cancellations due to bugs.
  • Drive down the number of recorded bugs.
  • Define and streamline Incsub’s project, process improvement methods.

An organisational survey asked the company’s 70 staff about the tasks that occupied most of their time. It also explored the appropriateness of their roles and their ideas to improve productivity and efficiency. Additionally, the survey sought suggestions to excite clients and insights into the company’s culture and workplace.

After the team conducted interviews with stakeholders, they formed problem-solving teams around the priority issues of bugs, client cancellation reductions, and design, development, and QA process improvement.

“The outcomes, and the way we’ve been able to maintain them over time, have definitely exceeded my expectations of what we might achieve. The project has already delivered savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the potential to save millions of dollars in the long term.”

James Farmer, CEO, Incsub.

Bug reduction project

The team established new measurement systems to collect and display critical data, including client and product cancellations, the number of bugs, and an exit survey.

They held product improvement workshops after problem-solving workshops revealed the root causes of critical issues. By introducing process improvement methods to ensure successful implementation and monitoring of agreed actions, the team was able to check measurable impacts on cancellation levels.

“At project commencement, reported and unresolved bugs totalled 878” Damien says. “We reduced these by 96%, from 878 to 29 bugs. This was achieved after implementing task triage rule development and clean-up. Additionally, we introduced new bug management processes and conducted three separate development and testing marathons.”

Cancellations due to bug issues showed a 58% reduction, dropping from a weekly peak of 60 to 25 per week. The overall cancellation rate during the same period dropped by 18%. “I didn’t realise the problem was so significant” James says.

"When we did zero in on it, I was hoping for improvements, better systems and better approaches. But the outcomes, and the way we’ve been able to maintain them over time, have definitely exceeded my expectations of what we might achieve."

“The project has already delivered savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and there is the potential to save millions of dollars in the long term.”

Design, Development & QA process improvement methods

A separate problem-solving team identified the key drivers and issues leading to increased costs associated with new product and new project development. It became obvious that project rework and continually changing priorities were severely impacting the efficiency of the Design, Development and QA team.

After an audit of existing work processes and project management practices, processes were re-engineered using Lean and Agile methodologies.

Significant benefits from this project include:

  • Better team communication and morale, with more clearly defined processes, better management of detailed design changes and greater control of each stage of projects.
  • Reduced end-to- end project delivery lead-time.
  • Far less rework due to misunderstood or poorly specified requirements.
  • Increased capability of the team to tackle larger scale and more complex projects.
  • Reduced number of Beta testing loops.

“I look forward to bringing OE Partners back in three to six months to check progress. I would definitely recommend OE Partners and look forward to working with them again in the future.”

James Farmer, CEO, Incsub.