Reaction

The challenge

Growing pains

Alberta-based digital agency Reaction had been helping businesses stand out online for more than a decade. But they were struggling with internal challenges related to process. They felt like a very process-driven agency, but it wasn't translating into the operational success they were looking for. They needed outside eyes to open up the inner workings of their company and identify where to focus.

"You can't improve something that doesn't really exist, so it's hard to improve your process when you don't feel like you have a good one. We felt like a very process-driven agency, but it wasn't translating into the operational success that we were looking for."

— Mike Szyszka, Founder & CEO, Reaction Digital

Our operational findings

What we discovered

• Process-driven culture not translating into operational success
• Insufficient upfront communication and documentation for remote team members
• Scoping was treated as a sales activity rather than a project management activity
• Limited team involvement in scoping and estimating
• Project management seen as one person's responsibility rather than a shared team value
• Risk not being adequately built into project budgets and forecasting

"We started to internally embrace the fact that successfully delivered project management is everybody's responsibility. Even though there's a project manager, everyone can contribute to successfully managing a project."

— Mike Szyszka, Founder & CEO, Reaction Digital

Results & highlights

What changed

• Doubled team size while maintaining operational coherence
• Increased net margins by 10% through better scoping and risk management
• Tripled efficiency of client onboarding process
• Shifted scoping from a sales activity to a team-driven PM activity
• Entire team now contributes to successful project management — not just the PM
• Different contract structures based on project certainty levels, reducing risk significantly
• Remote team members receive far more upfront context, reducing rework

"Being able to do that with Rachel — to come up with a list of priority areas that we wanted to focus on, and then just talk through those every week — was a really positive experience for the company. It set us on the right track to make a lot of smart decisions over the next few years."

— Mike Szyszka, Founder & CEO, Reaction Digital

The future

Where they are now

Reaction continues to grow and evolve their PM practices. What began as a coaching engagement evolved into sending their Project Director through the full Digital PM Foundations program — cementing project management not just as a role, but as a shared organizational competency. They're now one of the most client-focused agencies in Alberta, and their operational foundation makes that possible.