Want to know what makes a room full of digital agency leaders gasp? Let me tell you.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a dinner party for digital agency leaders—one of those hosted evenings with great food and structured conversation. About halfway through, the group was discussing a question around either culture or client experience (honestly, I can’t remember the exact question), but I do remember what I said: “We dropped timecards a year ago.” 

Cue the gasps. 

Everyone looked surprised and…curious. Or maybe thinking they heard me wrong. 

Immediate questions arose as this became the new unscheduled topic: 

• “How do you know how to price your work?” 
• “How do you know how much time people are spending?” 
• “How do you control scope?” 

I admitted it was scary at first. But at the end of the day, Stamats is built on relationships. 

Timecards Were a Culture Killer

Everyone hated tracking time and we were constantly nagging people to fill out their timesheets. And let’s be honest, those numbers were never perfectly accurate. People find creative ways to play the billing game. 

At the same time, not once did we go back to the client and ask for more money if we went over our estimate, only when they changed the scope or added new work. Most of our pricing is fixed bid anyway. Clients don’t care how many hours something takes us. They care that we meet deliverable dates with smart, strategic solutions. They care about outcomes and experiences, not minutes spent. 

Interestingly, one of the questions I do remember was, “Do clients most value speed or strategy?” It was split equally. That reinforced exactly why we stopped focusing on timecards. 

We didn’t totally abandon all tracking, though. We just switched our focus. We changed what we track. 

Daily Goal Cards

Each morning, we assign ourselves daily goal cards we can complete that day. Cards break down work into completable tasks. If I’m assigned a larger task, such as “complete a user journey audit,” I would decide what part of that task I could do in a day.  

• Monday card: Identify persona and user journey
• Monday card: Conduct user journey from Google on desktop  
• Tuesday card: Conduct user journey on mobile 
• ✅ Acceptable card: Create first draft of blog post for [client name] 
• 🚫 Not acceptable card: Work on client writing project 

It’s still a work in progress. As an agile agency, this shift allows us quickly adjust to our clients. Cards shared with the entire company show who could possibly shift their tasks to meet a high priority. The visibility also gives project managers a way to see how large tasks are really coming along. We’ve all heard the “it’s going well” that ends up being “I really needed help.” 

One Card at a Time

The old saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” From my EOS training: You move mountains one rock at a time. It’s the same for projects, one card at a time. Daily goals. Daily commitments to yourself. Daily verification that you stayed focused. Daily wins. 

By focusing on progress and outcomes instead of hours, we are building a culture of accountability, creativity, and trust—and that’s something worth gasping about.