Effects of inertia

When client services under perform when they have to stop and start projects, or are frequently required by management to change direction. Each time this occurs, client services must first slow down, and then power back up. This effort, or energy requirement is called inertia.

Put in physics terms, inertia is the force required to overcome friction and move a project from rest to a certain velocity. The quantity of force required to 'kick-start' the project is substantially more than what is required to keep it running once it is moving.

Overcoming inertia involves setting up meetings, reconnecting with facts, checking with all parties for status reports. For the client service, this can rack up unbilled hours. This unseen cost to services business is transparent in other industries like building and construction. For example, a foreman who books a concrete mixer to arrive on-site, but finds he has nowhere to lay the concrete faces a financial penalty from the truck driver, even though no concrete was poured.


What's more, client service management fail to recognise the debilitating effects of inertia. Inertia consumes precious time and energy of client service, and produces no value for the company or client. Inertia therefore could be blamed for low motivation and staff attrition.

Clients are also taxed by inertia through lost sales revenue. Even though the scope of work has not changed, it has taken longer than forecasted to launch the new product or service.

It stands to reason both the agency and client have a vested interest in keeping a project moving without rest. For client service are most productive when maintaining a constant speed, and least productive when overcoming inertia.