Free Audit Checklist

Agency Ops Audit Checklist

40 questions across 6 areas of your agency. Run this audit in 30 minutes to find exactly where your operations are leaking - time, money, or client relationships. Honest answers only.

How to score it

Go through every question and answer Yes, Partial, or No based on how your agency actually operates today - not how you want it to, or how it occasionally does. Add 1 point for Yes, 0.5 for Partial, 0 for No. Maximum score is 40.

0 - 15

High risk. Significant operational gaps that are likely costing you clients and team capacity.

16 - 28

Moderate. You have some structure but key gaps that will limit how far you can scale.

29 - 40

Strong. Your ops are working. Focus on optimising rather than fixing from scratch.

1. Project Management 8 questions
  • Every active project has a clear owner responsible for delivery
    One person, not a group. If it is everyone, it is no one.
  • Every project has a documented deadline that the team knows about
    Not just in the account owner's head or buried in an email thread.
  • You can see the status of every active project in under 2 minutes without asking anyone
    If you need to message someone to find out, this is a No.
  • Your team knows what to work on each day without the founder directing them
    If you are the task assigner, this is the problem.
  • Blockers and at-risk deliverables are flagged proactively, before they become late
  • There is a consistent way to hand off work between team members
  • Your project management tool is used consistently by the whole team, not just one or two people
  • When a team member is out sick, someone else can pick up their work without calling them
2. Client Management 7 questions
  • You have a consistent onboarding process that runs the same way for every new client
  • You know the health status of every client relationship right now, without having to think hard
  • Clients are never surprised by deliverable status - they always know what is coming and when
  • You know every renewal date and no contract has ever expired without a proactive conversation
  • When a client asks "where are we with X", you can answer in under 2 minutes
  • You have a documented offboarding process when a client engagement ends
  • Client communication is logged somewhere accessible to the whole account team, not just in personal inboxes
3. Team and Clarity 7 questions
  • Every team member has a clear role with documented responsibilities - not just a job title
  • New team members can get up to speed on how the agency operates without relying entirely on the founder
  • Team members know what "done" means for the work they are responsible for
  • You have a recurring meeting rhythm that does not waste people's time and actually moves things forward
  • Team members raise problems proactively rather than waiting to be asked
  • You have a clear way to onboard new hires that does not require the founder's full attention
  • The agency could run for 2 weeks without the founder if needed
    This is the ultimate test of whether you have a system or a dependency.
4. Process and Documentation 6 questions
  • Your most repeated processes are documented as SOPs that your team actually uses
  • When you hire someone new, the SOPs tell them how to do the job - not just that the job exists
  • Critical knowledge is not locked inside one person's head
  • Your SOPs are reviewed and updated at least once a year
  • Recurring tasks have templates so they do not get reinvented from scratch each time
  • When something goes wrong, there is a documented process for addressing it - not a reactive scramble
5. Tools and Systems 6 questions
  • Your team uses one project management tool consistently - not a mix of email, WhatsApp, and spreadsheets
  • There is one place where all work information lives - not scattered across 5 different platforms
  • Your tools are set up to match how your team works, not the other way around
  • You are not paying for tools that nobody uses
  • New team members can navigate your tools without a 3-hour orientation from the founder
  • You have automated at least one repeating administrative task in the last 12 months
6. Founder Dependency 6 questions
  • Decisions that should be made by your team are being made by your team, not escalated to you
  • Client relationships are not entirely dependent on you personally - others on the team have strong client contact
  • You can take a full week off without things falling apart or requiring you to be reachable
  • You spend less than 30% of your week on work that only you can do
  • When you onboard a new client, you do not have to personally manage every step of the process
  • You have a clear plan for what needs to change for the agency to run without you in the next 12 months

What to do with your score

Under 15: Your agency is running on people, not systems. The risk is high - key person dependency, inconsistent delivery, and a ceiling on how many clients you can take on. The fix is not working harder. It is building the infrastructure you are missing.

16 to 28: You have made a start but there are specific areas dragging your score down. Look at which sections scored lowest - those are your highest-leverage areas to fix. Usually it is either founder dependency or documentation that holds agencies back at this stage.

29 to 40: Your operations are working. The focus at this stage should be on optimising what you have and building ahead of where you are growing - not starting from scratch.

If you scored below 28 and want to fix the gaps rather than just identify them, that is exactly what a Runflow build addresses.