How XWP Optimized Agency Operations and Resource Planning with Productive
XWP is a globally distributed agency specializing in enterprise WordPress development. They partner with some of the world’s leading digital publishers and technology companies to solve complex content management challenges. From migrating 25 years of Rolling Stone archives with zero downtime to powering over 70 media brands on a shared WordPress platform, XWP is at the forefront of scalable, high-performance publishing solutions.
We spoke to Magnolia Wren, Operations Manager at XWP, about how they use Productive to streamline operations, enhance cross-department visibility, and optimize resource planning.
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Can you tell us a bit about XWP and your role?
XWP was founded in 2014 and specializes in helping enterprise publishers drive measurable business growth through strategic WordPress development. We focus on solving complex digital publishing challenges by leveraging existing tools in the WordPress industry while also developing custom solutions that balance innovation with efficiency. We primarily serve enterprise clients in digital publishing, fintech, and technology.
I’m an Operations Manager. When we started with Productive, I was just part of the operations team. Productive has helped me gain leverage and take on a more significant role. I’m also the go-to person for all things Productive within XWP.
Did you use any tools before Productive?
Our departments were well-organized and documented their processes effectively, but there was a significant disconnect between them. Sales, for instance, had little visibility into delivery, which made it harder to align teams. We used Harvest and Forecast. Forecast was good for scheduling—it was simple and easy to use. However, Harvest lacked customization, making it challenging to create meaningful reports.
We had no way to dig deeper into our reports, so we couldn’t get granular insights into financials, which made it difficult to manage our fluctuating workloads.
We manually calculated utilization, but it required pulling data into spreadsheets, filtering everything, and doing the math ourselves. There was no easy way to track utilization across different teams or levels of the organization.
Why did you start looking for a new tool?
We needed something customizable, user-friendly, and affordable. Since we work with contractors and have varying workloads, we require a system that can handle contractual guarantees vs. actual capacity.
Our most significant pain points were:
- Lack of cross-department visibility.
- Too much reliance on spreadsheets for reporting.
- Inability to handle edge cases like contractor engagements and fluctuating workloads.
- Harvest’s rigid structure made it hard to get the data we needed.
We also considered Parallax, which had a lot of depth but was expensive and difficult to use. What stood out about Productive was:
- Its balance of customization and ease of use.
- Strong support team.
- Integrations with key tools like HubSpot and Jira.
- A pricing model that made sense for an agency of our size
What benefits did you see once you started using Productive? What were the biggest changes?
We saw a lot of changes across various points, but these are the most significant ones:
- Cross-department visibility improved dramatically.
- We eliminated countless spreadsheets and now have all key data in one place.
- Customizable permissions allowed us to empower employees while controlling sensitive data.
- Our ability to manage resource planning has drastically improved, reducing time spent on manual calculations.
- The customizable reports and dashboards have saved leadership and operations countless hours.
My favorite feature in Productive is the customizable permissions. They allow us to give employees as much visibility as possible while securing sensitive data.
Do you have a favorite feature in Productive and why?
My favorite feature in Productive is the customizable permissions. They allow us to give employees as much visibility as possible while securing sensitive data. I also love the custom reporting—it’s been a game-changer for us. Building and sharing specific reports easily has saved us so much time and made decision-making more efficient. The recent resourcing updates have been great, too. The improved visibility into absences has made scheduling much smoother.
How would you feel if you didn’t have Productive?
Miserable. We’d lose so much time reverting to spreadsheets, and rebuilding what we currently have in Productive would take months. Our utilization would suffer, and our ability to manage resources efficiently would take a massive hit.
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