Here's the uncomfortable truth: 70% of all knowledge work activities are repetitive, similar, and ripe for standardization. William Heitman proved this in "The Knowledge Work Factory" with data from thousands of projects.

That doesn't mean your projects are boring. It means the majority of your processes are identical – while only a small portion is actually unique.

The numbers don't lie:

• 70% of project work is procedural – always the same, easily standardized

• 33% of work time is wasted on unnecessary rework due to missing standardization

• 93% of organizations use standardized PM practices, but only 23% organization-wide

• 77% of high-performing projects use PM software – while only 22% of all companies use any at all

And yet, you keep hearing: "Our projects are too unique for templates."

Bullshit.

What You Can Actually Standardize (and What You Can't)

Most people confuse two different things:

Procedural Work (70%): The workflow around the project. Briefing, kickoff, status updates, approvals, invoicing, reporting. That's identical in every project. This is where time gets lost. Where errors happen. And this is exactly where standardization helps.

Judgment-based Work (20%): The actual creative work. Design decisions, strategy development, individual problem-solving. That stays unique. That should stay unique.

The rest (10%)? Chaos. Unplanned problems that keep popping up. Those can often be anticipated too – if you have data.

Here's what can actually be standardized:

1. Client Onboarding & Briefing: End the Email Ping-Pong

The Problem: Every project starts the same way. With 47 emails back and forth. "Do you have a logo?" – "Yes, sending tomorrow." – "What colors should we use?" – "Not sure yet, I'll get back to you." – "Who's your target audience?" – Silence.

A web agency in Stuttgart – 8 years in business, about 15 full-time staff – spent an average of 3.5 weeks on the briefing phase for every new client project in 2023. Not because the projects were complex, but because information came in drips and drabs. Every account manager had their own method: One used Google Forms, another Word documents, the third asked questions in Zoom calls while typing notes. When a project finally kicked off, the same info was always missing: access credentials, CI guidelines, existing content. The PMs spent the first project week asking follow-up questions instead of delivering.

The Leadtime Solution:

Leadtime has Questionnaires built directly into Project Components. That means: You build a structured question catalog once for each project type (e.g., "Website Relaunch" or "CRM Implementation").

The client gets the link. They fill everything out – at their pace, no pressure. The answers land automatically in the system and flow directly into project calculations. No more forgotten details. No more email loops.

And the best part: The effort estimation adjusts automatically to the answers. When the customer clicks "Yes" for "Multilingual required," the calculation jumps automatically. Transparent. Traceable. Without anyone manually calculating.

2. Project Kickoff: Stop the Freestyle Meetings

The Problem: Every PM has their own style. One starts with "So, let's see..." another with a 40-slide presentation. Some forget to clarify access. Others forget to discuss timelines. At the end of the meeting, nobody really knows what happens next.

An IT systems house in Cologne – specialized in software implementations, about 50 consultants – had a massive onboarding problem in 2022. When a new PM started, it took three months before they had the "unwritten rules" down: What does a good kickoff look like? What info needs to be collected? Who needs to be involved? There was no template. No checklist. Just "learning by doing." The result: Every third project started rough because elementary things were forgotten in the first two weeks – access, approval processes, contacts. Then everything had to be clarified retroactively.

The Leadtime Solution:

In Leadtime, you build Project Components – reusable templates for every project type. Each component contains Epics (main sections like "Kickoff & Setup," "Design & Implementation," "Testing & Go-Live") and underneath Work Packages with concrete tasks.

When a new project starts, you simply select the appropriate component. Boom. All work packages are there. All checklists. All standard tasks. The PM doesn't have to "invent" how a website project runs – they just use the proven structure.

And because Leadtime is modular, you can of course customize: Remove a work package, add one, adjust effort. But the core stays the same. That saves time. Prevents errors. And gives new employees structure immediately.

3. Recurring Tasks: Never Again "Did You Already...?"

The Problem: There are tasks that show up in every project. Domain setup. Staging environment. Testing. Approval rounds. And yet they're reinvented every time. Or forgotten.

A digital agency in Hamburg – about 25 employees, specialized in e-commerce – lost at least two days in every third project in 2021 because standard tasks weren't planned. Example: SEO setup. Everyone knew it had to be done. But it was never in the original plan. So it was always "shoved in later" – either right before go-live (stress) or completely forgotten (then customers complained three weeks later). Management never calculated these "hidden tasks" into quotes. The result: Projects that looked profitable on the outside weren't in reality.

The Leadtime Solution:

With Leadtime, you create Standard Work Packages in the Component Library. These packages contain all tasks that keep coming up – including estimated effort, responsibilities, and dependencies.

When you plan a new project, you simply pull in the necessary packages. Done. No brainstorming. No forgotten steps. And because Leadtime automatically calculates the effort, every quote is realistically priced from the start.

You stay in control: Packages can be adjusted, extended, or omitted. But the foundation is there. Structured. Reusable. Scalable.

4. Proposals & Documentation: Win Back 4 Hours Per Week

The Problem: Every proposal is written from scratch. Copy-paste from old documents. Three people review it. There are still typos. Or wrong numbers. Or outdated phrasing.

A consulting firm in Munich – specialized in digital transformation consulting, about 35 consultants – found in 2023 that every senior consultant invested an average of 6 hours per proposal. Not in calculation. Not in strategy. But in writing. Because there was no template. Everyone built their proposal themselves: cover page from Project A, service description from Project B, payment terms typed from the last PDF. The result: Proposals looked different, phrasing varied, and customers regularly asked: "Wait, didn't it say something different last week?"

The Leadtime Solution:

Leadtime has Document Templates for proposals, contracts, specifications. You create them once – with placeholders for project name, client, services, prices. After that, you generate documents with one click.

Even better: Because the data comes from Questionnaires and Project Components, all info is already there. You don't have to type anything. No copy-paste errors. No outdated prices.

Studies show that project managers save over 4 hours per week when using standardized templates. That's over 200 hours per year. Per PM.

The Real Problem Isn't the Software

Standardization doesn't fail because of missing tools. It fails because of the illusion that everything is unique.

The data says: 70% of your project work is repeatable. Briefings, kickoffs, proposals, standard tasks – that's the same in every project. Only 20% is actually individual.

Leadtime was built exactly for this: Not for "one-size-fits-all," but for teams who've realized that structure doesn't restrict – it liberates.

You build the components once. Then you use them again and again – customized when needed, but always on a solid foundation. The result: Faster proposals, clearer projects, shorter onboarding, higher margins.

And more time for what really counts: Delivering outstanding work for your customers.