In this revealing episode of That Moment, host Thailah Newton explores what happens when an agency hits the invisible ceiling - that point where more work doesn't mean more profit, just more chaos. Meet Noémie El-Maawiy, Operations Manager at Minty, who joined a fast-growing creative agency at precisely the moment when spreadsheets were breaking, projects were slipping through cracks, and the founder was drowning in operational details that pulled him away from the strategic work only he could do.
When Noémie arrived at Minty, the agency was trapped in a pattern familiar to many growing firms: winning exciting clients, delivering brilliant creative work, but struggling with the unglamorous operational foundation that makes sustainable growth possible. Time tracking lived in one system, project management in another, invoicing somewhere else entirely. The result? Hours lost reconciling data, projects running over budget without anyone noticing until it was too late, and a team working harder without the agency becoming more profitable.
Noémie brings the perspective of someone who's lived both sides of the agency equation — from creative roles to operations leadership. She understands why creative teams resist process ("it feels like it's slowing us down") while recognising that without structure, growth becomes unsustainable. Her approach isn't about imposing rigid systems that kill creativity; it's about building operational clarity that frees people to do their best work.
This episode tackles the universal challenge facing scaling agencies: how do you professionalise operations without losing the entrepreneurial energy that made you successful? And why does every growing firm eventually hit the moment when "just working harder" stops being the answer?
The Reality of Operational Transformation:
The Spreadsheet Breaking Point: When manual processes that worked for 10 people actively sabotage you at 20+.
The Founder's Dilemma: How operational chaos traps leaders in reactive mode, preventing the strategic thinking that drives growth.
Creative Resistance to Process: Why designers and developers see structure as bureaucracy — until they experience what good systems actually enable.
The Data Fragmentation Problem: Managing time tracking, project management, and invoicing across disconnected tools that don't talk to each other.
Invisible Profit Leaks: Projects running over budget without visibility until month-end, when it's too late to course-correct.
The Implementation Reality: Why rolling out new systems always takes longer than expected and requires more change management than technical setup.
Key Insights Uncovered:
Why operations managers are translators - speaking both the language of creative teams and the language of business metrics
The psychology of process resistance: creative professionals equate structure with constraint until they see it creates freedom
How real-time visibility transforms reactive firefighting into proactive project management
Why "just one more spreadsheet" becomes the enemy of scalable operations
The challenge of implementing proper systems while client work continues — you can't stop the engine to rebuild it
How operational clarity frees founders to focus on strategy instead of daily firefighting
From Noémie's perspective as someone who moved from creative roles into operations, witness the mindset shift required to see that structure doesn't kill creativity — it protects it. Her journey at Minty reveals what sustainable transformation looks like: not a dramatic overnight change, but patient, persistent work to build foundations that let brilliant creative work flourish profitably.
Noémie shares the operational leader's reality: getting buy-in requires showing teams how systems serve them, not just tracking them. Change management isn't about forcing compliance; it's about demonstrating value until resistance transforms into advocacy.