Vandelay Consolidated: a bucketization journey

The challenge

Vandelay’s buckets were everywhere. Finance had buckets. Operations had buckets. One regional office had, inexplicably, pails. Leadership knew the org was under-synergized but could not say how, why, or what that meant. “We didn’t know we needed Futtbucker,” their COO recalls, “until we needed Futtbucker.” We had been calling weekly for two years.

The approach

• Months 1–6: Discovery. 214 stakeholder interviews, of which 214 were rescheduled at least once.
• Months 7–14: Bucket consolidation. 1,192 buckets reduced to one enormous bucket. The pails were grandfathered.
• Months 15–22: Deep integration, front to back. Vandelay’s systems now share everything, including things that were confidential.
• Months 23–24: Findings deck delivered (400 pages). Realignment certificates distributed. Invoice opened immediately.

The results

• 340% bucketization velocity (Q3, directionally correct)
• 100% of verticals fully penetrated, per our definition, which is sealed
• Employee engagement scores no longer collected, eliminating a key source of negativity
• Vandelay renewed for three years, citing “sunk cost” as a strategic pillar

Results not typical. Results not atypical. Results not, in the actionable sense, results.

Epilogue: the reversal

Eleven months into the renewal, Vandelay engaged Futtbucker Reversal Services. The one enormous bucket has been dispersed into 1,340 buckets (a 12% improvement over the original 1,192, which we have counted as growth). The pails were un-grandfathered, then re-grandfathered under a separate statement of work. Deep Extraction is scheduled for Q4. “They bucketized us, then debucketized us,” a Vandelay executive told us, on the record, because we hold the record. “Both invoices were directionally correct.”

Reversal results not typical. Reversal results priced above typical. This is not explained.