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Todd Kane, Founder

Lean MSP operations: PSA usage, time entry, TBRs and leadership, from a decade of coaching MSPs.

Works with
Any PSA

Todd has helped dozens of MSPs reduce stress and scale smarter by improving PSA usage, cleaning up operations, and training teams for better compliance and leadership. With 30+ years in IT and a decade coaching MSPs, he brings a lean, practical approach.

Book a free call with Todd to learn

  • How to increase your managed service margins by double digits
  • Simplifying workflows without burning out your team
  • Using technology business reviews (TBRs) and time entry to unlock growth

Todd Kane on margins, lean operations and PSA adoption

Intro · May 2025 · 15 min

Joint webinars and podcasts

MSP project management: structure, accountability and no more story time

Webinar · April 2024 · 1 hr 18 min

Webinar from TopLeft's agile (working in short cycles and adjusting as you go; it suits service and project teams, not only software) project management workshop. Todd Kane, an MSP consultant and coach with about 30 years in the industry, presents project management for MSPs, covering scope, resourcing, communication, project close and tooling. The second half is Q&A with Melvyn and Steve, the other speakers, on overlaying agile practices on waterfall projects, rolling out change with a pilot team, and billing for project management, with Wim Kerkhoff hosting.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Why the workshop, and Todd's intro
  2. 3:05Todd's background
  3. 7:42Project maturity scale and the chaos phase
  4. 13:19Getting by versus on rails
  5. 18:55Protecting shared resources
  6. 23:32Kickoff, scope and the 4 to 6 week start
  7. 27:07Comms rhythm and project close
  8. 32:16The no story rule and one-on-ones
  9. 35:49PM tools, TopLeft, and templates
  10. 39:24Pitfalls and course offers
  11. 47:12Q&A on scope, billing and rollout
  12. 1:02:34Agile on top of waterfall
  13. 1:14:19Closing action items

The MSP service manager playbook: coaching, accountability and team flow

Webinar · August 2023 · 49 min

Todd Kane, a management consultant who has led service teams at Bell Canada and Fully Managed, talks through the service manager role in an MSP. He covers KPIs, weekly one-on-ones, motivation, accountability and culture, then takes host questions on team size and on promoting a tech into management. Wim Kerkhoff asks one of the questions from the chat.

Chapters

  1. 1:02Why the service manager role matters
  2. 5:05Service pyramid and the firefighting problem
  3. 10:39Service manager burnout and the promotion trap
  4. 17:14Define KPIs and manage by exception
  5. 21:21Weekly one-on-ones and coaching
  6. 23:54Intrinsic motivation over bonuses
  7. 25:57Accountability, engagement and culture
  8. 33:09Data, A players and recap
  9. 39:47Q&A: what to focus on and team size
  10. 45:23Q&A: promoting a tech without burnout

Six ways to get technicians to track their time

Talk · August 2023 · 12 min

Wim Kerkhoff, TopLeft's founder, goes through six ways to get technicians to enter time as they work instead of backfilling from calendars and emails. He draws on a time entry workshop run by Todd Kane of Evolved Management, and demos the timers and ticket switching in TopLeft's kanban view.

Chapters

  1. 0:01Why time entry is still hard
  2. 1:03Why the time data matters
  3. 2:06Focus blocks to cut inputs
  4. 2:36Visualize the work on a kanban
  5. 4:38Limit work in progress
  6. 5:08Easier switching between tickets
  7. 6:41Demo: new call mid time entry
  8. 9:17Throughput over hours
  9. 9:47Incremental improvement
  10. 10:18Recap and next steps

MSP leadership: coaching, breath work and beating overwhelm

Podcast · February 2023 · 22 min

Wim Kerkhoff talks with Todd, an operations consultant who spoke at TopLeft's summer boot camp, about coaching, breath work and handling overwhelm as an MSP leader. They cover what each has learned over the past year, how Wim changed the way he runs check-ins with his team, and what Todd sees when new managers grow into the role. It runs about 21 minutes.

Chapters

  1. 0:36Welcome and guest intro
  2. 1:07Breath work and the obstacle is the way
  3. 4:11How breath work changes your state
  4. 5:44Movement, swimming and flow states
  5. 8:46Being a perpetual learner
  6. 9:48Why coaches help
  7. 10:49Host's coaches and lessons from training
  8. 13:22Fly on the wall curiosity and reporting
  9. 15:55Explain management changes to your team
  10. 17:26Owners create the overwhelm
  11. 18:56Seeing a manager grow into the role
  12. 20:58Wrap-up

Work with Todd

Lean MSP operations: PSA usage, time entry, TBRs and leadership, from a decade of coaching MSPs.

Email Todd

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