Task bundling: turn scattered small jobs into one role

Key takeaways

Task bundling means grouping several small repetitive tasks, each too small to outsource alone, into one defined role for an outsourced team. Bundles work best when the tasks share systems, rhythm or customers. A bundle of 10 to 20 hours a week usually gives a team enough volume to learn and stay accurate.

• Bundle tasks that share systems, timing or customers.
• 10 to 20 hours a week is a practical minimum bundle.
• Write one method per task, but one scorecard per bundle.
• Keep each bundle to one in-house owner.

What is task bundling?

Task bundling is the practice of combining small recurring tasks into one block of work that a dedicated person or team owns. Each task might take an hour a week, which is too small to hand over alone, but eight of them together make a role. Bundling turns the scattered admin that clogs a small business into something you can manage and measure.

• How UK SMEs can use outsourcing to handle repetitive tasks
• Repetitive task inventory: list every recurring job once

Which tasks bundle well together?

Tasks bundle well when the same person would naturally need the same access and knowledge to do them. Group by shared system, such as everything done in the accounts package, by shared rhythm, such as daily morning tasks, or by shared customer journey, such as everything after an order is placed.

• By system: purchase orders, supplier statements and cash allocation.
• By rhythm: daily reminders, callbacks and order queries.
• By journey: booking, confirmation, reminder and follow-up.
• By sector: job sheets, certificates and notifications in trades.

• Purchase order processing: raise, match and close POs
• Callback requests: a routine that really calls back
• Appointment reminders: cut no-shows without more admin
• Competent person scheme notifications: never miss one

How big should a bundle be?

As a GBL rule of thumb, aim for 10 to 20 hours a week in a first bundle. Below that, the team does each task too rarely to stay fluent, and briefing time takes a large share. In an illustrative example, six tasks of 1.5 to 4 hours each make a 14-hour bundle; these are example figures, so add up your own.

• How many outsourced seats does a small business need?
• Outsourcing vs a part-time hire

When does bundling go wrong?

Bundling goes wrong when unrelated tasks are thrown together to reach a number of hours, so the team needs five systems and three managers. It also goes wrong when one task in the bundle is unstable and drags the others down. Leave unstable tasks out and add them once they are fixed.

• The repetitive task fit score: ready to hand over?
• Scope creep in outsourcing: how extra work erodes savings

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: an owner rejects outsourcing because no single task is big enough. Grouping the post-order tasks into one bundle creates a role that a managed team runs daily, and the owner stops being the default for every small job.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Bundling checklist

Use these steps to build a bundle.

• Sort the inventory by system, rhythm and journey.
• Pick the group with the most stable tasks.
• Add up weekly hours for the group.
• Leave out any task scoring under 5.
• Name one in-house owner for the bundle.

• Scope of work for an outsourced task: what to write down

Next step

Send us your list of small tasks. We will suggest how to group them into a bundle worth handing over and what to leave out for now.