# Case: the "tickets closed" bonus > Four weeks of bonus data: closes are up, quality is down. Read the numbers and propose to Iryna what to change. - Course: [From Specialist to Manager: Your First Year Leading a Team](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager.md) - Module: Motivation and fairness - Lesson 16/32, ~40 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/tickets-closed-bonus-case ## Keep, change or drop? **Alex Tutor:** Friday, 30 April. The bonus has run four weeks: UAH 20 for every ticket a coordinator closes above 60 in a week. **Iryna:** It's meant to run until the end of June. Keep it, change it or drop it? Send me one page by Monday with the numbers. I decide, but I want your proposal. **Sofia:** I have four weeks of March and four of April for all six coordinators. Where do I start? **Alex Tutor:** With the number the bonus was built to move. Then everything it might have moved by accident. **Dataset (CSV):** [Support team results before and under the bonus, March–April 2027](https://productovi.com/datasets/from-specialist-to-manager/tickets-closed-bonus-case/klasna-support-bonus-mar-apr.csv) Eight weeks, six coordinators. The bonus applies from the week of 5 April. Satisfaction = csat_positive ÷ csat_responses (only tickets where the family answered the survey). The lead is not in the file. - `week_start`: Monday of the week - `period`: before_bonus (8–29 March) or bonus (5–26 April) - `person`: Coordinator - `contract`: permanent or seasonal - `tickets_closed`: Tickets closed that week; a reopened ticket closed again counts again - `hard_tickets_closed`: Of those, the hardest tickets (part of tickets_closed) - `reopened`: Tickets the family reopened after closing - `csat_responses`: Survey answers received - `csat_positive`: Positive survey answers > **Exercise:** By how many **percent** did the team's total tickets closed change from the four weeks before the bonus to the four bonus weeks? Round to two decimals. ## What the count hides **Sofia:** Plus 18.50%. Iryna will like that. **Alex Tutor:** Now the guardrail. Before the bonus, 84 of 1,497 closed tickets were reopened: a pooled rate of 5.61%. Work out the same rate for April. **Alex Tutor:** Pool it: all reopened over all closed, not the mean of six personal rates. Taras's volume should weigh what it weighs. **Olha:** I can guess the direction. I've reopened enough of them myself. > **Exercise:** What was the team's **pooled reopen rate** in the four bonus weeks (all reopened ÷ all tickets closed)? In %, two decimals. **Alex Tutor:** Why pool it instead of averaging the six personal rates? > **Exercise:** Why should the team's reopen rate be **pooled** (all reopened ÷ all closed) rather than the mean of the six coordinators' personal rates? ## Closed is not solved **Alex Tutor:** Of the 277 extra closes, how many were the same problems coming back? Work out the share. > **Exercise:** Under the bonus, closes rose by 277 and reopened tickets by 74 (84 → 158). What **share of the extra closes** were the extra reopens? In %, two decimals. **Alex Tutor:** Of the 277 extra closes, 74 are the extra reopens: the same problems closed a second time. Tickets closed without coming back grew only 14.37%, from 1,413 to 1,616. **Alex Tutor:** Two more columns moved. Satisfaction fell from 86.07% to 79.92%. And the coordinators solved 21 of the hardest tickets instead of 44: hard tickets take an hour and pay the same as easy ones. **Sofia:** And those hard tickets didn't disappear. They waited, or came up to me. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly the pattern you fought in January. The bonus bought some extra solved tickets and paid for it in quality and hard work. > **Exercise:** Which summary of the bonus weeks is most accurate? ## Who the bonus paid **Alex Tutor:** The bonus paid UAH 7,200 in four weeks. Taras earned UAH 4,780 of it, 66.39%. His closes rose from 381 to 479, his reopen rate from 9.45% to 15.24%, his satisfaction fell to 67.14%. **Alex Tutor:** Maryna kept her pace and her quality, 1.68% reopens and 94.12% satisfaction, and earned UAH 60. Sofiia closed 43 more tickets and earned nothing. **Alex Tutor:** What did each genuinely new solved ticket cost in bonus money? Work it out. > **Exercise:** The bonus paid **UAH 7,200** in four weeks, and tickets closed without a reopen rose from 1,413 to 1,616. How much bonus was paid per **extra ticket that stayed closed**? In UAH, two decimals. **Alex Tutor:** Before the one-to-one with Taras, check your instinct on this. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** Taras did what the rule paid for, so the lead shouldn't raise his April reopens with him at all. **Alex Tutor:** Iryna will ask what you'd change. Which options fix what you found? > **Exercise:** Under the April bonus (UAH 20 per ticket a coordinator closes above 60 a week), the pooled reopen rate rose from 5.61% to 8.91%, satisfaction fell, the hardest tickets solved by coordinators fell from 44 to 21, and the team said the rule was set without asking them. Which changes to the bonus address these side effects? Select all that apply. **Sofia:** So do I tell Taras he gamed it? **Alex Tutor:** He did what the rule paid for. That's the rule's fault, not his character. Talk about the behavior and its effect on families, ask his view first, and change the rule. > **Exercise:** Write the **opening 2–3 sentences** of your one-to-one with Taras about his April reopens (381 → 479 closes, 9.45% → 15.24% reopened). Describe the behavior and its effect, and ask his view, without blaming him for following the rule. ## What to change **Sofia:** Options for Iryna: drop the bonus, keep it with a reopen ceiling, or pay the whole team for solved tickets that stay solved. **Alex Tutor:** Whatever you choose, test it against the last three lessons. Does it pay for what you actually want? Can you explain it to Maryna and to Taras in the same words? **Alex Tutor:** And does it fix any real cause? Dmytro's refund skills and Bohdan's drafts were never about money. Recognition and the late-shift rota cost nothing. **Olha:** Ask us before you send it. We'd rather design the rule than be surprised by it again. ## Your page for Iryna **Iryna:** One page, by Monday: what the numbers say, what you'd change, how the team takes part, and how we'll know in May whether it works. **Alex Tutor:** Lead with the honest reading: the gain and the costs. Then the rule, the fairness check, the process and the dates. **Alex Tutor:** Keep personal numbers out of it, except where Iryna needs them to see who the rule paid. No rankings, no blame. **Sofia:** Gain, cost, new rule, who decides, when we check. Got it. > **Exercise:** Write your one-page proposal to Iryna on the "tickets closed" bonus. > **Key ideas** > > - Read an incentive on its own number **and** its guardrails: closes +18.50%, but reopens 5.61% → 8.91%, satisfaction 86.07% → 79.92%, hard tickets 44 → 21. > - Closed is not solved: 74 of 277 extra closes were the same problems closed twice; tickets that stayed closed rose 14.37%. > - **Metric gaming** is usually the rule's fault: people did what it paid for. Talk about behavior and effect, ask their view, change the rule. > - Check **fairness at work**: the bonus paid 66.39% to the person whose quality fell most and UAH 60 to the best quality. > - A better rule pays for the real goal at team level, with guardrails, agreed with the team, and with a review date. Money fixes none of the "can't" or "won't" causes; diagnosis, learning goals and recognition do. **Alex Tutor:** That's April. In May: the meetings that eat the team's week, starting with the stand-up. - Previous lesson: [Fairness and recognition](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/fairness-and-recognition.md) - Next lesson: [Do we need this meeting?](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/do-we-need-this-meeting.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.