Five things sixty districts taught us about field operations
Notes from running field teams across 60 districts: what breaks first, what we measure now, and what we would tell anyone about to deploy.
Satyam Gambhir · 1 September 2026 · 6 min read
01
Attrition is decided in the first ninety days
Most exits happen before a field worker has finished a full cycle. Hiring for fit rather than availability, and paying on time, did more for retention than any incentive we designed.
40 to 60%first-ninety-day attrition on programmes we were brought in to fix
02
The form is the programme
A form built for the dashboard gets filled in on Friday from memory. We now design forms standing in a courtyard, with a phone at 12% battery, before anyone writes a line of code.
Photograph
03
One supervisor cannot see thirty people
Span of control is an operating decision, not an org chart. Below a realistic ratio, quality assurance becomes a spreadsheet review of work nobody can correct.
1 : 12the supervision ratio we now plan around
04
Data that arrives late is only reporting
If field data surfaces four weeks later, it explains last quarter. Weekly correction loops turned the same data into management.
Photograph
05
Plan the handover in week one
A programme that depends on us is not finished. Every engagement now starts with the day our team leaves, and the competency checklist that gets it there.
Before you deploy, check these.
Roles are defined from the workflow, not the job board.
Forms were tested offline, in the field, on the phones people own.
Every supervisor has a span they can actually visit.
