1. People.
Consider hiring agency veterans. They have an advantage over internal creative types because they are used to a rapid pace, can focus on many priorities in short bursts of time, and operate in an environment of high expectations.
2. Atmosphere.
Eliminate fear. Hire smart people, and let them take risks. Create an environment that’s conducive to experimentation and open to failing—but never in the same way twice.
3. Time.
Forget the old set-it-and-forget-it attitude or arcane processes of big presentations and sign-offs. Instead, create time-based problems to solve (e.g., in the next two weeks, we must identify how to integrate Facebook into our website) and use daily scrum check-ins to share ideas and progress against priorities, face to face.
4. Tools.
Allow the team to focus on the task at hand by using collaboration tools that promote and dynamically capture the group’s thinking and plans. Ensure that your tools are flexible and user-friendly, so all team members can participate—regardless of platform, device, or location.
5. Leadership.
Consistently guide and encourage members to make decisions and execute them while watching the metrics to guide future iterations. I believe in a “get it right, not perfect” approach, which allows for flexibility without obsession and offers the ability to double-down on efforts that are producing results.
5. Tips To Develop A Marketing
Team To Work In Agile
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6. 1. People.
Consider hiring agency veterans. They have an advantage over internal creative types because they are used to a rapid pace, can focus on
many priorities in short bursts of time, and operate in an environment of high expectations.
2. Atmosphere.
Eliminate fear. Hire smart people, and let them take risks. Create an environment that’s conducive to experimentation and open to failing—
but never in the same way twice.
3. Time.
Forget the old set-it-and-forget-it attitude or arcane processes of big presentations and sign-offs. Instead, create time-based problems to
solve (e.g., in the next two weeks, we must identify how to integrate Facebook into our website) and use daily scrum check-ins to share
ideas and progress against priorities, face to face.
4. Tools.
Allow the team to focus on the task at hand by using collaboration tools that promote and dynamically capture the group’s thinking and
plans. Ensure that your tools are flexible and user-friendly, so all team members can participate—regardless of platform, device, or
location.
5. Leadership.
Consistently guide and encourage members to make decisions and execute them while watching the metrics to guide future iterations. I
believe in a “get it right, not perfect” approach, which allows for flexibility without obsession and offers the ability to double-down on
efforts that are producing results.
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7. How To Get Started
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8. 1. Start Small.
DO select one project. DON’T create a sprint.
2. Make it Cross-Functional.
Pick a project that has lots of traditional handoffs (e.g., writer, designer, developer). Landing page, SEM target.
Nurture campaign.
3. Create muscle memory.
Overuse the standup. Facilitates acceptance of the process. Nothing will help you move through challenges
culturally or practically like seeing each other and explicitly focusing on what is being done.
You only need one strong success emotionally
to get the team excited about the process reorganization into agile.
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10. 1. Scrum.
For projects. We’ve adapted scrum to work for us. We don’t stay to the letter of the ‘scrum’ laws but ‘in the ballpark’
works well. Any mid-sized project outside of lights on is run through this process. 3 weeks on 1 week planning for
the next Sprint.
2. Kanban.
For lights on. We’ve adapted the lean scheduling technique of Kanban to manage day-2-day activities. This process
is always in place, even during planning weeks between sprints.
3. 60/40 split.
Resource management at this level is hard but the general rule of thumb we try to use is 60% of our time is spent
on Sprint projects and 40% is lights on.
3. Use every technology you can get...
Video teleconferencing, phone conferencing, document sharing, idea management, etc.
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11. 1. Scrum. For projects.
For projects. We’ve adapted scrum to work for us. We don’t stay to the letter of the ‘scrum’ laws but ‘in the ballpark’
works well. Any mid-sized project outside of lights on is run through this process. 3 weeks on 1 week planning for
the next Sprint.
Planning maps via http://www.mindjet.com
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12. 2. Kanban. For lights on.
For lights on. We’ve adapted the lean scheduling technique of Kanban to manage day-2-day activities. This process
is always in place, even during planning weeks between sprints.
Social Task Management / Kanban boards via http://www.mindjet.com
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13. 3. Use every technology you can get...
Video teleconferencing, phone conferencing, document sharing, idea management, etc.
Skype/ GoToMeeting/Mindjet
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