It is modeled after the Manifesto for Agile Software Development created in 2001. COLLABORATION ... F. ADAPTIVE. Adaptiv
aBC D E F GAN HIJK TO LMNOP QGUIDE R S TU Agile TITLE Marketing:
Intro
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AGILE MARKETING VALUE The Agile Marketing Manifesto1 guides marketers in developing Agile practices and processes. It is modeled after the Manifesto for Agile Software Development created in 2001.
A C E F G
ADAPTIVE Adaptive and iterative campaigns over Big-Bang campaigns
COLLABORATION Customer-focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy
EXPERIMENT Many small experiments over a few large bets
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PROCESS The process of customer discovery over static prediction
RESPONSIVENESS Responding to change over following a plan
VALIDATED LEARNING Validated learning over opinions and conventions
FLEXIBLE Flexible vs. rigid planning
GET A GURU Agile coaches are common. Coaches integrate into your environment so you can practice new Agile concepts on actual projects, with hands-on support to address skill or knowledge gaps in real time. TEKsystems.com | 02
A LOOK AT AGILE
B D K L
BACKLOG Planned tasks that haven’t started yet. At the end of a sprint, Agile teams go through the incomplete or blocked tasks (backlog grooming), prioritize them based on real-time need and move them into the next sprint.
DAILY STAND-UPS Stand-ups are approximately 15 minutes. Each team member goes over the items on their board and (if applicable) moves them to corresponding places on Kanban board.
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MIX IT UP
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UNIT SIZE
There are several approaches to implementing Agile practices into your environment. Do research, test different methodologies out and find out what works best for your team.
The ideal Agile unit (or Scrum team) is seven people, plus or minus a couple.
KANBAN Nearly one-quarter of marketers using Agile leverage the Kanban method where team members pull work from a backlog and limit work in progress.2 The Kanban board is a visual representation of the workflow.
LEAN Lean (29.7%) is the most commonly used Agile methodology for marketers. A Lean approach eliminates nonvalue-added work, optimizes the "system" for work and focuses on delivering as fast as possible.2
NEW
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Don’t sweat—most of your peers are going through the same learning curve! According to a 2016 Wrike study, over 80 percent of marketing teams using Agile have been practicing for one year or less.2
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WHY IS AGILE SO AWESOME?
I O H
ITERATIVE NATURE Agile is iterative—actions, or tasks, are refined over time until the desired result occurs. Its iterative nature is one of the reasons why Agile is cited for creating higher-quality products and increasing speed to market.
OMNICHANNEL
Q Y
Agile marketing allows you to get a better view of all projects in flight to assure that you are planning for a consistent customer experience across all channels.
QUICK FEEDBACK Agile eliminates long planning cycles in favor of trying things, seeing what works and quickly incorporating the feedback.
YES By prioritizing the marketing projects showing results, you’ll be in a better position to say “yes” to new opportunities for creativity and growth.
HAPPIER High Agile users (63%) are significantly more satisfied with how work is managed on their marketing teams than low Agile users (10%).2 TEKsystems.com | 04
AGILE READINESS TITLE TEST Sure, Agile sounds great—but is it right for your team? Agile coach Lee Ackerman recommends asking yourself the following questions to see if your team is truly Agile ready.
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SKILL Does your team possess technical and marketing excellence? A smart, knowledgeable team is going to produce good work, regardless of their project management approach. Agile just makes it faster and more flexible—but it isn’t a substitute for skill and hard work.
TRANSPARENCY
W X
Is your team comfortable with a lot of visibility into their activities? Daily stand-ups give team members more insight into each other’s work so they can flex in ways to help each other make progress. This transparency doesn’t sit well with everyone, particularly when you first start sharing.
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WILLINGNESS Does your team like to try new things? Agile requires a willingness to experiment—moving forward with an idea before being fully sure it will work.
EXECUTIVE BUY-IN Do your leaders fully understand the Agile approach, and are they willing to invest in it? Because Agile radically changes the way your team operates, you need buy-in from your direct leaders. If they don’t understand what you are doing, they may not be willing to support your decisions.
FIND YOUR ZEN
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By focusing on smaller, high-priority tasks to achieve success faster, Agile helps you find your marketing happy place.
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DON’T GET JAMMED UP Agile will help you manage projects in a more iterative way, but your use of Agile can also be iterative. Take what you like from different approaches, test them out, keep what works and omit what doesn’t.
Resources: Agile Marketing Manifesto 2 How Marketers Get Things Done: The State of Agile Marketing in 2016, Wrike. 1
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aBC D E F GHIJK LMNOP QR S TU TEKsystems Digital supports strategic marketing initiatives for clients ranging from boutique agencies to Fortune 500 companies by supplying skilled design, development, functional and technical resources. A division of TEKsystems, a global technology staffing, talent management and services leader, TEKsystems Digital thrives at the intersection of technology and marketing. We offer the focus of a specialized niche firm while providing the experience, scalability, depth and reach of a global partner.
Learn more at TEKsystems.com.
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