Agile Mindset
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Agile Mindset
The Danger of Small Batches Addiction
When we talk about the benefits of working with small batches we talk about risk reduction, about improving flow, and getting quick feedback.
I call these reasons “scientific”.
I believe that the main reason for working in small batches is getting things done. The value of getting things done is mainly a moralistic one. It is good to get things done – it does good to your soul.
This leads us to the dark side of working in small batches – The Addiction.
Agile Marketing
The Scaled Agile Marketing Series
Introduction to the Scaled Agile Marketing Series
More and more Marketing organizations realize they need to be faster, more flexible/responsive, and more collaborative to have a real impact on the business they’re supporting. More and more marketing leaders believe Agile Marketing is how to modernize their organization. Scaled Agile Marketing talks about applying Agile Marketing principles beyond one team and beyond the green fields of the unicorn internet company – in larger marketing organizations that face barriers like marketing to businesses rather than consumers and working not just in the online/digital realm but also the physical world.
Agile Marketing
Scaled Agile Marketing using SAFe – The Essentials
Focusing on SAFe™
In the previous article in the Scaled Agile Marketing series, I provided an overview of how Scaled Agile Marketing looks like. This time around I want to provide some more details on one of the approaches I mentioned for implementing Scaled Agile Marketing – the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe™).
Why SAFe? First of all, it is the most popular scaling approach these days and so many marketers will find themselves in organizations where SAFe is actually used in IT/Technology and the option of using it in Marketing as well will come up. As a result of that, it is also the scaling framework I’ve actually had a chance to use in a marketing context with good results.
Agile Marketing
Scaled Agile Marketing – An Overview
What does Scaled Agile Marketing mean?
So, assuming you’re thinking Agile Marketing can help you with some of your marketing challenges and there’s a good opportunity to do something about it right now, and there are some reasons you think you need to consider some scaling aspects, let’s try to see what scaled agile marketing looks like.
Agile Marketing
Defining Agile Marketing
In this article we will try to define the approach known as “Agile Marketing” – The application of ideas from the world of “Lean/Agile Software Development” to the world of marketing with the aim of achieving marketing agility.
What ISN’T Agile Marketing
First, a couple of clarifications and myth-busting. Agile Marketing isn’t reactive marketing. Agile Marketing isn’t about how you react in a Marketing/PR crisis (ask United about those) or real-time opportunity (you can ask Oreo about those). I don’t mean that you can not/shouldn’t deal with those when you’re doing Agile Marketing, but it isn’t what Agile Marketing is about.
Agile Marketing
Better late than never
It took us some time, but the slides from our (Steve Wolfe from CA and myself) December talk in the Boston Agile Marketing meetup are finally publicly available.
Agile Marketing
What Is Agile Marketing
This ISN’T Agile Marketing
First, a couple of clarifications and myth-busting. Agile Marketing isn’t reactive marketing. Agile Marketing isn’t about how you react in a Marketing/PR crisis (ask United about those) or real-time opportunity (you can ask Oreo about those). I don’t mean that you can not/shouldn’t deal with those when you’re doing Agile Marketing, but it isn’t what Agile Marketing is about.
Agile Marketing also isn’t “We just get things done without any real process.” Being super-responsive and saying “yes we can” all the time isn’t Agile Marketing. (Especially if it means unsustainable pace).
Finally, Agile Marketing also isn’t Scrum, Daily Scrums/Standups, Sprints, Scrum Masters, Kanban Boards. It
Agile Marketing
Do you NEED to Scale Agile Marketing? (Scaled Agile Marketing Series – Part 3)
In earlier posts in our Scaled Agile Marketing, we looked at whether you even need Agile Marketing and then what typically triggers a serious discussion about Agile Marketing. In this post, we move to the next step – figuring out if you need Scaled Agile Marketing.
So – Do you need Scaled Agile Marketing?
Scaling isn’t just a function of the number of people in the marketing organization. It’s more a function of how many marketers need to work together as part of one customer journey/experience.
Let’s look at an example. In the diagram below you can see a typical marketing organization that would possibly have a need for some scaling approach. They have agile teams that cross-cut the different marketing functions – focusing on delivering marketing value/impact for a specific product/customer journey rather than focusing on a specific marketing function/task.
Agile Marketing
Reaching The Tipping Point For Agile Marketing
The Need For An Agile Marketing Transformation
Marketers or junior marketing leaders can implement Agile Marketing at the team level bottom up or in islands in the organization. This approach can achieve some improvement but typically stalls at some point.
Real marketing agility requires a transformative change in processes, policies, mindset, and maybe even the type of leaders. This is a bigger lift obviously.
While most of the marketing organizations we see score pretty high on the “do they need Agile Marketing?” scale, Only some of them would agree that that’s indeed what they need, and even a smaller set goes and does something about it.
While many marketing leaders agree with Agile Marketing at the concept level, They need a strong trigger before they take action on it. (To use “customer journey” language – most marketing leaders aren’t even in the awareness stage, but even those that are, need a trigger to move towards acquisition and activation…)
