Agile is a proven framework in the world of development. The agile process helps development teams provide rapid responses and feedback to their projects, and it opens up opportunities to assess the project’s direction in the middle of the development cycle. Development teams benefit from this instant feedback during regular project meetings (often called sprints), where change is identified and incorporated in real-time.
Naturally, this mindset has crept into overall business culture, with teams and leadership wanting to see faster results in all aspects of the business. When competition is ramping up and a team or company feels vulnerable, it is easy to jump on a bandwagon of, “We need to be more nimble/agile to win.” This can be absolutely true. However, over the years, as we’ve worked with various companies and teams, Corporate Path Leadership has found that many confuse the notion of being nimble as a free pass to being unorganized.
Agile is purposeful and there is a methodology, so it is important to recognize agile as a practice vs. agile as an excuse.
Here is an example where both versions of agile come into play in the world of marketing and creative strategy:
The Challenge: Senior Leadership does not think a current brand is appropriately leveraging the company’s best differentiators in collateral, web content, case studies, etc.
The Unorganized Leader’s Agile Use: The marketing leader in charge of brand and content decides to quickly pull together the marketing team members and agencies they work with to talk about how to change the website and collateral within the next 30 days. This is done in a single one-hour meeting. At the end of this meeting, the leader assigns action items for different groups to determine new ideas for a new logo, tagline, content and core messaging and new graphic elements for the website. Sounds agile, right?
But a week later, the collective ideas look like a mess. There is no cohesive thread between the groups working on the different action items, and there is a wide variety in interpretation of what the new direction should be. The leader is not impressed with the work to date and tells everyone to “try harder” and “think edgy” and come back with new ideas the following Monday.
That following Monday, there is no clear sign of progress. However, there is growing frustration that everyone is working extra hours, falling behind in their regular work and all ideas seem to be easily disposed without rationale. Worse yet, the original 30-day deadline is fast approaching, and the leader is becoming more impatient.
So how would a leader actually apply agile thinking in this scenario?
Step #1: Slow down and provide clear direction and parameters for what needs to be done
The leader is ultimately on the hook for providing clear direction. Instead of one single meeting to quickly explain the project and then hand it off to others, the leader should continue to work with the team (whether it takes one longer effective meeting or a couple of shorter meetings) to not just provide direction, but to ask questions of the team to make sure everyone understands the general creative direction and goals.
In addition, the leader should make sure there is a planned method for team members working on action items to check in with each other as their work is unfolding to iterate and learn from each other. In the marketing content example above, a full week could be allocated to brainstorm and identify the new direction. The marketing leader should check in multiple times to make sure the team is clear on their role in this.
NOTE: It’s paramount that no headlines, logos, web or other content should be drafted at this point.
Step #2: Truly use the value of the agile approach to incorporate feedback and change into the development process
In the remaining weeks, regular check-in meetings (maybe daily 15-minute calls to compare notes), will help to show slow, steady progress and ensure the team understands that the initial direction is on track. These quick meetings also provide instant feedback. This feedback can confirm if the direction is clear, can raise questions and help shape messaging as it is being developed to avoid significant rework.
NOTE: If one subgroup is working on logo design and another on graphic concepts for the website, these meetings can compare progress and alignment of the different teams’ work. These check-in sessions also help identify key questions or flash points to share progress with the leader.
Step #3: Team milestones for the duration of the project
For the marketing example above, there could be key milestones for final logo design, final graphic design (images only) for the web site and final written web content. Each can have a target date set by either the leader or a project leader for that component, and an official presentation to the rest of the group.
NOTE: While some fluidity for dates can be inserted into the process, knowing which milestone needs to be completed is critical. There will be some dependencies for some milestones that mean others have to be 90%+ complete before the next milestone begins. Again, an organized leader will be able to think through the importance of the elements involved and help guide those priorities.
Just because you are not the leader, doesn’t mean you don’t have to be organized as well.
Adapting agile processes in the non-IT environment shouldn’t fall on only the leader to be prepared and organized. As a participating team member, your commitment should be to show up ready to ask questions and provide input and ideas in all daily/weekly/regular check in meetings, and to ensure you are understanding the overarching direction and deadlines for the project.
If you don’t understand something, stop and ask!
We believe that agile methodologies can be extremely effective for tackling business challenges and identifying new processes. Just make sure you are actually applying agile thinking – and not just saying you are. There is a huge difference. Don’t use the term agile as an excuse for running fast without a plan.
We’re Here to Help
If you need guidance on using the agile method to solve a business challenge, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for help. We can help guide any project and work directly with your team(s) to achieve faster results in an organized way.