If you have been interested in adopting Agile Marketing, here are six steps to get started with Agile Marketing and the Scrum process. This is a great place for you to start with becoming agile and should adapt your process to fit your company’s culture and requirements.
If you want more information on what Agile Marketing is, check out these two resources:
1. Update Backlog:
Scrum operates around tasks, often characterized as “user stories” or “cards”. These are meaningful chunks of work – not too big, not too small. They should be briefly described so the task can fit on a post-it note. Larger projects should be divided into a cluster of smaller, more manageable tasks. Think of these “user stories” as stories along the buyer’s journey. Here are some sample tasks in a backlog:
- Write a case study
- Configure new nurture email campaign in MAP
- Create a landing page
- Launch a new Google keyword group
- Connect with a social media influencer
The Product Owner (or manager or team lead) must prioritize the tasks on the backlog. Clarity around prioritization is one of the most important facets of agile marketing.
2. Sprint Planning:
Sprint Planning is a meeting with the team at the beginning of the spring to commit to the tasks each person will complete within that sprint. Start with a small group of no more than 10 marketers and designate a team lead. You should discuss and
get agreement on the sprint’s goals, tasks, owners, and timing. Self commitment is a key cultural aspect of agile marketing. This should take no more than a few hours.
3. Sprint!:
Now the spring begins! Sprints are typically one week to one month long. This is the amount of time the team has committed to in order to get the work done and complete the project. The time interval should be long enough to get real work done, but short enough to enable feedback, iteration, flexibility and adaptation. You want a high ratio of work time, to planning and review time.
Ideally, commitments and priorities are not changed while the sprint is in progress. Any new work that comes up is queued in the backlog for the next sprint. This lets the team focus more productively and minimize “fire drills” that derail work in progress. If something must be added mid-sprint, then it is prioritized relative to the other tasks. This may result in another task being “bumped” out of the sprint, but this is a key mechanism in agile marketing to help other stakeholders recognize trade-offs.
Teammates should take on tasks in order of priority. To show progress and create transparency, tasks should be moved on the Scrum Board from “To Do” to “In Progress” to “Done” as work progresses. Transparency is a big feature of agile marketing – everyone should be able to see what’s done, what’s in progress, and what’s up next.
4. Schedule Daily Stand-Ups:
Every day during the sprint, the team should meet for a daily stand-up meeting. This should be time-boxed to 15 minutes – and held standing up (to help remind people to keep it to 15 minutes). Meeting every day, in the same place, for a few minutes, helps keep the team in sync. Stand-ups are best done in person, but video conferencing can also work.
During the stand-up, each team member reports on three things:
- What did I do yesterday?
- What am I going to do today?
- Are there any obstacles in my way?
This prevents any obstacles that come up from hiding and slowing down progress.
5. Hold Sprint Review:
This is a meeting that is held at the end of the sprint, where the team discusses what was produced and accomplished during the sprint. This should be time-boxed to an hour or two. Sprint Reviews often include other key stakeholders and managers to get feedback.
The sprint review is a great opportunity for the team to receive recognition and to give the rest of the organization visibility into what they’re doing. It also allows the team to collect feedback that can lead to new ideas added to the backlog for future sprints.
6. Hold Sprint Retrospective:
After the Sprint Review, the team has a “retrospective” meeting among themselves (excluding extra stakeholders) to discuss their process and focus on how things were done, not just what was done:
- What went well in this sprint?
- What could be improved in our next sprint?
Retrospectives explicitly enable teams and processes to continually evolve.
And then the cycle repeats!
(adapted from Aglie Marketing: Managing Marketing in High Gear, Scott Brinker, Chiefmartec.com)