In the midst of all the upheaval of recent weeks and months, the marketing world is paying more attention than ever to agile. Why now? And what can you do about it? Let’s take a moment to pause and reflect.
- As uncertainty continues and previous plans are scrapped, agile offers a way to respond to a changing environment.
- Done right, it can also allow you to accomplish more with constrained resources.
- And it can help remote teams pull together and deliver.
- So where do you actually start? Before you jump in, make sure you’ve got a clear idea what agile is. And isn’t. The term gets thrown around a lot and misused way too often.
- The first thing to recognize: agile is not actually a method. It’s a mindset.
- Ground zero for this mindset is the agile marketing manifesto—worth a look if you haven’t already.
- Eventually the mindset translates to actual methods. Scrum and Kanban are two of the most widely used.
- But there are also hybrids out there, including (you guessed it) Scrumban.
- Now that you’re clear on the basic landscape, what next? Bain’s suggestion: ask yourself a few tough questions, starting with “what stands in the way of moving faster?”.
- When it comes to methods, our advice is to start small. Instead of rolling out a new methodology out top to bottom, start with some smaller elements that can be easily applied—and have the potential to add value quickly.
- One option is the Backlog, which can help you improve your team’s focus by prioritizing activities that add the most value.
- Another possibility is the Kanban Board, which identifies bottlenecks and streamlines the flow of work.
- Wherever you start, don’t get too lost in the method. The mindset is the most important thing. Everything else flows from there.
