This guest post is by Monica Georgieff (Agile Coach and Trainer at AgileSherpas).
Monica GeorgieffWhat is the outlook for marketers who manage projects in this year? The outlook for modern business is to deal with the effects of the pandemic, uncertainty, crisis, global instability, and volatile global conditions.
These changes have brought us a new kind of enthusiasm to improve our collaboration, despite the negative news.
Marketers have been increasingly adopting an Agile approach to project management as a result of the constant struggle to adapt to these times full of uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
Leadership in uncertain times requires the ability to be flexible, responsive, and agile in these turbulent times. This goal has been ingrained in the minds of the marketing community.
We have the data to show how marketers are taking this time with Agile practices. Agile marketing is about making different project management decisions based upon what the teams know about the new norm.
Is Agile project management for marketing actually possible?
Since 2012’s publication of the Agile Marketing manifesto, agile project management has been a growing trend in marketing. It’s not a new concept.
Marketers have successfully adapt some of the most common project management terminology to suit their marketing contexts since then. Marketing owners became product owners when products became ‘campaigns’.
Another example of semantic change is the way that marketers talk about Agile to bridge the gap between this method and marketing.
The main differences between agile marketing and its predecessor software are:
Scrum is not a popular choice for marketers. It doesn’t fit in with the marketing context. They prefer a hybrid framework to apply agility.
Usually, the marketing manager in a team also plays a role as the process owner, helping the team make incremental improvements.
Marketers are not measuring success with code lines. To measure how effective they are, they need more context about customer needs.
No one could have foreseen that 2020 would bring us into the situation we are in. It was imperative that marketers get creative and use Agile marketing project management techniques to the fullest extent.
Marketing agility: The state of the art
The 3rd Annual State of Agile Marketing Report has just been released and shows that 41% of marketers have already implemented Agile practices in the way that they work with their teams.
Non-Agile marketers make up 42% of respondents who would like to adopt Agile methods of working ASAP. These 42% will likely make this the year they adopt agile marketing practices within their organizations.
It is important to be flexible in a VUCA environment.
This is why agile Marketing departments are open to new possibilities and willing to embrace change. Not only in their daily routines but also in how they interact with one another.
Why is Agile project management being adopted by marketers?
Marketers expect agility to help them achieve their strategic goals and improve upon elements that contribute to the success of their team or department. Marketers choose Agile to:
High-quality work
Increase team productivity
Align with your organization’s goals
Prioritize strategically
More quickly releasing campaigns
Employee satisfaction can be increased
You can cultivate the ability to change