Many agencies aspire to be Agile. Stories fly around social media about the successes of software teams who implemented an Agile Framework and immediately began reaping the rewards.
But Agile was created solely by men working in product organisations (or product-led organisations) that built software. They didn’t have agencies in mind when they coined the principles and values. They weren’t considering Agile as a way to delivery things other than software.
Agencies are not product-led organisations. They are project-led organisations. They have complexity and unknowns, where product-led organisations often have focus and clarity.
That doesn’t stop agencies valuing agility. And agencies can implement much of what it means to be Agile. But it does realistically stop off-the-shelf implementation of an existing Agile Frameworks (such as Scrum).
So if existing Frameworks can’t shortcut an agency to agility, how do we begin our journey, and what should we value when looking for better ways of working?
The Agile Manifesto’s 4 values are a great place to start. And they should be valued and lived by at all levels of an agency to be truly impactful.
Let’s go through them. Remember that both the left are right side of each value is useful. But we value the left side more than the right side in our ways of working.
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
People first. Whether our team, clients or internal stakeholders. Humans and relationships are key to agency health and long-term success.
For delivery approaches, this includes:
- Understanding why a project is happening, not just what we’re delivering
- Asking questions to people, not relying on documents
- Encouraging agreement and alignment of groups of people over instructions and commands
- Regular human discussion, not just communication through ticket systems or project management tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Documentation is important, but if it is prioritised over quality, we’re focusing in the wrong place.
Outside of software, we could consider this simply as ‘quality deliverables over comprehensive documentation’.
For delivery approaches, this includes:
- Release things early and often to stakeholders
- Keep documentation light where the deliverable can instead include the information
- Avoid defining in minute detail how things will look, work or what they will include
- Build documentation into the creation process rather than duplicating the effort
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Alignment and Agreement needs to come first. Those who lean heavily on legal protection begin with an assumption of failure. Starting by agreeing who will be at fault following failure cements a supplier relationship, but we want to nurture partnerships.
For delivery approaches, this includes:
- Balancing commitment. Both delivery team and stakeholders must be invested for maximum project success
- Keep legal documents at a level where change is possible and encouraged. Reference how change is managed instead
- Encourage an active and switched on key client stakeholder who will multiply the quality of the deliverables and maintain positivity and buy-in on the client side
Responding to change over following a plan
Understanding as much as possible early in agency projects is a superpower. However, that doesn’t mean things won’t change and discoveries won’t be made.
When stakeholders agree that “This plan is wrong” or “This plan is vague” in the vast majority of cases, it allows for quick responses when needed.
For delivery approaches, this includes:
- Make a plan at the beginning of a project, but don’t be slaves to it
- Understand where the flexibility is. Cost (and deadlines), scope, fidelity.
- Lean on the desirable outcomes of the project to encourage pragmatic discussions about scope change
Being agile doesn’t require Agile
So agencies can do these things with smaller steps. Much of my work focuses on supporting agencies on their journey.
- Understand the pain-points and frictions of the current ways of working
- Agree what the priorities are and the ideal destination
- Implement a plan that makes successful project delivery the default
If you’d like to know more about what I do, send me an email or book an intro call.
Best of luck on your journey.