Written by I’ll always remember the day I was called “process-driven”. It was like a knife had been plunged into my chest, my entire existence flashed in front of me…had I finally become one of “them”?
You know, the paper pushers, the “you haven’t filled in this form correctly”, the “we’ve always done it this way” brigade. It’s what kills action, creativity, and the need to respond. The “agile” of marketing if you will.
That’s the problem. The idea of “agile” is that you’re not constrained by “process”, you just “do”.
But how do you know what to “do” if you haven’t understood the problem? Only ever tackling the symptoms and not the cause.
It’s great fighting fires and responding like the organisation’s resident hero, but what are you doing to prevent them? You know, actually tackling the fire starter?
That’s what this rant is about.
Because responding to changes is essential to survival. No amount of planning will stop the curveballs.
But knowing what to look for when the pitcher is preparing that curveball will give you the heads up, enabling you to adjust your stance and balance for a better swing.
Putting those odds in your favour.
Agile marketing isn’t a strategy
Agile marketing…one for the buzzword bollocks list.
After all, the term “Agile”, is actually from a project management framework.
An “…iterative approach to delivering a project throughout its life cycle” (APM, 2023). Allowing adaptions and changes to be included in the overall delivery.
(Side note: it still helps to know what the final output will be to help shape the direction of travel for the project, otherwise your baby will be sacrificed to the Designed by Committee Gods.)
So, when you add “marketing” to agile, we now welcome yet another “new” concept – agile marketing.
Lost in the pleather of marketing’s self-certified gurus, you would be forgiven for being brainwashed into thinking that agile marketing is a strategy.
Yet, dig a little deeper and you will soon discover that it is indeed based on project management – “Agile marketing is an approach to marketing that utilizes the principles and practices of agile methodologies” (Atlassian, 2023).
Wait…“agile methodologies”?!
That’s right. It’s about processes, operations, and structure. I know, shocking.
And what connects these three entities? The constant flow of information.
SaaS companies may be flogging the whole “decisions-based intuition” superpower, but that’s based on the information feeding into said system.
Even the controversial figure that is Bill Gates back in the 90s discussed the “digital nervous system” (Gates, 1999). A concept of creating systems, digitalising forms, streaming lining workflows so that information was connected and was readily available to support decision-makers.
Peter Senge champions the need to have a “learning organisation” (Senge, 2006), one that enables changes to be understood and acted upon quickly and decisively.
Heck even the issues relating to business forecasting come down to “…too few businesses take the task of designing and running administrative processes seriously…” (p.184, Morlidge & Player, 2010)
Being agile provides a strategic advantage. Being agile is not a strategy in itself.
It’s an organisational mindset that requires flexibility through methodical procedures and individuals (the people in the organisation), and dare I say it…processes.
You can’t just be agile.
Especially if the data takes weeks to pull together and interpret, your teams are arguing that you didn’t get them involved at the right time, and no one can take on the work.
Agile is not a strategy. It’s a capability.
Planning vs being agile
And that’s why the whole planning vs agile argument is bullshit.
You can still be agile with a plan. Providing the plan is built in a way that allows the actions to be taken with little to no delay in approval.
Time is your source of wealth.
If the processes are in place, then you can methodically collect the information you need and make adjustments accordingly.
If proformas, guidelines, meetings, reports, forecasts etc. are pre-agreed and transparently shared, regularly, then any changes can be quickly identified and action can be taken.
Whether this is adjusting the media mix, budget allocation, the content on the website, the messaging or creative, heck even the product/service.
This is what tackles the fire starter.
If you want to be agile, you need to be methodical
Agility comes from the ability to understand, act, and get approval, as fast as possible. That’s the competitive edge.
Diagnosis. Treatment. Review.
If you don’t know what’s happening in your market, how can you respond before it’s too late?
If you don’t know what your customers are saying, how can you improve their experience?
If you don’t know what the sandbox for content creation is, how do you improve approval times?
If you don’t know the website structure, how can you start creating content?
If you don’t know your department’s needs, how can you allocate resources accordingly?
The list goes on and on. The applications are vast.
Being methodical in your approach, enables you to connect the dots. A systems thinker. Working from the output and working backwards for each required step. Without the foundations, you can’t build the walls.
Bureaucracy is process-driven. Methodical is informative.
It’s the time from decisions to delivery that defines whether you’re “agile”. Preparation is everything, and being methodical means you’re putting in the preparations.
As my old man used to say, “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”.
Share your thoughts
Have you ever been called “process-driven”? Do you still think agile marketing is a strategy? Let me know in the comments below, tweet me @CJPanteny, or get in touch.
And if you liked this blog, don’t forget to share it on your socials and bask in its ranty goodness.
See you next time.
References
APM (2023) What is agile project management?, available at: https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/find-a-resource/agile-project-management/ [Accessed May 2023]
Atlassian (2023) What is agile management? From Buzzword to Best-in-Class Way of Working, available at: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/agile-marketing/what-is-agile-marketing [Accessed May 2023
Gates, B. (1999) Business @ The Speed of Thought. London: Penguin.
Morlidge, S., Player, S. (2010) Future Ready: How to Master Business Forecasting. Chichester. John Wiley & Sons
Senge. P. (2006) The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organisation (2nd edt.), London. Random House.
Carl Panteny 