| | AUGUST 20239CIOReviewaddition to these, there is a critical feedback mechanism called the retrospective, where the entire squad shares what went well each sprint and what didn't, and how they will fix it. Not only does the retro drive continuous improvement, but also accountability to that improvement and creates team-based success.But how do you make the shift from the traditional, waterfall approach to agile when marketing may encompass hundreds of employees?It's not an easy transition, and may not be fast, either. My organization was smart and leveraged existing agile leadership as well as outside consulting resources to manage the change. Several high priority goals were identified, and squads were formed with experts in those areas. We all then went through a week's worth of agile training and exercises and had squad meetings to discuss what we had learned and how to apply it. By the end of the first week, we were starting to use new tools to manage our work and ideas. About a month later, my squad was getting the hang of things and running tests that resulted in learnings, both positive and negative, and contributing towards our goals.The most important factors to the roll-out's success were:· Executive leadership championing the shift to agile· Investment in training and agile coaches· Experienced Scrum Masters and Product Owners for each squad· Quarterly organizational retrospectives to drive wide-spread continuous improvement· A culture that accepts that change takes time and is uncomfortable, and that not all tests will be successful, but they will all add knowledgeHowever, only a portion of Marketing transitioned during this phase. It will require more time and more waves of squads being formed over the next year or so before our entire marketing organization has shifted to agile. But it's a start. Or you could say, our organizational MVP into agile marketing.Prior to learning what agile was, I thought it was a bunch of people bypassing existing processes, breaking things, and bugging me for immediate answers whenever they needed something. Now that I have an insider's perspective, I can confirm all these things do happen, but for good reasons.Breaking down barriers and inefficient processes­teams can only move faster if barriers are removed, processes are simplified, and roles and responsibilities are clarified. These are areas where executive leadership should determine the most important goals, communicate these throughout the organization, and help remove blockers.Fail small and fast­a test-and-learn mentality is critical to improving customer experiences, simplifying processes, and learning what works. The key is to test small things first, see what the results are, and then plan larger tests. That way, if a test has suboptimal results, you've learned something at a small scale.Be a self-sufficient squad (whenever possible)­ squads should be able to complete most of their work by themselves, so that they can move quickly. However, especially at a bank, there are extra levels of regulation. If possible, include a critical, non-marketing team member on your squad, or have dedicated, non-squad personnel who can turn around your requests quickly.Even though these practices may seem disruptive, they are critical to the success of a squad and emphasize the speed at which agile teams move compared to hierarchical organization. People outside of agile squads may simply see the speed of change, but not all the discipline in planning, testing and measurement that is occurring.While I'm only six-months in, I've been able to realize the benefits of agile and am excited to see how it evolves within my squad and the entire marketing organization into the future. I'm learning and refining how I operate in this model on a weekly basis, and still have barriers left to break down from my old way of thinking. Agile differs from other types of marketing transformation because it's not a technology change; it's a process and mindset change
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