By: Shane Sale. Global Agile Consultant at CvE
The first piece in our Agile marketing series, 4 questions you must answer when thinking about Agile Marketing, helped identify if your company is ready to go Agile.
In this next piece, we’re identifying which roles are required to create the best Agile marketing practice within your company.
There are many setups in which an Agile marketing team can be successful: totally immersed, external hires, or a hybrid approach.
At CvE, we recommend beginning with a hybrid approach. Some roles will be naturally filled by existing employees, while others will need to be sourced, trained, and onboarded as part of the process. Eventually, the team will be trained as a fully in-house team. Regardless of which plan works best for your organisation, there are 6 key roles that must be filled for a successful transition into Agile marketing.
Agile Team Lead/Scrum Master:
The Team Lead or Scrum Master ensures team coordination and supports the progress of the project between individual team members. The Scrum Master takes the instructions from the Product Owner and ensure that the tasks are performed accordingly.
A few of the core activities include Coaching team members on delivering results as well as shielding team members from external interferences and distractions. The role is also responsible to manage external coordination with the organisation and the Product Owner to ensure effective implementation of the Scrum framework.
Product Owner:
The Product Owner represents the stakeholders of the project. The role is primarily responsible for setting the direction for product development or project progress.
The Product Owner understands the requirements of the project from a stakeholder perspective and has the necessary soft skills to communicate the requirements to the product development team. The Product Owner also understands the long-term business vision and aligns the project with the needs and expectations of all stakeholders. End-user feedback is also considered to determine appropriate next-best action plans for the development throughout the marketing project cycle.
Marketing Owner:
Like the Product Owner role for Agile product development, the Marketing Owner connects the marketing team with stakeholders on other teams, like sales or product. Their part is to make sure projects are happening on time, and the team can work without interruptions.
Agile Marketing Director/VP:
In Agile methodology, the Agile Marketing Director/VP usually keeps their strategic role while also supporting the Agile team. They may become a facilitator, or coach and mentor the Agile Marketing team to ensure their efforts are aligned to the overall business goals.
Internal Sponsor / Stakeholder:
This position may not be directly implicated in the product development process but is used to represent a range of key roles that impact the decisions and work of the Scrum team. The stakeholder may be Business Executives, a Content Marketing Director and their team, a Head of Social Media, a Head of Paid Campaigns/Performance Marketing, and/or a Product Marketing Lead.
It is also critical to receive input from the stakeholders to direct the progress of the project in different directions and align product development with business goals, end-user expectations as well as addressing challenges facing the Scrum Development Team.
Marketing Development team:
This team is comprised of individuals with several responsibilities, including product development. The team takes cross-functional marketing responsibilities necessary to transform an idea into a tangible product for consumers. The required skills might be wrapped up in one or more development team members which can include Product designer, Writer, Programmer, Tester or UX specialist.
In addition to the skills facilitating product development, the team members should also boast soft skills that would enable them to self-organise to get the work done. This means that when an issue occurs, or they have an impediment, the team is both capable and empowered to take corrective actions.
My key takeaway for you:
Remember there should be NO micro-management of the core team. The goal should be to build Agile teams empowered to make their own decisions while keeping up regular communication and collaboration to keep the campaign in line with your business objectives.
While you are on the Agile transformation journey for your marketing team, be sure to keep monitoring and adapting as you progress and achieve learnings. Consider there are only two possible outcomes: You can either win or learn.
The key to success is doing your research. Find out which Agile marketing methodologies make the most sense for your company. Different brands and marketplaces will respond better to different Agile marketing processes. Your task, at the first stage, is to find out which one works best for your business.
For more insights or to discuss how to take your first steps into your Agile marketing journey, get in touch with our CvE expert team. Contact Katie Hall, Digital Marketing Transformation Consultant at khall@controlvexposed.com
