Talk I gave at the London Content Strategy Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/content-strategy-london/) sharing some thoughts about using agile (Scrum & Kanban) for content development, largely based around my experience working with the Government Digital Service.
The links on the final page are:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/193796504X/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=193796504X&linkCode=as2&tag=geekmanager-21
Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007P5N8D4?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creativeASIN=B007P5N8D4&linkCode=xm2&tag=geekmanager-21
3. But I didnāt expect
content strategy &
development to be
able to be AGILE
4. 7 Things I Didnāt Expect: #1
USER STORIES to be a
great way to define
needs and
requirements for
content too
5. (Whatās a User Story?)
As a <type of user>,
I want to <do something>,
So that <some value is
created>.
(should fit on a post-it)
6. 7 Things I Didnāt Expect: #2
Creativity in the HOW
to be quite so
important.
This was dumb. I KNOW creating good content is
just as hard as writing good code.
7. In Agileā¦
In Agile, you focus on
defining the WHAT and
the WHY and leave the
HOW to individuals to
define as they deliver.
8. 7 Things I Didnāt Expect: #3
Requirements to
change and evolve
and not be completely
definable upfront.
Just like in software. *sigh*
9. In Agileā¦
In Agile, you accept and
embrace ambiguity. All
you really need to be
100% clear on is what is
happening NOW.
You tell the team what you did yesterday, what youāre
going to do today & whatās blocking you.
10. 7 Things I Didnāt Expect: #4
Design + user research
+ architecture +
content + analytics +
development +
operations to be quite
so ā¦
12. 7 Things I Didnāt Expect: #5
ESTIMATING to be
quite so hard.
How long is a piece of string, exactly?
13. In Agileā¦
You continually assess how
much youāre delivering and
you get useful metrics from
your burn charts and
backlog.
But itās still damn hard.
14. 7 Things I Didnāt Expect: #6
The process of creating,
editing, reviewing and
accepting to fit well into
Scrum and Kanban
approaches.
But in fact, it really worked. Especially Kanban.
15. In Agileā¦
Kanban* is used as a āpullā
system ā stories to be delivered
are on the wall in columns (such
as āBacklogā, āReadyā, āIn
Processā, āDoneā) and
individuals pull the next story
when ready**.
* Arguably its own methodology, but frequently found
growing near Agile & Scrum
** Whereas in Scrum what will be achieved this āsprintā is
agreed upfront
16. 7 Things I Didnāt Expect: #7
Mixed multi-
disciplinary teams to
be so freaking
AWESOME.
18. In Agileā¦
Agile helps create an
environment where each of
your specialists can be truly
amazing, and together
achieve so much more.
Close knit teams mean you understand &
appreciate your peersā skills in more detail.