I discuss my experiences at dxw making the agile process work for us and our clients. The lessons we learned, and how created a stable agile approach to design and development.
So much best practice advice and examples of successful agile in practice are geared towards product teams. When you’re actually working on the front lines with a client who has the drive to do things right, but is still limited by their timescale and budget, how can you make agile work?
Originally presented at NorDevCon 2015
Robert Stulle, "Stories From the Agile Agency"WebVisions
In his talk, Robert shows some recent projects and shares the methods and tools that he and his colleagues at Edenspiekermann have found to be useful in their daily work. His agency works with multidisciplinary teams and agile methods in a user centric way. Robert will share some insights and anecdotes and talk about all the good things and the bad things that can be.
Team personas: A new look at personas for the enterprise contextOmkar Chandgadkar
Team personas allows us to think about users as teams, and looking at their goals and needs in context of their team. This is the slide deck from the case study by Julia Byron and Omkar Chandgadkar at the O'Reilly Design conference on January 22nd.
"Fitness for Purpose" - Resilience & Agility in Modern BusinessDavid Anderson
High technology businesses tend to focus on and reward innovation but to be “fit for purpose” in the eyes of customers, product and service innovation must be coupled with acceptable service delivery. Business resilience relies on a constant ability to sense shifts in customer demands and expectations, and to respond with new products, service and levels of service delivery. Evolutionary biology provides us with a model for adapting to changing conditions and evaluating fitness. This talk will look at how the Kanban Method enables evolutionary adaptability and how to define fitness criteria metrics to drive effective business performance.
Robert Stulle, "Stories From the Agile Agency"WebVisions
In his talk, Robert shows some recent projects and shares the methods and tools that he and his colleagues at Edenspiekermann have found to be useful in their daily work. His agency works with multidisciplinary teams and agile methods in a user centric way. Robert will share some insights and anecdotes and talk about all the good things and the bad things that can be.
Team personas: A new look at personas for the enterprise contextOmkar Chandgadkar
Team personas allows us to think about users as teams, and looking at their goals and needs in context of their team. This is the slide deck from the case study by Julia Byron and Omkar Chandgadkar at the O'Reilly Design conference on January 22nd.
"Fitness for Purpose" - Resilience & Agility in Modern BusinessDavid Anderson
High technology businesses tend to focus on and reward innovation but to be “fit for purpose” in the eyes of customers, product and service innovation must be coupled with acceptable service delivery. Business resilience relies on a constant ability to sense shifts in customer demands and expectations, and to respond with new products, service and levels of service delivery. Evolutionary biology provides us with a model for adapting to changing conditions and evaluating fitness. This talk will look at how the Kanban Method enables evolutionary adaptability and how to define fitness criteria metrics to drive effective business performance.
Interviewing Switchers: a Reliable Shortcut to Feature Definition & Prioritis...Christian Lafrance
Customers don’t just buy a product — they switch from something else. And customers don’t just leave a product — they switch to something else.
It’s in these switching moments that the deepest customer insights can be found and are easiest to uncover.
I'll introduce a simple framework and a quick customer interview technique to help product managers better leverage the drivers and blockers that drive sales and churn:
You’ll understand why people switch from one product to another and how you can increase the odds that the switch goes your way.
Accelerating Learning is the key to unlocking the true potential of Agile. Often organizations implement the process aspects of agile/scrum but fail to find the key to unlocking its true potential. In this session we will explore 6 traps agile teams fall into which prevent learning and how to overcome them. We will demonstrate how a potentially shippable product increment is the key and how breaking work down, swarming, limiting WIP, and getting to done are imperatives. By accelerating learning we believe most organizations can deliver double the value in half the time.
Enterprise Services Planning: Defining Key Performance IndicatorsDavid Anderson
Defining KPIs for use in Enterprise Services Planning and with Kanban systems. Understanding the difference between KPIs, Improvement Guides, and General Health Indicators. Understanding how KPIs drive behavior such as establishing multiple classes of service. Relating KPIs to evolutionary change. KPIs are Fitness Criteria Metrics with defined threashold values
Congruent is a global IT services company with more than 25 years of experience specialized in providing offshore and onsite IT consulting services on Salesforce and Microsoft technologies.
Headquartered in Washington, USA, with a huge offshore development facility in Chennai, India, Congruent supports leading brands like 3M, Premera Blue Cross, Starbucks, Council on Foreign Relations, Daktronics, and Maldives Airport.
To learn more visit https://www.congruentsoft.com
"Fitness for Purpose" - Resilience & Agility in Modern BusinessDavid Anderson
Understanding "fitness for purpose". A new way to look at market segmentation based on identity. Defining fitness criteria metrics. Sense and respond. Using Kanban Systems to increase service delivery agility. Using the Kanban Method to catalyze and evolve your business to be "fitter for purpose". Making sense of a complex market using clustering of narratives from front-line staff. Remaining resilient through frequent "fitness" reviews
Hire Indians InfoTech (P) Limited is one of the leading, fastest growing and professional managed web design and custom software development company headquartered in Noida (Delhi Ncr) India with offices in US, UK and Australia. We provide varied services ranging from web application development, custom software development, e-commerce sites, hire a developer and many more to its client’s globally in various technologies and multiple domains.
Making Better Decisions - Understanding Fitness for Purpose, Aligning Capabil...David Anderson
This is an update to my Modern Management Methods 2014 talk in San Francisco. It includes an example kanban system based on lead time distribution and demand analysis.
Enterprise Services Planning - Effective Middle ManagementDavid Anderson
This may be the first time, I really explained Enterprise Services Planning (ESP) effectively. Many people in the audience seemed to understand for the first time.
Harnessing the Power of Product Analytics by Dan OlsenDan Olsen
I gave this talk on how to use product analytics to optimize your product at Split Software's Decisions Product Management Conference on October 2, 2018.
This is my greatest hits album of major business mistakes I've made over my career, both as a freelancer and while working within agencies of all shapes and sizes.
I presented this first at the SCAD Entrepreneurial Forum in Savannah, GA on February 18, 2011. The material is drawn from my second book, "Success by Design: The Essential Business Reference for Designers," which will be out in Fall 2012.
Key Note - Lean Kanban North America 2013 - Beyond KanbanDavid Anderson
Getting beyond the use of kanban systems and the Kanban Method to truly improve business performance through improved risk management. This talk looks at both the qualitative and quantitative risk management techniques enabled by the Kanban. And defines a measure of kanban system liquidity that can be used as a leading indicator to monitor the effectiveness and reliability of probabilistic forecasts based on historical system performance
#SDGC17 — Spreading service design through software — Marc StickdornJakob Schneider
In this talk Marc brings together his service design experience and learnings from founding a software company for service designers. Marc published "This is Service Design Thinking" with Jakob Schneider in 2010, and also founded the software startup More than Metrics. The company offers research and visualization tools for service designers, such as Smaply and ExperienceFellow. Slides by Jakob. Find both on Twitter: @MrStickdorn @jakoblies // Have a look at the tools: www.smaply.com // www.experiencefellow.com
Interviewing Switchers: a Reliable Shortcut to Feature Definition & Prioritis...Christian Lafrance
Customers don’t just buy a product — they switch from something else. And customers don’t just leave a product — they switch to something else.
It’s in these switching moments that the deepest customer insights can be found and are easiest to uncover.
I'll introduce a simple framework and a quick customer interview technique to help product managers better leverage the drivers and blockers that drive sales and churn:
You’ll understand why people switch from one product to another and how you can increase the odds that the switch goes your way.
Accelerating Learning is the key to unlocking the true potential of Agile. Often organizations implement the process aspects of agile/scrum but fail to find the key to unlocking its true potential. In this session we will explore 6 traps agile teams fall into which prevent learning and how to overcome them. We will demonstrate how a potentially shippable product increment is the key and how breaking work down, swarming, limiting WIP, and getting to done are imperatives. By accelerating learning we believe most organizations can deliver double the value in half the time.
Enterprise Services Planning: Defining Key Performance IndicatorsDavid Anderson
Defining KPIs for use in Enterprise Services Planning and with Kanban systems. Understanding the difference between KPIs, Improvement Guides, and General Health Indicators. Understanding how KPIs drive behavior such as establishing multiple classes of service. Relating KPIs to evolutionary change. KPIs are Fitness Criteria Metrics with defined threashold values
Congruent is a global IT services company with more than 25 years of experience specialized in providing offshore and onsite IT consulting services on Salesforce and Microsoft technologies.
Headquartered in Washington, USA, with a huge offshore development facility in Chennai, India, Congruent supports leading brands like 3M, Premera Blue Cross, Starbucks, Council on Foreign Relations, Daktronics, and Maldives Airport.
To learn more visit https://www.congruentsoft.com
"Fitness for Purpose" - Resilience & Agility in Modern BusinessDavid Anderson
Understanding "fitness for purpose". A new way to look at market segmentation based on identity. Defining fitness criteria metrics. Sense and respond. Using Kanban Systems to increase service delivery agility. Using the Kanban Method to catalyze and evolve your business to be "fitter for purpose". Making sense of a complex market using clustering of narratives from front-line staff. Remaining resilient through frequent "fitness" reviews
Hire Indians InfoTech (P) Limited is one of the leading, fastest growing and professional managed web design and custom software development company headquartered in Noida (Delhi Ncr) India with offices in US, UK and Australia. We provide varied services ranging from web application development, custom software development, e-commerce sites, hire a developer and many more to its client’s globally in various technologies and multiple domains.
Making Better Decisions - Understanding Fitness for Purpose, Aligning Capabil...David Anderson
This is an update to my Modern Management Methods 2014 talk in San Francisco. It includes an example kanban system based on lead time distribution and demand analysis.
Enterprise Services Planning - Effective Middle ManagementDavid Anderson
This may be the first time, I really explained Enterprise Services Planning (ESP) effectively. Many people in the audience seemed to understand for the first time.
Harnessing the Power of Product Analytics by Dan OlsenDan Olsen
I gave this talk on how to use product analytics to optimize your product at Split Software's Decisions Product Management Conference on October 2, 2018.
This is my greatest hits album of major business mistakes I've made over my career, both as a freelancer and while working within agencies of all shapes and sizes.
I presented this first at the SCAD Entrepreneurial Forum in Savannah, GA on February 18, 2011. The material is drawn from my second book, "Success by Design: The Essential Business Reference for Designers," which will be out in Fall 2012.
Key Note - Lean Kanban North America 2013 - Beyond KanbanDavid Anderson
Getting beyond the use of kanban systems and the Kanban Method to truly improve business performance through improved risk management. This talk looks at both the qualitative and quantitative risk management techniques enabled by the Kanban. And defines a measure of kanban system liquidity that can be used as a leading indicator to monitor the effectiveness and reliability of probabilistic forecasts based on historical system performance
#SDGC17 — Spreading service design through software — Marc StickdornJakob Schneider
In this talk Marc brings together his service design experience and learnings from founding a software company for service designers. Marc published "This is Service Design Thinking" with Jakob Schneider in 2010, and also founded the software startup More than Metrics. The company offers research and visualization tools for service designers, such as Smaply and ExperienceFellow. Slides by Jakob. Find both on Twitter: @MrStickdorn @jakoblies // Have a look at the tools: www.smaply.com // www.experiencefellow.com
Vortrag Jutta Schilling - mit Fokus auf das Wirkungsfeld "heutiger oder neuer Job". Enthält pragmatische Tipps.
Fühlen Sie sich wie ein Pinguin in der Wüste? Dann sollten Sie evtl. das Wasser suchen ...
PRSA Chair and CEO Rosanna M. Fiske, APR, delivered the keynote address at the 2011 Hispanicize Hispanic PR & Social Media Conference April 7, 2011, in Los Angeles. She addressed the rising value of public relations and marketing, particularly in the Hispanic-American market, in light of recent United States Census data showing more than 50 million Hispanic-Americans live in the U.S., with a combined annual buying power of more than $1 trillion.
Key note - Lean Kanban Central Europe 2012 - Managing a Risky Business - Unde...David Anderson
Using Kanban to improve Risk Management inside creative knowledge worker industries. This talk takes a first look kanban system liquidity as a measure of predictability and reliability of service delivery. [The liquidity section of this talk was updated and improved at Lean Kanban North America 2013]
Agile Methodology explained simply, for those unfamiliar. Great to change organisations from waterfall to agile ways of working. Step by Step. Agile Project Delivery simplified. Stakeholders will understand clearly what their role is in implementation. Answers common questions, what is a Scrum Master etc
Business Partnership Proposal Powerpoint Presentation SlidesSlideTeam
Introduce your clients with the solutions you propose to emerge as a leader in the competitive information technology industry by utilizing this Business Partnership Proposal PowerPoint Presentation Slides. Present the outline of your business venture proposal in a professional manner with the help of this partnership agreement PPT visuals. In this business venture bid PowerPoint theme, you can clearly state the requirement of collaboration. The services a reliable and trustworthy IT enterprise offers can be illustrated with the help of our company alliance contract PPT template. Specialized in the development and consulting services, you can state your objectives such as high-level security structures to protect the consumers, and user-focused tools and training, etc with this business alliance contract PowerPoint theme. Showcase your expertise in advertising websites, and software like shopping, banking, financial, healthcare, auto dealership, restaurant and merchandising. Highlight the two ways of partnership namely a one-time contract and permanent representative in a specific region by utilizing our enterprise collaboration proposal PowerPoint template. You can elucidate the global dominance of your company by incorporating this firm association bid PPT theme. You can also discuss the benefits of an alliance with your organization. Elaborate on your firm’s mission and certifications to build trust with the target company. Additionally, you can include the slides of your esteemed clients, customer testimonials, and past work highlights to prove your excellence in the IT industry. To avoid any legal confusion, state the terms & conditions inclusive of payments, confidentiality, etc. The sign off slide included here can be beneficial in getting signatures of the user assigned company name and client name along with the address. Download this company venture proposal PowerPoint template. https://bit.ly/3lC9BOX
Business Partnership Proposal PowerPoint Presentation SlidesSlideTeam
If your company needs to submit a Business Partnership Proposal PowerPoint Presentation Slides look no further.Our researchers have analyzed thousands of proposals on this topic for effectiveness and conversion. Just download our template, add your company data and submit to your client for a positive response. http://bit.ly/2UDcGAR
Wordpress Development Proposal Template PowerPoint Presentation SlidesSlideTeam
If your company needs to submit a Wordpress Development Proposal Template PowerPoint Presentation Slides look no further. Our researchers have analyzed thousands of proposals on this topic for effectiveness and conversion. Just download our template, add your company data and submit to your client for a positive response. http://bit.ly/2HmmTtr
If your company needs to submit a Enterprise Software Proposal Template PowerPoint Presentation Slides look no further. Our researchers have analyzed thousands of proposals on this topic for effectiveness and conversion. Just download our template, add your company data and submit to your client for a positive response. http://bit.ly/3b5zgac
Website Strategy And Audit Proposal PowerPoint Presentation SlidesSlideTeam
If your company needs to submit a Website Strategy And Audit Proposal PowerPoint Presentation Slides look no further. Our researchers have analyzed thousands of proposals on this topic for effectiveness and conversion. Just download our template, add your company data and submit to your client for a positive response. https://bit.ly/2SInMTl
Discover the benefits of outsourcing React.js development to a trusted partner. Read our blog post to learn how partnering with Etelligens can help you leverage the expertise of skilled React.js developers, accelerate development timelines, and achieve exceptional results for your projects.
Reducing Tickets and Crushing SLAs with StatusPageAtlassian
Downtime is a fact of life, and can be a great competitive advantage for your company and your customers if you handle it well. By keeping customers and employees informed during downtime, you can build trust and cut support costs.
Join Scott, co-founder of StatusPage, for a history of the company and its recent acquisition by Atlassian. We'll cover StatusPage best practices we've learned along the way, and tips for implementing a great StatusPage experience for you and your customers.
Products covered:
StatusPage
Designing for the user experience (National Housing Federation - IT in Housin...Lily Dart
How do we design and deliver effective digital services for our residents? This talk discusses the core principles of user focused design, iterative development of new services, and measuring and evaluating our services for success.
As designers and developers, we don’t always have access to research to about our end users, or the opportunity to learn about them. This can leave us building products based on our managers personal opinion, or client specifications, and never really knowing how we can serve our users better.
But the good news is there are many opportunities for user research that most designers and developers just aren’t aware of. They are cheap, easy to implement, and can used straight away on almost any project.
Lily will talk you through 3 methods of no excuse user research that you can use immediately on the websites, products, apps and services you work on every day.
Design is no longer just the remit of designers. Everything from server infrastructure, to API design, to button interactions, to the colours in the branding can effect the user experience of the things we design and build. But when everyone on the project is making design decisions all the time, how can we ensure that they they’re the right decisions, and that when those decisions are made, everyone else is onboard?
Lily will be talking about the qualities we need make design decisions successful, and what can happen when we struggle to motivate the people we work with to buy-in to the same approach.
Designers are leaders - applying design skills to leadership, and leadership ...Lily Dart
The users experience of the services and products we build is harder to quantify than it once was. Just a few years ago, the best we could expect was some printed marketing materials and a desktop-focused website. Now that experience is made up of a collaboration of responsive websites, apps, emails, push messaging, and interactive experiences across a multitude of interfaces and devices.
Design is no longer just the remit of designers. Everything from server infrastructure to the colours in the branding can effect the user experience. So what does this new world look like for those of us who make design decisions every day? How can we ensure that dedication to a quality experience is shared by our coworkers, our organisations, and our clients?
Talk performed at SyncDevelop(HER) Norwich 22/15
The quick start guide to guerrilla usability testingLily Dart
When you're tight on time and budget guerrilla testing can be a quick and cheap alternative to lab usability testing to gather insights for improvement on your website or app. It also empowers us to design for real people, over client opinions.
This presentation covers all of the key considerations when preparing for and running guerrilla usability testing sessions.
This talk was delivered at WordCamp London 2015
There is now a longer presentation on guerrilla usability testing here: http://www.slideshare.net/LilyDart/guerrilla-testingwordcamp
When you're tight on time and budget guerrilla testing can be a quick and cheap alternative to lab usability testing to gather some insights for improvement. Traditionally used for transactional services, this presentation covers some tips on focusing on more copy-led websites and services.
Explore Sarasota Collection's exquisite and long-lasting dining table sets and chairs in Sarasota. Elevate your dining experience with our high-quality collection!
Best Crypto Marketing Ideas to Lead Your Project to SuccessIntelisync
In this comprehensive slideshow presentation, we delve into the intricacies of crypto marketing, offering invaluable insights and strategies to propel your project to success in the dynamic cryptocurrency landscape. From understanding market trends to building a robust brand identity, engaging with influencers, and analyzing performance metrics, we cover all aspects essential for effective marketing in the crypto space.
Also Intelisync, our cutting-edge service designed to streamline and optimize your marketing efforts, leveraging data-driven insights and innovative strategies to drive growth and visibility for your project.
With a data-driven approach, transparent communication, and a commitment to excellence, InteliSync is your trusted partner for driving meaningful impact in the fast-paced world of Web3. Contact us today to learn more and embark on a journey to crypto marketing mastery!
Ready to elevate your Web3 project to new heights? Contact InteliSync now and unleash the full potential of your crypto venture!
What You're Going to Learn
- How These 4 Leaks Force You To Work Longer And Harder in order to grow your income… improve just one of these and the impact could be life changing.
- How to SHUT DOWN the revolving door of Income Stagnation… you know, where new sales come into your magazine while at the same time existing sponsors exit.
- How to transform your magazine business by fixing the 4 “DON’Ts”...
#1 LEADS Don’t Book
#2 PROSPECTS Don’t Show
#3 PROSPECTS Don’t Buy
#4 CLIENTS Don’t Stay
- How to identify which leak to fix first so you get the biggest bang for your income.
- Get actionable strategies you can use right away to improve your bookings, sales and retention.
1. Ups and downs of
agency agile
Lily Dart
Head of Service Design
dxw
2. dxw is a small agile agency
specialising in public
sector digital
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
3. We began with agilefall
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
4. Agile is better for clients
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
5. Agile is better for clients for
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
less risk
6. Agile is better for clients
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
less risk
faster
7. Agile is better for clients
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
less risk
faster
cheaper
8. When we struggled, I looked to
the community for help
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
9. Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
I was told
10. Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
I was told
“We have to compromise”
11. Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
I was told
“It can’t work with offsite clients”
“We have to compromise”
12. Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
I was told
“Clients don’t care how it gets delivered”
“It can’t work with offsite clients”
“We have to compromise”
13. Ups and downs of agency agile
“Clients don’t care how it gets delivered”
“Agencies never do ‘proper’ agile”
I was told
“It can’t work with offsite clients”
@lily_dart @thedxw
“We have to compromise”
14. Agile is different for agencies
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
15. Agile is different for agencies
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
pressures
16. Agile is different for agencies
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
pressures
relationships
17. Agile is different for agencies
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
pressures
relationshipsrelationships
expectations
18. The agency norms don’t work
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
19. The agency norms don’t work
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
fixed time, scope, cost
20. The agency norms don’t work
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
fixed time, scope, cost
up-front spec work
21. The agency norms don’t work
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
fixed time, scope, cost
up-front spec work
deferred risk
22. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
@lily_dart @thedxw
23. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
24. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Misunderstandings about agile process
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
25. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Misunderstandings about agile process
Adversarial relationships with clients
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
26. Our problems:
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Misunderstandings about agile process
Adversarial relationships with clients
Mismatched expectations
Conflicts over product design
27. With these things in mind,
we iterated.
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
28. Ups and downs of agency agile
Agile works.
For us, and our clients.
With these things in mind,
we iterated.
@lily_dart @thedxw
30. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
A satisfying project experience is
one that lives up to the clients
expectations.
31. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
How do the touch points in the
client journey set expectation?
32. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Calls, emails, briefs, proposals,
pitches, contracts, meetings…
33. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
The first interaction is often
being handed a project brief.
34. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
It’s OK to challenge a client brief
before you win the work.
36. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Many clients are willing to listen to feedback
Challenge briefs
37. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Some will even change their brief
Many clients are willing to listen to feedback
Challenge briefs
38. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Some will even change their brief
If they aren’t willing, end the conversation
Many clients are willing to listen to feedback
Challenge briefs
39. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Proposals are how we set
expectations about what
we’ll deliver
41. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Proposals
Where does your process add value?
42. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
At the end of each sprint, you should have
usable software that you can launch. In the
latter stages of a project, each sprint usually
ends with a release, where the work
completed goes live and becomes available
to your users.”
“
dxw proposal extract
43. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Proposals
Where does your process add value?
44. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Proposals
How do your principles add value?
Where does your process add value?
45. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Engaging with users throughout the life of
the service
In order to succeed, most digital services
need to engage with users throughout the
service’s life.”
dxw proposal extract
“
46. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Proposals
How do your principles add value?
Where does your process add value?
47. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
How do your principles add value?
Don’t accidentally make commitments
Where does your process add value?
Proposals
48. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Minimum project cost*
Two development sprints and two days
of usability testing with delivery
management
Maximum project cost*
Three development sprints and three
days of usability testing with delivery
management
100 Space Bucks
200 Space Bucks
*assuming our stated assumptions are correct
49. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Contracts are a tool for
creating mutual understanding
51. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Explain the language you use day-to-day
Contracts
52. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Definitions
Sprint
A Sprint is our basic unit of development. A sprint consists
of the services of a given number of developers for a given
period of time, and any Surrounding Activities you require.
Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance Criteria are attributes of the Product,
embodied in a document, that a Story must provide in order
for the Story to be considered Finished.”
dxw contract extract
https://github.com/dxw/contracts
“
53. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Explain the language you use day-to-day
Contracts
54. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Explain how the process will work
Explain the language you use day-to-day
Contracts
55. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
A Story cannot be Started unless:
• It is ready (see clause 2.12);
• It has agreed Acceptance Criteria;
• All Required Materials for the Story’s
implementation have been provided to us.”
dxw contract extract
https://github.com/dxw/contracts
“
56. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Explain how the process will work
Explain the language you use day-to-day
Contracts
57. Set expectations early
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Explain how the process will work
Explain the language you use day-to-day
Contracts
Avoid legalese
58. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
59. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
The client relationship must be
collaborative to succeed.
60. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Consider the sales process a
two-way interview.
61. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Pick the right client to get the
right outcomes.
62. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Right client
63. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
How do they measure outcomes?
Right client
64. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What are their organisations priorities?
How do they measure outcomes?
Right client
65. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What are their organisations priorities?
What is the motivator for the project?
How do they measure outcomes?
Right client
66. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Your client is more than the
person who pays the bills.
67. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
They are creative, expert and
invested in the project.
68. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Be empathetic to your clients
needs and experiences.
69. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Needs and experiences
70. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Needs and experiences
Who do they report to?
71. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Needs and experiences
What do they want out of the project?
Who do they report to?
72. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Needs and experiences
What do they want out of the project?
Are they under pressure?
Who do they report to?
73. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Treat them with respect.
74. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Respect
75. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Respect
They know their organisation
76. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Respect
They may be taking a risk with you
They know their organisation
77. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Respect
They may be taking a risk with you
They know their organisation
They will be your ally if you are theirs
78. Clients as team members
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Respect
They may be taking a risk with you
They know their organisation
They will be your ally if you are theirs
Be honest with them
79. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
80. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Even clients who want agile
often don’t understand what it
really means.
81. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Clients have stakeholders they
are accountable to. They’ll need
to justify your approach and
decisions.
82. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What you’re committing to, and why
What you’re not committing to, and why
Why agile is better for their project
What the language means
Clients need to understand:
83. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Teach them to teach their
stakeholders and colleagues.
84. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Teach stakeholders
85. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Are their stakeholders on-board?
Teach stakeholders
86. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What are their concerns?
Are their stakeholders on-board?
Teach stakeholders
87. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What are their concerns?
Are their stakeholders on-board?
Can we speak to them together?
Teach stakeholders
88. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What are their concerns?
Are their stakeholders on-board?
Can we speak to them together?
Teach stakeholders
What message should we communicate?
89. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Dedicate time to them.
90. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Dedicate time
91. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Sprint plan meetings
Dedicate time
92. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Co-design and workshops for solution design
Sprint plan meetings
Dedicate time
93. Invest time to educate
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Co-design and workshops for solution design
Every day during a sprint
Sprint plan meetings
Dedicate time
99. Strategy, not solutions
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What are they trying to achieve?
Strategy
100. Strategy, not solutions
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What does a good outcome look like?
What are they trying to achieve?
Strategy
101. Strategy, not solutions
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What does a good outcome look like?
Ask: “how do these features further our goals?”
What are they trying to achieve?
Strategy
102. Strategy, not solutions
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Use research and data to make
informed decisions.
104. Strategy, not solutions
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
What do you know about the users?
Informed decisions
105. Strategy, not solutions
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Embed research into the process
What do you know about the users?
Informed decisions
106. Strategy, not solutions
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Embed research into the process
How will you measure the success of features?
What do you know about the users?
Informed decisions
107. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
@lily_dart @thedxw
108. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
109. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
110. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Misunderstandings about agile process
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
111. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Misunderstandings about agile process
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
112. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Misunderstandings about agile process
Adversarial relationships with clients
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
113. Ups and downs of agency agile
Our problems:
Misunderstandings about agile process
Adversarial relationships with clients
Mismatched expectations
@lily_dart @thedxw
114. Our problems:
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Misunderstandings about agile process
Adversarial relationships with clients
Mismatched expectations
Conflicts over product design
115. Our problems:
Ups and downs of agency agile
@lily_dart @thedxw
Misunderstandings about agile process
Adversarial relationships with clients
Mismatched expectations
Conflicts over product design
116. Ups and downs of agency agile
What works for us:
@lily_dart @thedxw
117. Ups and downs of agency agile
What works for us:
We select clients who we can align goals with
@lily_dart @thedxw
118. Ups and downs of agency agile
What works for us:
We set expectations early and reinforce regularly
We select clients who we can align goals with
@lily_dart @thedxw
119. Ups and downs of agency agile
What works for us:
We set expectations early and reinforce regularly
We invest time to educate and understand clients
We select clients who we can align goals with
@lily_dart @thedxw
120. Ups and downs of agency agile
We set expectations early and reinforce regularly
We invest time to educate and understand clients
We select clients who we can align goals with
We agree focus on strategic priorities over features
What works for us:
@lily_dart @thedxw