The document discusses barriers to adopting Agile practices in marketing organizations based on evidence from the Marketing Agility Podcast. It outlines common objections such as concerns about scaling, disruption, and incompatibility with planning and budgeting. It also examines challenges that can cause Agile trials to fail, including bad choice of use case, method, team structure or timing, as well as lack of management support. Maintaining alignment across teams and functions is another challenge discussed.

1. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly
Barriers to Agile Adoption
Anecdotal Evidence from The Marketing Agility Podcast
Frank Days
VP Marketing - Stratoscale
@tangyslice
Roland Smart
VP Social and Community Marketing - Oracle
@rsmartly

2. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly
About Our Experience
The Marketing Agility Podcast
Started: 2010
Episodes
• 50+ Episodes
• Big & Small Companies
• B2B & B2C
• Practitioners & Agencies
Companies
• Autodesk
• Symantec
• Level3
• Marketo
• Infer
• CA Technologies
• LeanKit
• GoGo Wireless
• Vistaprint
• Spotify
• EMC
• Workfront
+
2

3. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly
Objections
Common Objections that prevent trial adoption
• It doesn’t scale!
• It will disrupt other projects and teams!
• It is anti-planning!
• It’s incompatible with budgeting!
3

4. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 4
Objection: It doesn’t scale!

5. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 4
Objection: It doesn’t scale!
150
Dunbar’s Number
Scale is hard,
but NOT fundamentally harder than Waterfall

6. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 5
Objection: It will disrupt other projects and teams!
It can be highly disruptive (at times being disruptive is useful).
But, it largely depends on how aggressive your adoption is!

7. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 6
Objection: It is anti-planning!
“Responding to change over following a plan” does not imply
throwing out planning. It’s a matter of balance.

8. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 7
Objection: It is anti-planning!
“Responding to change over following a plan” does not imply
throwing out planning. It’s a matter of balance.
Agile
Waterfall

9. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly
Challenges
Common Challenges that make trials fail and trip us up!
• Bad choice of use case
• Bad choice of method
• Bad choice of team structure
• Bad choice of timing
• Lack of management support
• + more …. let’s jump in!
8

10. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 9
Objection: Without an annual plan you can’t budget!
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Budget A Budget B
Waterfall Agile
Budget A Budget B
• iterative budgeting
• directs $ to greatest ROI
• annual budgeting
• setting the top sets a bottom

11. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 10
Challenge: Selecting the right method … to get started
Kanban is increasingly becoming the foundational method.
Marketers fail — or struggle — when they start with a method that
is too prescriptive.

12. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 11
Challenge: Embracing User Stories, Tasks and Tests
“One of the purposes of the user story is to get into the head of
the user and you — the marketer - are NOT the user!”
- Jim Ewel - Thought Leader / Coach - agilemarketing.net
• write good user stories & tests
• know when to use tasks
• know how granular they should be
• score / scope / size stories
• prioritize stories
• connect stories to strategy
Marketers struggle to

13. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 12
Challenge: Balance Agile and traditional approaches
How much time does my team spend in Agile mode vs Waterfall?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
100 A / 0 W 80 A / 20 W 60 A / 40 W 40 A / 60 W 20 A / 80 W
Anecdotal evidence based on The Marketing Agility Podcast

14. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 13
Challenge: Breaking out of your functional silo
Today most Agile implementations are driven by mid-level
managers or by functional team leaders. Thus we often see
Agile inside organizational silos.
Agile Pioneers

15. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 14
Challenge: Transitioning to X-Functional Teams
VS
Marketers fail — or struggle — to transition functional silos to
cross-functional teams.

16. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 15
Challenge: Maintain alignment across implementation teams
“The Scrum of Scrum meetings help keep Agile teams in sync”
- Frank Days - Stratoscale - vp of marketing
The New Org Chart (Spotify Model aka Matrix Org)

17. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 16
Challenge: Aligning backlog & strategic planning
“We establish what our OKRs*
are and all of those should roll
up into what the executive team sets”
- Sean Zinsmeister - sr. director of product marketing at Infer
integrate/synchronize
management
*
Objectives & Key Results (OKR) framework

18. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 17
Management Consulting
(aka executive education)
Sanctioned Pilots With
Demonstrable Results
Challenge: Winning executive Buy-in
“I think we’ll see leadership transform when the marketers
who are driving Agile adoption are the leaders”
- Charlie Treadwell - sr. director, digital Symantec

19. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 18
How Is Agile Marketing Playing Out for Enterprises?
top downmeet in the middle
5%15%
bottom up
80%
As you might expect, smaller companies have better odds.
> 50%
success
< 20%
success
> 70%
success

20. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly 19
Challenge: We haven’t crossed the chasm
@rsmartly
We are hereEarly Adopters are driving innovation
It’s just coming up on Pragmatists’ radar …
… this is why management consulting is a key driver today

21. podcast: rsmart.ly/agilepod/@tangyslice @rsmartly
Thank You
Questions?