How to Implement Scrum For Digital Marketing
I chose this article because it goes into detail about the scrum events for conversion rate optimization.
“In traditional scrum, there are five key events that every Scrum team participates in. The power of the events structure is that it’s a repeatable, iterative and straightforward to optimize process that a team of marketers can use to produce more work, better, in less time.”
A straightforward takeaway from this article is intentionally choosing how long a sprint should be. There is no set amount of time that it should last, which is why I think it would be beneficial to have our sprints last longer than a week.
Personally, I have noticed that I’m having a difficult time breaking up projects into smaller, achievable chunks. There are so many things that I want to get done in a week that seem realistic for my timeline, but when it comes down to what is deliverable, I am putting too much pressure on myself to pick up slack when there are blockers from other teams outside of marketing.
Before scrum, I would jump between tasks when something was asked of me, and I would prioritize things based on my own idea of the amount of time it’d take. With our new structure, I want to make sure that my team succeeds while also meeting the needs of others. Unfortunately, this creates a deadline in my mind, and things get pushed out further than I’d like them to be to ensure that the rest of my work is completed.
Does Scrum Really Work in Marketing?
“If you’re an ad agency, a very small company or if you work as a provider to multiple clients, Scrum may not be your best bet. However, if you’re a larger company that needs to create a sense of urgency, clarity on priorities and improve collaboration and teamwork, Scrum is a wonderful, well-proven framework for doing just those things.”
This starts with explaining how scrum’s roots started with software development. There are a lot of misconceptions about what scrum is, but this article breaks down how scrum is a lightweight project management framework that has “three roles, four meetings, and five values.”
The highlight from this article for me is that scrum shouldn’t be a process determined by tons of rules. It should be adjusted to fit each team’s dynamic and allow marketing departments to self-organize. As noted previously, I have struggled the most with how to time out each sprint. This article explains that scrum marketers should reframe their minds to think and plan in product increments.
“When the work gets released can happen at any time and is unrelated to the sprint itself.” This simple, yet effective sentence has already helped me understand sprints better. My thought process behind each sprint shouldn’t focus on getting something out the door. Focusing on certain campaign elements will help me better understand what I’m capable of doing. Though we aren’t a large company yet, I think that as we get more comfortable with scrum, it will improve each person’s ability to collaborate and express their needs from others.