On Blending Frameworks and Shifting Mindsets

In this episode of Dreams With Deadlines, host Jenny Herald dives into the dynamic world of marketing with Renata Lerch. 

Renata shares her career journey, highlighting the evolution of marketing's role beyond departmental boundaries and the integration of operational strategies in creating a seamless brand experience. From her extensive global experience to her deep dive into different methodologies, Renata explores how these frameworks have shaped her approach to marketing.

What you will learn

• The integration of operational strategies in marketing, aligning it with broader organizational goals.
• The power of blending frameworks to foster adaptation and team buy-in.
• Practical insights into applying methodologies in marketing for improved collaboration, prioritization, and iterative success.

Show notes

• [00:00:38] The Evolution of Marketing and Agile Methods. Renata discusses her career journey, integrating operations into marketing for a cohesive brand experience. She mentions Lean, Six Sigma, Scrum, and Agile methodologies' impact, emphasizing the need for framework-agnostic approaches with systems and design thinking.
• [00:04:21] Applying Scrum in a Marketing Environment: Team Composition and Roles. The discussion highlights roles in Scrum translated to marketing teams. The product owner's role as a liaison is crucial, and the scrum master role's absence in small marketing teams is discussed.
• [00:09:03] Applying Empiricism and Lean Thinking in Marketing: Mindset and Frameworks. Renata stresses mindset shifts, invoking consumer perspectives, fostering collaboration, and using frameworks for decision-making and campaign building. Transparency, data democratization, and benefit mapping are highlighted.
• [00:14:14] Scrum Ceremonies in Marketing: Sprint Planning and Retrospectives. The importance of sprint planning, flexible sprint duration, and the significance of retrospectives in recognizing wins and enhancing team dynamics are discussed.
• [00:18:50] Sprint Reviews and Retrospectives: Combining or Delineating? Renata talks about the choice between separate or combined sprint reviews and retrospectives, based on agile marketing leaders' preferences and organization size.
• [00:20:02] Aligning Backlog, Product Goals, and Sprint Goals in Marketing. Prioritization, deadlines, and the interconnectedness of marketing with other departments shape the marketing backlog. The synchronization of marketing goals with company deliverables is highlighted.
• [00:28:16] Balancing Iteration and Quality: Definition of Done in Marketing. Renata talks about the challenge of balancing iteration and quality in marketing's definition of done, emphasizing compliance with brand standards, quality, and voice and tone.
• [00:30:17] Blending Frameworks and Fostering Adaptation in Agile Marketing. Renata discusses blending Scrum and Kanban, adapting to the team's comfort level, and gaining buy-in through iterative, open-minded, and data-driven approaches.
• [00:33:49] Embracing Scrumban for Visualizing Work and Managing Overload. Renata shares her Scrumban implementation experience, emphasizing the value of visualizing work and understanding team culture.
• [00:36:09] Overcoming Misconceptions and Embracing Flexibility in Scrumban. The challenge of people confusing Scrum's prescription with Scrumban's flexibility is discussed, focusing on understanding best practices that work for the team.
• [00:44:43] Quick-Fire Questions for Renata:
  • Dream with a deadline: Renata's dream is to have a team that is highly focused and synchronized, both within the marketing team and across the organization, understanding priorities and interdependencies, and being aware of the company's direction.
  • Advice for embarking on an agile transformation journey in marketing: Start small and iterate. Begin with one team or implement tools like Jira or Trello to initiate the agile process, and then gradually expand and refine the approach.
  • Biggest fail in working with agile methods: Renata shared an experience where the CEO of an organization disrupted agile processes, causing confusion and undermining progress. The key learning was that while bottom-up initiatives can work, without top-level support, it becomes challenging to sustain agile practices effectively.
  • Books that shaped Renata's thinking: Renata highlighted the significance of the book "Systems Thinking" as a paradigm-shifting resource. She also mentioned that books on meditation offer valuable perspectives on agile methodologies. Specifically, she found Donella Meadows' book to be incredible.

Relevant links

• Jeff Sutherland, Inventor and Co-Creator of Scrum
• Donella Meadows, lead author of the books The Limits to Growth and Thinking In Systems: A Primer
• Thinking in Systems, by Donella Meadows