Matt Howell Teams, Process and Structure | MDW August 2011

BOULDER DIGITAL WORKSTEAMS, PROCESS AND STRUCTURE

Thursday, August 4, 2011

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Mayhem on Madison Ave Don Draper’s Revenge

or


The most interesting ideas within the advertising industry are coming from outside the advertising industry.


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My POV is whether we like it or not, advertising agencies are getting into the software business.


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“It is much better to have a smaller share of an exploding industry versus a growing share in a declining industry.”

- Rishad Tobaccowalla, 4A’s Conference

By no means are traditional channels going away, but...


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My experience:

Then: small Now: big


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The challenge:

How can we transition teams, processes and cultures that have for 50+ years, been focused on producing one thing, very quickly get good at producing something entirely different. Without ruining what’s already in place.


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Fixing this is not an interactive problem. It’s a full-on organizational problem.


Thinking about teams, process and structure.

The work.

The people needed to build the work.

The process through which the work is realized.


1: The work.


What we’re making is different than it was 18 months ago.


Yahoo’s Duncan Watts, in his “influencers” research, used a lighting many fires analogy that points to the fact that digital media drives cumulative advantage. He suggests brands are better off “placing lots of bets to give the best chance of starting a full forest fire - lots of fires in lots of promising places.”

The cost efficiencies of digital media allow marketers to hedge bets and not bet the farm on one thing - make ten and see what takes.

For starters, we’re making a lot more stuff.


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Bet it all on a couple :30’s.

The big idea is a lot of little ideas.

A new metaphor.


1. Our work is now more varied.


http://vimeo.com/4238052















http://www.youtube.com/user/OldSpice























http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fte5VQ44W5Q























Diversity breeds sustained activity:steady levels of awareness, conversation, advocacy

Campaign in market:increased awareness, conversation, advocacy

Put more out there, more frequently.

TraditionalCycle

Hi-FrequencyCycle

Campaign goes dark:conversation volume drops markedly


Digital work is typically the product of a very large number of small, but very important decisions carried out across a quick, iterative development process.

2. Our work is also more complex.


Project Teams

Agency / Client Leadership

CD’sAD’s

GADCCO

AE’sAD’s / CW’sProducersProject ManagersSupport Staff

Account / Client Leadership

Hierarchal structure incompatible with this process.

time


2: The people needed to make the work.


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Our industry has been bred to make ads.


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managing making

Focusing on relationships and process over work.

what kind of organization is yours?


Typical engagement model.

Retained Client Team

Developer

Client Organization

UX design InteractiveProducer

Soc. Media Manager

Tech Team Lead


Shift team composition to prioritize making.

MngmntSupervisor

AccountSupervisor

AccountSupervisor

AccountExecutive

Asst. Acct.Executive

ProjectManager

InteractiveProducer

BroadcastProducer

TeamLeadership

MngmntSupervisor

ProjectManager

InteractiveProducer

BroadcastProducer

UX Designer

Soc. MediaManager

Developer


Shift team composition to prioritize making.

MngmntSupervisor

AccountSupervisor

AccountSupervisor

AccountExecutive

Asst. Acct.Executive

ProjectManager

InteractiveProducer

BroadcastProducer

TeamLeadership


Becoming nimble by flattening and creating groups.

Team 1 Team 2 Team 3

x-disciplinary leadership team

Hierarchical Org StructureTeams work with greater autonomy / accountability


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How much of our organizational energy is directed at our work?


Knowledge across disciplines

Core discipline expertise

Rebuilding teams around a new building block.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/95/design-strategy.html?page=0%2C1


The T-shaped team.

Concept /Design + Tone

ImplementationProject / ClientManagement

Functionality /User Interaction

Creative Technology Production UX

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3: The process through which the work is realized.


Confront a paradox: the more people you involve in a project, the slower it will move and the less likely it will be innovative or good.


Bloated teams = slow, waste of time.

Poorly designed teams.


We need to be brutally reductive in the assembly of teams.

Zero in on overlap, collapse roles, remove any resources that don’t immediately contribute to the creation of work.


Poorly designed physical environments.

Use co-location / technology to mediate gaps.


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Mother London: flexible open space, tight team co-location


Email volume = communications breakdown = trouble.

Poor substitutions for collaboration.


Process must work for you, not vice versa.

Restrictive processes that will suffocate creativity.


Brief

Present Brief toClient

Feedback

Project Kick-Off

Present Conceptsto Client

Feedback

Revised Concepts to Client

FinalBrief

FeedbackFinal

Concept

10 week cycle3 face to face meetings in 10 weeks.


Chicago:Framework

Planing

Boston:Feature SetDefinition

BostonDesign +

Prototyping

Chicago: Design +

Prototyping

Boston:Pr’tization + Planning

Chicago:Feature Design

6 week cycle

clients integrated into project team


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smaller teamsco-location = easier collaboration

less processless documentationfewer emailsshorter emailsfewer meetingsfewer big presentations = more work,

more quickly


Above all. Try doing something new. Trying something new is actually more important than doing something right.

No one has this figured out.

Shift burden from proving why you should experiment to why you shouldn’t.

Doing nothing is going to put you further behind.


BOULDER DIGITAL WORKSTHANK YOU


Matt Howell Teams, Process and Structure | MDW August 2011

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Transcript of Matt Howell Teams, Process and Structure | MDW August 2011