Is Agile the next step for Project Managers in Advertising Agencies?

The controversial debate about the internal roles of project managers and producers in ad agencies sparked a long due conversation. Ed Burgoyne and many others discussed both roles eloquently in his LinkedIn post Producer vs Project Managers in a creative agency. Coming from the agency side, I can understand the dilemma since I was witness of the dissonance that existed between both roles. As a producer, I must confess, I never liked traffic managers to try to drive the pace of my projects. I also thought it was also a bit disconcerting that a traffic manager (now project manager) could actually become project managers without any project management training. After all, to really become a project manager you must go through a very difficult training and certification, far from the easy way up project managers have in an ad agencies.

Not long ago, agencies did not have any project managers. They had traffic managers who moved work and coordinated internal talent to make sure jobs were completed on time. At the same time, co-existing with traffic we had producers who were in charge of the completion of highly complicated projects involving radio, television and graphics that demanded full time attention and knowledge in multiple areas including talent management, formats, contracts, distribution, and unions. In a way, project managers were covering a larger umbrella of jobs that included projects were producers were the lead, and also projects not lead by producers because they were managed by either the account teams, research teams or any other internal resource.

Suggesting that a project manager can do the role of producer is a bit naïve, but depends on the complexity of the client and the size of the agency. Pretending producers oversee the whole flow of work for a large agency is also naïve because broadcast or digital productions are complex, and most of the time, are running under tight schedules. The role of producers has also been segmented into multiple areas like broadcast, digital, or print, and the role of project managers was also affected by that segmentation. I guess what bothered me the most was creative project managers that were not properly trained and were disconnected to the processes and procedures. Believe me, I don’t pretend they need to be PMP certified. Actually I don’t think they should be at all, but they do need to become less of a “tool oriented task pusher” and become an intrinsic part of the TEAM.

In many agencies merging roles is also evident and there is nothing stopping it. Agencies try to maximize their talent and expect cross-functional knowledge to better monetize accounts. That’s why I think methodologies like SCRUM could become the next step for project managers to better define roles, processes, time management, and visibility of projects and tasks. That is why I believe we should start introducing project managers to SCRUM and say hello to SCRUM Masters!

SCRUM is an Agile methodology originally created for the development of software projects. In SCRUM strong organizational matrices disappear and are replaced by a workgroup with a flat structure aiming to be more open, with higher visibility of requirements, tasks, timeframe and deliverables. Nothing is a mystery and everyone is welcomed to pitch in, help tackle bottlenecks, and finish tasks on time. This group is a self-guided team that collectively, is stronger than the sum of its parts. Don’t be confused though; self-guidance has no conflict with on time deliverables. Changes requested do not clash with processes and new creative ideas do not clash with predetermined client expectations because the client is part of this team.

SCRUM also has clear rules for the team and defines two major roles as the leaders; The Product Owner and the SCRUM Master. The Product Owner is more like the Account Executive but could also be a producer. He understands the clients, the strategies, the business needs, and helps create a “prioritized” list of requirements: a wish list of items to do. That list is called THE BACKLOG. Work is done in a time boxed period called SPRINTS (a week long or maximum of 2 weeks) and by the end of each “sprint”, the TEAM needs to show a potentially shippable product, or in our case, the results of the work done during the past SPRINT. Simple!

The Scrum Master is sort of a project manager that doesn't necessarily manage the team, but offers supports to the Product Owner, makes sure the Scrum process is followed by the TEAM, and looks for ways to optimize the process. Scrum Masters are the helpful eyes that look at the project from multiple angles, clear obstacles, and provide effective oversight, feedback from clients, and re-alignment of goals to fit the business needs. The Scrum Master also conducts a “Daily Scrum” which is a 15 minute meeting where the team ONLY talks about 3 things. First, what did you do yesterday; second, what will you do today; and third, what obstacles you might encounter to accomplish your tasks. The Scrum Master is a facilitator: A process enabler.

What is this Agile Methodology and why is everybody talking about it?

Agile is a methodology driven by a simple Agile Manifesto and SCRUM is a way in which Agile can be implemented. The manifesto states:

“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

In no way the manifesto states that processes, tools, documentation, or following a plan are not important parts of a project methodology. It just simply states that we place more value on the concepts in the left. We rather have a one on one conversation over sending long emails. We rather have something creative and cool to show the client than to be forever planning and have nothing tangible to show. We prefer and value our agility to respond to changes rather than pretend we have an infallible plan to follow. Doesn’t that sound like the working environment we all would love to have in advertising agencies?

In my opinion, I think there are multiple ideas marketing and advertising agencies can adopt from SCRUM. More so, I think that SCRUM blends beautifully with the creative process and embraces all those issues that many people in advertising, think are mayor “problems”. If you haven’t heard copywriters and art directors screaming about the latest changes requested, basically you have never worked in advertising. Agile/Scrum accepts those changes and embraces creativity throughout the process. That is why SCRUM it is the most used Agile methodology, widely used by Fortune 500 companies to tackle and transform projects.

Hey, I am not saying we should forget about our traditional waterfall methodology immediately, but what I am saying is that we should explore better training for project managers, better integration, optimization, and embrace daily problems. What I am saying is lets start training project managers into Scrum and Agile and allow this methodology to provide the space to create. Creativity is sort of a living organism that needs space to breath. The ability to encourage good ideas no matter where they come from and to embrace changes while providing a better experience to the team and our stakeholders should be our main goal.

I know SCRUM is bigger than what I can provide in this post. I urge you all to explore it, question it, adapt it and embrace it. I hope you see and improvement in the performance of creative groups, the definition of roles (specially for project managers) and the self guided collaboration that can create great synergy in teams. What do you think?

Wanna see something funny about scrum? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6v-I9VvTq4

More about Agile/Scrum http://www.agilenutshell.com/what_is_agile

Robert Feliciano is an awarded Broadcast Production Manager and Content Creator who works for agencies like Saatchi, FCB and Lopez Negrete recently. He has worked with blue-chip companies in the US and internationally, and his clients include MillerCoors, Mazda, Bank of America, Walmart, Dell, Wendy’s and many other recognized brands. He is bilingual, works General and Hispanic markets, holds an MBA and is certified in SCM Scrum Master and CompTia Project+. He has consulted teams about international productions, tools, processes, technology adoption, etc. More at www.robertfelicianoproducer.com.