The client & us!?Applying a balanced team mindset in agencies
Johanna Kollmann - @johannakollBalanced Team Conference, 24 September 2011
Photo by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center http://www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/4941688795/
Photo by Frank Kovalchek http://www.flickr.com/photos/72213316@N00/5531444032//
My definition of a ‘balanced team’
Photo by Frank Kovalchek http://www.flickr.com/photos/72213316@N00/5531444032//
A multi-skilled, collaborative team that is self-empowered, free to choose the best way to achieve what they’ve
set out to do, with a culture of learning and skill-sharing.
I work in an agency!
Team A: we are your department
• Financial services client
• Long-term relationship (years!)
• Experience planning, design, development, business
analysis
• The client sits with us
Team B: we are your consultants
• Retail client
• Building a long-term relationship
• In-house staff, us, plenty of 3rd parties
• We spend a lot of time at the client’s
Key success factors
• You work on one account at a time
• Collaborative planning instead of account managers who
‘sell resources’
• Everybody on board from the beginning
Key challenges
• Can us + client + 3rd parties = 1 product team?
• In the end, it’s about money
• The boom of freelancing!
What tripped us up
Neglecting the basics:
• process
• rituals
• work environment
Why did that happen?
• Team A got too comfortable
• Team B had people drop in and out
• Both moved workspace
Photo by Dirk Jan Ranzijn http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirkscircusimages/6155373806/
Balancing requires attention and adjustment
It’s constant and conscious
Agile adoption in agencies: my observations
Collaboration rituals
Client involvement
‘the right fidelity’
Prototyping
Teams, not departments
Mini-waterfalls
Angst management tools
Deliverables, deliverables
Oh research, where art
thou?
Roles, not responsibilities
What makes me feel out of balance
• Customer feedback & research not (enough) part of the
design process
• Resourcing, roles and egos
• Project vs. product
• Learning, coaching, pairing
I’d love your input, please
• Traditional UX agency business model is threatened
• It’s very early days – agile still scares large clients
• Process vs mindset
• Any stories to share?
