FREDERIK VINCXprezly.com

twice the workin HALf the timestartupWORKFLOW

Frederik is the creative director at PR software company Prezly.His teams helps major brands and agencies boost their story publishing and stakeholder interaction workflow.

Thanks Laura.PRstack. Laura invited me to speak about workflow.

Disclaimer: have not worked in PR agencies.Im a software creator. Worked at advertising agencies for a decade.

I do spend a large amount of time with PR teams speaking about their workflow. Especially since PRstack people keep asking me for advice on how to operationalize the suggestions.

startup WORKFLOW twice the workin HALf the time

Bold claim. But its true. High performing teams can create up to 4 times the value that of average teams. Super performing teams up to 10 times. I didnt invent this.

Why startups?

@fritsbits

Know this show? Silicon Valley, HBO. About ups and downs.

Why are startups a good example? No other choice than get results.Fight for their life.

Our own story..

Not just 20-something dudes with hoodies.

Eg: SpaceX VS Boeying. Revolutionized space travel. Since 2006.

Elon Musk from Paypal. Bought for $1.5B by Amazon.

Paypal mafia: Peter Thiel, Steve Chen & Chad Hurley, Reid Hoffman,..

20-25%20%55-60%100%IncomeStaff costsOverheadProfit@wadds

http://wadds.co.uk/2015/09/22/money-agency-business/

In a traditional agency staff costs including non-fee earners are 50 to 60% of income; overhead is 15 to 25%; and the balance of 15 to 35% is profit.

Edelman PR $132K$666M/5021Lewis PR$138K$36M/260 GolinHarris$238K$175M/735Davies PR $353K$12M/34

http://worldreport.holmesreport.com/top-250

Edelman PR, which seems to be ranked as number one agency in the world year after year, earned a $132,563 fee per head. Not bad median PR agency salary in 2011 was $81,500.

HEROES@fritsbits

Introduction to ideas of my startup heroes.

Lets see: who knows the guy on the left?

Taiichi Ohno, TPS. Jeff Sutherland, scrum.inc

HERO 1This dudeBYOD

Battenhall BYOD video

Drew Benvie, MD Battenhall:- PRCA agency of the future 2013- EMEA New consultancy of the year 2015

HERO 2JeffSutherlandSCRUM

Whos heard of SCRUM? Not the rugby term.Whos used it?

Where title comes from: book SCRUM The art of doing twice the work in half the time. Jeff Sutherland

Youve spent weeks (and a hefty budget) laying the foundation. Every options been explored, every potential eventuality analyzed.

So why, halfway into the project, do you find yourself behind schedule, under-performing, and over-budget?

The problem is that planning is a guessing game. And the bigger your plan, the less accurate your guesses are likely to be.

Thats why communications trailblazers are increasingly turning to agile planning.

They experiment with iterative and incremental processes rather than taking traditional front-loaded project management approaches.

The result? Valuable work delivered more quickly.

Agile teams stick rigidly to deadlines, but plan flexibly. They implement small changes at a time, check that each iteration is on track, and correct course if necessary.

Its known as the build, measure, learn loop.

This concept has been fundamental to software development for years, but its applicable to the communication sector, too.

Story: bringing the FBI into the 21st century

Next: cornerstones agile planning to work.

Early and continual delivery of value

Teams focus on customer needs and deliver solutions in bursts called sprints.

Sprints typically last one or two weeks before teams test solutions.

They demo results to stakeholders and change direction, if necessary.

Self-organizedteam working

Agile team members have complementary skills. Team members can include people from sales, product, marketing, design, or PR.

Usually, the team sits together for the entirety of the project.

They are self-organized and empowered to make their own decisions within a sprint.

This allows them solve problems in record speed.

Team introspectionand learning

Success is measured in how much teams improve collaboration and optimize their speed.

Agile planning teams understand how they work.

Each sprint is followed by a retrospective, with team members fine tuning their behavior and actions.

Teams better estimate what work theyll achieve in a sprint, leading to more effective results.

Transparency

Agile planning teams dont need managing. They create mutual understanding and motivation. One way of doing this is to meet briefly each day (the daily scrum or stand-up).

Daily meetings make it easy to track progress, remove impediments, and keep everyone focused.

Furthermore, individuals cant hide, but must demonstrate their value to the project.

@fritsbits

Suppose you have been tasked with creating an eBook to market a company.

Traditionally, this involves a long briefing meeting, at the end of which the favorite idea of the highest paid person in the room (the HIPPO) is chosen.

Then a strategist creates a communication plan, and an account manager and project manager estimate a budget. This needs client sign-off.

Time passes.

Days or weeks later, a writer, editor, graphic designer, and desktop publisher are commissioned.

After several weeks of writing, design, and revisions, an eBook is published.

A few weeks later still, the client receives prettified Google Analytics statistics and finally sees the result of all this work.

Agile planning would be very different.

The process kicks off with the same briefing, at which all ideas are noted.

In week one, a multidisciplinary team creates and publishes social media updates based on these initial ideas. The team measures which ideas resonate with the target audience and present the results to the client. This data informs decisions for week two.In week two, the team writes blog posts about the content of the most popular updates. The team reaches out to bloggers for input and to pitch the story. Blogs are published and promoted, their popularity tracked, and the results shared. If theres little interest at this point, the team returns to the drawing board and tests new ideas.But if the blogs are successful, in week three, the team uses them as the basis for an eBook. This is quickly published and boosted by more blogger outreach and sponsored social updates. Success can be quickly tracked.The team still has week four to amplify success. Additions of an infographic and Slideshare presentation guide even more people towards the eBook.See the difference? The agile team creates value more quickly and learns faster.

On top of that, its more fun and energizing to work in an agile team.

HERO 3Taiichi OhnoTPS, KANBAN

Toyota production system.Continuous improvement. Kaizen. Process optimization.

Removing waste: muda.

Example of results? Increase in quality, compared to other brand.

@fritsbits

Kanban, developed by Toyota in 1950s Japan.

Visualize work to increase communication and collaboration.

Both digital and physical board.

Limit work in progress to avoid an endless chain of non-prioritized open tasks.

Measure and optimize the flow, collect metrics, predict future problems.

Aim for continuous improvement as the result of analysis.

PESO kit@fritsbits

PESO model

Paid mediaEarned mediaShared mediaOwned media

Errors

First step: map value.Value demands are the work clients pay companies to do. It is the reason that the company is in business.

Failure demands are demands caused by a failure to do something or do something right for the customer.

Writing a blog post? Value.Answering an email inquiry about the status of the blog post?Failure demand. Waste.Correcting typos? Failure demand. Waste.

Bottlenecks

Where is work piling up?Are people waiting?Are there unnecessary intermediaries? Reduce handovers.

Frustration

Example PR agency London. Copy/paste influencer reach.

Low valueError proneFrustrating

Share files

Manage contacts

Pitch media

Publish on newsroom

Post onsocial mediaInform(internal)stakeholders

prezly.com

@finn_be @rafweverbergh

PR software development, but similarities:

- Good briefing in PR (= solid requirements and user stories)- Both need quality control

How toMODERNIZEWORKFLOWin teamsfrederikvincx.com@fritsbits

HERO 4Eric RiesLean

Founder of lean.Whizkid. Java black magic.Blogger -> The Lean startup.

Avoid waste. Learn as fast as possible what works.

BUILDMEASURELEARN

A scientic approach to manage Disruptive Innovation

Dene HypothesesMake assumptions about your business.Build & Run ExperimentsTest your assumptions empirically. Learn from the Results Pivot (change strategy) or Persevere.

HERO 5Tim FerrisAutomation & tech

Jenkins

prstack.co

Speed date

@fritsbits

Were already almost halfway through 2016.

Many of us began the year full of good intentions. Go to the gym more regularly. Eat more healthily. Read more frequently.

What remains of these resolutions now, months later?

Being involved in the building of communication software, I met with many communication teams back in January and was aware of their good intentions. Improving workflow was high up on everyones list. Most teams recognized the need to get rid of old software and inefficient ways of working.

Know what you want

PR media relations

PESO

Identify greatest workflow issues.

Cfr. Kanban error prevention: have a good briefing.

Divide and conquer

A well-known African proverb says: If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. This wisdom is also relevant to management changes within organizations.

Eg: two-pizza team

You dont have to change your entire communication strategy right away.

Its all about seeing what works first. So avoid large committees and long meetings.

Appoint one or two people to look into possible solutions. Choose a number of representatives and make them ambassadors of the improvement project. Let them find out quickly if a tool or way of working is the right solution.

Start small; act now

Analysis paralysis

Start small.

Eg: Takeda: 10 - 50 -130 landen

Story Slack Edelman

HEROES@fritsbits

Use cool stuff, dude.

Create value quickly together

Improve continuously

Do as little as possible to learn what works

Take yourself out of the equation

frederikvincx.com@fritsbits