Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology

Chapter 11

Achieving Convergence through Agile Methodology

Throughout Chapters 8 through 10, we’ve hammered home a few central themes:

• Organizations need to be more cross-functional and collaborative.
• They need to work faster.
• They need to be more responsive and flexible.
• They need to be more accountable.
• They need to try, fail, learn, and succeed.

By now you might be nodding in agreement even as you realize you have no actual clue how to bring this sort of change to your business. The answer, we believe, is Agile. You’ve surely heard of it and maybe even flirted with implementing it. Maybe you’ve even tried large-scale deployment or a pilot and watched it crash and burn. We’ve referred to Agile a few times, and now we want to explore at length how you can use it in your organization, regardless of the industry your organization is in.

Within Agile, cross-functionality is ensured because Agile teams can be cross-functional in nature. That correctly built Agile team, comprised of user experience, technology, and a business owner, can be tweaked within enterprise marketing and IT environments to include the relevant roles and functions. But regardless of a team’s makeup or the exact flavor of the Agile being used, adhering to the methodology’s main principles will help your organization become more customer-centered.

Historically, enterprise IT backlog has moved too far away from the customer, often aligning with business needs that have nothing to do with the customer experience. ...