In this article we look at the process of marketing project management, the history (and problems) of waterfall project management, and why agile marketing project management and experimentation is the future for marketing growth.
People, Process, Technology
The People, Processes, and Technology (PPT) framework is widely used around the world to describe the 3 key elements of a successful company or team. Originating from the world of change management, and adapted from Harold Leavitt’s 1964 paper Applied Organisation Change in Industry, it has been adopted as a business practice “near-mantra” that is now widely used around the world in information technology, cybersecurity and management consulting. It has become the classic framework to assess and improve team and organisational performance.
Table of contents
Open Table of contents
Marketing project management and the technology paradox
If you were to ask most marketing leaders what makes a great team, most would probably say people, some may say technology. Very few would talk about process.
Speak to some of the world’s best growth leaders however, and you’ll discover they all talk about process.
Growth has nothing to do with tactics, and everything to do with process. Growth is not about the terminology or the tactics, it’s about a change in our mentality, process, and team.
Brian Balfour, VP of Growth @ Hubspot Quote source
Growth is about implementing a rigorous, customer insight and data-driven process with sustained effort to remove friction
Brian Rothenberg, VP of Growth at Eventbrite Quote source
The growth process is designed to be a positive feedback loop, to find small wins and optimizations across the business and then compound those over time as fast as possible.
Morgan Brown, VP Growth @ Shopify, ex Facebook Quote source
In knowledge work our tools are the processes we use to approach and solve different types of problems
Andrew Chen, VC @ a16z, ex Growth @ Uber Quote source
You can have highly competent people and state-of-the-art tech, but fail to grow and achieve KPIs because of inefficient processes. Process is the hardest of the 3 disciplines to get right, and its impact is often underrated.
How waterfall marketing project management became the norm
The inception of waterfall project management and task-based systems dates back to Frederick Winslow Taylor’s work in the early 1900s. His theory, known as Scientific Management (or Taylorism), centred around the idea that dividing work into standardised discrete tasks was the key to increasing process and project efficiency.
Waterfall project delivery follows a series of steps, executed in a linear fashion one after the other. The steps are typically Planning, Design, Implementation, Testing and Deployment.
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Planning: Discuss campaign theme and objectives at a high level.
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Design: Understand individual assets required (content, graphics, landing page & ad creation, tools, nurture sequences, analytics etc).
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Implementation: Creation of the above assets, including design and development work.
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Testing: Ensure everything works as planned, test user journey, device types, translations etc.
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Launch: Push live and launch to prospects and customers.
The problem with waterfall marketing project management
The problem with task-based systems is that they work best for predictable, frequently recurring projects. Unfortunately, today’s marketers operate under conditions of extreme uncertainty and constant change.
Agile marketing project management & experimentation
Marketers need to reduce the risk of spending time and money on content that people don’t read, and on campaigns people don’t engage with.
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Perform – ongoing customer research
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Gather – insights to generate new ideas & opportunities
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Prioritise – insights to find highest impact ideas
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Test – run fast, agile tests to validate hypotheses
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Analyse – analyse the results, what works and what doesn’t
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Systematise – create repeatable playbooks for successful activity
To conclude
Process isn’t sexy or cool, but getting it right might just have the biggest impact on your team and company growth.
The real work is done in the shadows, alone, behind closed doors. Small, incremental improvements, as you put in the time.