scrum-inspired marketing execution w/ openview labs

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Scrum-inspired Marketing Execution with OpenView Labs


Scrum is part of who we are as a firm.

It’s a project management framework/ methodology that helps us all:

•  Stay focused on what’s most important •  Create visibility •  Increase collaboration •  Get the job done faster

Jeff Sutherland Co-creator of Scrum

OpenView Senior Advisor


Believe it or not, at OpenView, we ONLY have 2 Marketers focused solely on OpenView Marketing efforts

A snapshot of SOME of our typical quarterly output: •  2 major ebooks •  5+ reports and case studies •  Over a dozen webinars/podcasts •  Release over 20 new videos •  Put out over 100 new blog posts •  Send out a weekly newsletter to over 35,000 people

•  to which we add 4k subscribers to quarterly

Don’t believe us? Check out:

www.openviewlabs.com www.openviewpartners.com.


And everyone on our marketing team usually leaves around 5:30pm.

This would not be possible without Scrum.


��

But implementing Scrum is not easy. ��

It requires discipline ��It feels unnatural at first��

It’s easy to fall back into bad habits��

…And, the other teams within your organization need to be bought in to a

certain extent. ��OpenView’s Scott Maxwell wholeheartedly believes in Scrum, that has made all the difference.


It works so well for us, we encourage marketers within our companies to use it as well.

Free training with Jeff Sutherland is offered exclusively to our investments.

3 Common pains our portfolio companies’ marketing team’s feel:

1. Strained due to limited resources – working 60+

hours a week

2. Too many small projects going on at once that seem

to be dragging on forever.

And….

And, the most common complaint…


“I need more sales enablement tools! PS. The MQLs you are sending me really

aren’t MQLS!” -VP of Sales

“I need you to work on the board presentation and have

it done by Friday.” -CEO

“Lets meet to talk about how you can help with

onboarding?” -VP of HR

“Can you review my materials and make sure

they are consistent with the brand messaging?”

VP of Product Marketing

3. Demands from other teams, taking away from original and most important marketing goals

VP of Marketing

Look familiar?


1. It begins with developing “SMART” goals for an interval of time.

Sample Smart Goals our Portfolio companies might have for Q3: •  Increase website traffic by 10% month over month •  Increase web conversions by 100% by end of quarter •  Host 3 successful events with minimum 100 attendees per event •  Generate 50 MQLs from webinars by end of quarter


2. From there have a “Project Backlog” with workplans.

Think: What are the projects you will execute to help you achieve your SMART GOALS?


3. You must institutionalize weekly “Sprint Planning” meetings.

Vitals: your regularly occurring tasks that “keep the lights on” Projects: Tasks that are pulled directly from the workplans of our major goals.

Think: What tasks (or “stories”)will you be prioritizing and “pulling into your upcoming sprint” (a week’s worth of work)?

These #s represent hours spent. We strive to plan 35 REAL hours of work each week. That is our capacity.


4. Always have daily “Scrum”meetings or stand-ups. (15-20 mins)

Pulling directly from your Sprint plan for that week…

•  What did stories (tasks) did you complete yesterday? •  What stories will you complete today? •  What impediments are holding you back? •  What can the team do to help?

Strive to get tasks DONE.


5. Finally, weekly team sprint reviews and retrospectives are KEY. Sprint Review:

What stories/tasks had you planned to do, but “killed” (or eliminated)?

What was was added to your sprint mid-week that was “unplanned”?

What did you “pull forward”, tasks pulled in from your project backlog that

you had not originally planned to do this week?

Track this information shared in Google docs (or something equivalent) – look for trends over time. This becomes a great management tool for you.

Retrospective: What went well? What didn’t go well? What will you do differently next week? How can the team better support you?


��Now, Rinse and Repeat. And stay disciplined. ��We LEARN from our weekly sprints, and adjust accordingly when planning to following week.��

We are AGILE.

scrum-inspired marketing execution w/ openview labs

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