A·gen·cy·a·gile
/éˈ ǰənˈsi̬ǽˈǰəl/
noun — archived
- A leadership and management system for real-world organizations — derived from Software Agile and extended with research-based techniques from behavioral economics, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology.
- First developed for advertising and marketing agencies in 2011.
- A proven approach to transforming organizations using hands-on, high-intensity team trainings, coupled with leadership education and coaching.
- Highly effective in most naturally-occurring chaotic organizations (see NOCO).
“Since the AgencyAgile trainings, we saw a huge increase in collaboration and how fast work got done.”
— Agency leader, anonymized
What AgencyAgile was
AgencyAgile was about people. As the years passed, it became more clear that much of what people thought they should do for managing was counter-productive or just not needed. Managing less was better. Out of that conviction came a system that solved one of the biggest problems in management today: how to create empowered and inclusive cultures that bring out the best in teams — and chart a new way of being for managers and leaders.
It wasn't really about agencies. That was an accident of fate. Agencies were where we proved that it worked.
A brief history
The arc, in twelve beats:
Interstellar Dark Matter
20+ years of exposure to pre-Agile methods — Stand-up, Kanban, TQC, IEPM, and the rest.
RAND research
Years of grad school and research at a top-flight institution, focused on how knowledge-worker organizations should operate.
Agile was born
Hands-on Agile projects using XP, Scrummerfall and SA/3.
The Big Ideas
37 principles for managing a knowledge-worker environment, drawn from Senge, Maslow, Mintzberg, and others.
Project in Flames
We piloted those 37 principles, gave a team control of a disastrous project, and they got it done. Amazing.
The $1MM+ Projects
Big projects, ruthlessly un-managed, on-time, in-budget, with happy clients.
AgencyAgile is born
2011. Agencies had lots of challenges, and we had some good answers.
High-intensity training
We proved that hands-on workshops created instant change and results. We became trainers and teachers.
High-productivity days
We turbocharged the stand-up model into massive gains in productive flow for teams of 30–50 people. We called these Workstreams.
Leadership awareness
Change needs support from the top. We supported them.
Empowered coaching
We became partners in helping leaders and managers grow.
Inclusion as practice
Our methods made inclusion and empowerment more than just words.
Eight years in, the track record was hard to argue with: over 200 agencies, marketers, and digital shops as clients; over 15,000 people trained; an NPS of 94. Clients reported productivity gains in the 30–60% range, and many came back for more.
The people who made AgencyAgile
AgencyAgile was never one person. It was the work of a small, talented, generous group of consultants, coaches, and operators — agency veterans who chose to spend a chunk of their careers helping other people's teams get better. To everyone listed below: thank you. The methods, the training, the relationships, the results — none of it happened without you.
Jack Skeels
Founder & CEOJack led AgencyAgile and was responsible for ensuring that agency engagements, along with goals, business objectives and overall results are aligned from start to finish with agency partners, our teams and all related stakeholders.
Greg Morrell
PartnerGreg was responsible for establishing and growing AgencyAgile’s relationships with agencies while guiding agency and client teams through Agile transformation.
Steve Wages
StrategistSteve was a small agency strategist who specialized in our Roadmapping and Scoping and Estimation methods. A former licensed architect, Steve co-founded and bootstrapped 60-person Juxt Interactive in 1998 as CEO, exiting with a buyout in 2008.
Maya Krauss
Operations SpecialistMaya specialized in agency assessments, and delivery operations optimization. Based in NYC, she has a decade-plus of experience at top agencies producing large scale projects and operationalizing teams to work more efficiently.
Allegra Tiver
Healthcare & Pharma LeadAllegra brought a unique vantage to business challenges in health care and pharma, with more than 10 years of experience in the industry spanning digital/project management, marketing, content development, and publishing – including 2 years supporting Agile transformations. Allegra has a record of success driving continuous process improvement and growing teams, and believes all things are possible through communication and collaboration.
Lauren Dobkin
Creative OperationsLauren leveraged 18 years of creative and production management experience to AgencyAgile engagements with creative-led organizations. Previously an AgencyAgile client, her experience as a Photographer, an Art Buyer, Executive Producer and Operations Lead offer a pragmatic and balanced perspective to helping organizations learn new ways of working.
Dave Foster
Former Agency COOAs a former agency COO, Dave brought a wealth of practical experience operational experience from over 10 years of agency side experience. Dave has particular expertise in systems, analytics, and performance measurement of agency operations under Agile as well as insight into key considerations of employee engagement.
Allen Singer
Creative & Media OperationsAllen brought over 20 years of experience optimizing Creative and Media Operations for top agencies in NYC. He has a focus in consumer healthcare, HCP and adtech. Allen has led the identification, planning and successful implementation of many enterprise level platforms that drive efficiencies across cross functional teams.
Jennifer Laidlaw
Training & RoadmapsJen is a 13-year agency/marketing veteran joining AgencyAgile from Merkle/HelloWorld where she had responsibility for training and launching roadmaps and seven AgencyAgile workstreams while leading the agency’s Talent and Development organization.
Ryan Gee
AnalystRyan, then a recent graduate of UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Economics and Mathematics, brought his analytical expertise to AgencyAgile. While playing collegiate tennis, he cultivated his skills in data mining and coding experience through freelance and volunteer work as a Budget Analyst. Now he assists AgencyAgile with data querying, data visualization, and data analysis.
The work continues at Better Company
If you're looking for active engagement, training, or coaching, that's where to start.