Boulder Digital Works Teams, Process and Structure

BOULDER DIGITAL WORKS
TEAMS, PROCESS AND STRUCTURE

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Mayhem on Madison Ave Don Draper’s Revenge

or

2

The most interesting ideas within the advertising
industry are coming from outside the advertising
industry.


My POV is whether we like it or not, advertising
agencies are getting into the software business.

4

By no means are traditional channels going away, but...

“It is much better to have a
smaller share of an exploding
industry versus a growing share in
a declining industry.”

- Rishad Tobaccowalla,
4A’s Conference

5

My experience:

Then: small Now: big
6

The challenge:

How can we transition teams, processes and cultures that
have for 50+ years, been focused on producing one thing,
very quickly get good at producing something entirely
different. Without ruining what’s already in place.

7

Fixing this is not an interactive problem.
It’s a full-on organizational problem.

8

Thinking about teams, process and structure.

The work.

The people needed to build the work.

The process through which the work is realized.


1: The work.


What we’re making is different than it was
18 months ago.


For starters, we’re making a lot more stuff.

Yahoo’s Duncan Watts, in his “influencers” research, used a lighting many fires
analogy that points to the fact that digital media drives cumulative
advantage. He suggests brands are better off “placing lots of bets to give the
best chance of starting a full forest fire - lots of fires in lots of promising
places.”

The cost efficiencies of digital media allow marketers to hedge bets and not
bet the farm on one thing - make ten and see what takes.


A new metaphor.

The big idea is a lot of little ideas.

Bet it all on a couple :30’s.

13

1. Our work is now more varied.


Put more out there, more frequently.
Campaign in market:
increased awareness, conversation, advocacy

Traditional
Cycle

Campaign goes dark:
conversation volume drops markedly

Hi-Frequency
Cycle

Diversity breeds sustained activity:
steady levels of awareness, conversation, advocacy


2. Our work is also more complex.

Digital work is typically the product of a very large number
of small, but very important decisions carried out across a
quick, iterative development process.


Hierarchal structure incompatible with this process.

GAD
Agency / Client Leadership CCO

CD’s
Account / Client Leadership AD’s

time
AE’s
AD’s / CW’s
Producers
Project Managers
Project Teams Support Staff


2: The people needed to make the work.


Our industry has been bred to make ads.

20

Focusing on relationships and process over work.

managing making

what kind of organization is yours?

21

Typical engagement model.
Client Organization

Retained Client Team

Tech Team Interactive Soc. Media
Developer UX design
Lead Producer Manager


Shift team composition to prioritize making.

Team
Leadership
Mngmnt
Supervisor

Account
Project Interactive
Account Broadcast
Project Interactive UXBroadcast Soc. Media
Developer
Supervisor
Manager Supervisor
Producer Producer
Manager Producer Designer
Producer Manager

Account Asst. Acct.
Executive Executive


Shift team composition to prioritize making.

Team
Leadership
Mngmnt
Supervisor

Account Account Project Interactive Broadcast
Supervisor Supervisor Manager Producer Producer

Account Asst. Acct.
Executive Executive


Becoming nimble by ﬂattening and creating groups.

x-disciplinary leadership team

Team 1 Team 2 Team 3

Hierarchical Org Structure
Teams work with greater autonomy / accountability


How much of our organizational energy is directed at our
work?

26

Rebuilding teams around a new building block.

Knowledge across disciplines

Core discipline expertise

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/95/design-strategy.html?page=0%2C1


The T-shaped team.

2

Concept / Project / Client Functionality /
Implementation
Design + Tone Management User Interaction
Creative Technology Production UX


3: The process through which the work is realized.


Confront a paradox: the more people you involve in a
project, the slower it will move and the less likely it will be
innovative or good.


Poorly designed teams.

Bloated teams = slow, waste of time.


We need to be brutally reductive in the assembly of teams.

Zero in on overlap, collapse roles, remove any resources
that don’t immediately contribute to the creation of work.


Poorly designed physical environments.

Use co-location / technology to mediate gaps.


Mother London: ﬂexible open space, tight team co-location

35

Poor substitutions for collaboration.

Email volume = communications breakdown = trouble.


Restrictive processes that will suffocate creativity.

Process must work for you, not vice versa.


3 face to face meetings in 10 weeks.
10 week cycle Brief

Present
Final
Brief to Feedback
Brief
Client

Present
Project
Concepts Feedback
Kick-Off
to Client

Revised
Final
Concepts Feedback
Concept
to Client


clients integrated into project team

6 week cycle

Chicago: Boston: Chicago:
Framework Feature Set Feature
Planing Deﬁnition Design

Boston Chicago: Boston:
Design + Design + Pr’tization
Prototyping Prototyping + Planning


smaller teams
co-location = easier collaboration
less process
less documentation
fewer emails
shorter emails
fewer meetings
fewer big presentations = more work,
more quickly

40

Above all. Try doing something new. Trying something new is
actually more important than doing something right.

No one has this ﬁgured out.

Shift burden from proving why you should experiment to why
you shouldn’t.

Doing nothing is going to put you further behind.


BOULDER DIGITAL WORKS
THANK YOU


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