OUR STORY
It's not about agencies. That was just an accident of fate. Agencies are where we proved that it works.
We've always believed in people. Yet, as the years passed it became more clear that much of what passed for managing was counter productive or not needed. If managing less was better -- then what good was managing? What good were managers?
Several years of grad school and work at a top-flight research followed in which we delved into the very soul of how knowledge worker organizations should operate. Then, back in the real world, working in a range of industries, we tinkered with Agile and other techniques that undid the idea that managers know best.
The Global Economic Downturn of 2008 provided a window in which we could assemble the behavioral principles, but what now? Then, in 2010, at a crazy-busy marketing agency, in a project that looked like a flaming fuel tanker plane headed toward a granite cliff, we unleashed it, the power of teams. The results were profound. It was as if we had discovered the power of the atom, a new superpower, the ablity to make teams amazing and bad projects go away.
Within a year, we were attacking the advertising and marketing business, "agencies" as they are known. They are high-productivity knowledge work business with a crazy amount of time, schedule and budget challenges. Most businesses have some of the problems that an agency has...agencies have them all and also get an amazing amount of work done. We knew we could fix them. We called ourselves "AgencyAgile."
Six years later, we have an enviable track record: over 100 agencies and digital shops as clients, almost 15,000 people trained, and a sky-high NPS of 94. Our agency clients tell us of impressive results: margin improvements of 20% and more, faster delivery (often by 50+%), better quality, all coupled with higher client and team satisfaction. The ad industry? Their publications have called us "the Fixers." Broader business publications like the Wall Street Journal look to us for insights on how to do empowered management.
AgencyAgile in the News
A Brief History of AgencyAgile
Interstellar Dark Matter
20+ years of exposure to pre-Agile methods, like Stand-up, Kanban, TQC, IEPM, etc.
RAND research
Our early research into knowledge worker organizations, empowered management.
Agile was born
Hands-on Agile projects, using xP, Scrummerfall and SA/3
The Big Ideas
The 27 principles for managing a knowledge worker environment were drawn from work by the greats, Maslow, Mintzberg and others.
Project in Flames
We piloted our 27 principles and gave the project to the team. They got it done. Amazing. No, really amazing.
The $1MM+ Projects
Big projects, ruthlessly un-managed, on-time, in-budget, happy Clients.
AgencyAgile is Born
Agencies have lots of challenges, and we had some good answers.
High-intensity Training Model
We prove that high-intensity, hands-on workshops create instant change and results. We become trainers, teachers.
High Productivity Days
We turbocharge and extend the stand-up model to create massive gains in productive "flow" for teams of 30-50 people.
Leadership Awareness Training
Change needs support from the top, and we support them.
Empowered Leadership Coaching
We become partners in helping leaders and managers grow.
Strategy Consulting
The future of knowledgework organizations becomes our latest addition to our offerings.
Inclusion is the New Empowerment
Diversity and Equity are just table stakes, as we take Inclusion to a new level
We solve the biggest problem in management and organization 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.
We've assembled a better model, a toolkit, for getting the best out of knowledge work organizations. If you know Agile, at times it will seem familiar...but it is definitely not the same. If you are struggling with Agile, then we can fix it beyond you hopes and dreams. And it works really well for agencies.
Over 140 Agencies and other complex knowledge worker organizations
Let's add yours to the list
Consultants, Advisors, Coaches and Teachers
THAT HELP YOU CREATE BUSINESS RESULTS
Jack Skeels
Jack leads AgencyAgile and is 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
Greg is responsible for establishing and growing AgencyAgile’s relationships with agencies while guiding agency and client teams through Agile transformation.
Kate Sieck, PhD
Kate is a PhD Anthropologist, researcher and practioner who leads our new curriculum development efforts and specializes in delivering client solutions in leadership, management and organization, with a specialty on empowerment, inclusion and diversity. Kate was a senior scientist at RAND Corporation.
Steve Wages
Steve is small agency strategist who specializes 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.
Jennifer Laidlaw
Jen 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.
Maya Krauss
Maya specializes 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.
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