Implementing New Methodology in an Agency

Implementing a new development methodology in an interactive agency is not a top down thing. It's not about cracking heads.

It is the coordination of the processes of each discipline within the studio. And so it sometimes means working with people within each discipline to nurture and grow their way of working first so that it is mature enough to be integrated into the overall methodology of the studio.

For example, you can't force documents on the technology team. That team must first be organized - the right people have to be in the right places. Often you need to reorg. And then they need to work out the documentation and processes that support them. You can't just throw the processes and documentation from your last job on them.

And all of this is slowed down by waiting for the old processes that are embedded in the projects that are currently running to go away with these projects. It is nearly impossible to rip process out of a project that has already been estimated and staffed.

Rebuilding an interactive agency's methodology takes time but the results are lasting.