In today’s digital world, companies need the ability to predict customer behavior so they can optimize return on investment. Companies have realized the need to invest in data analytics and respond to insights the data provides. Our clients are looking for a quick turn-around to act on those insights. This is why we’ve worked so hard at Numeric to use Agile to run our Analytics and Optimization projects. Agile project management allows us to move at the pace required for customers who are constantly looking to capture new metrics, launch new campaigns and A/B tests, and gain deeper insights into their customers faster. Agile and Analytics is a natural fit, but it does take some work to adapt.

In many ways an Agile-Analytics Project Manager is just like any other project manager — you have to be agile enough to adapt to changes in stakeholders’ priorities, remain calm under pressure, and respect everyone’s input without allowing them to take the discussion on a tangent. Wrapping the Agile discipline around our work processes has helped us be far more predictable in terms of budget and resource management, ensuring accurate and timely communication, as well as being able to respond to changing customer requirements quickly.

Here are the fundamental practices we’ve implemented to become effective Agile + Analytics Project Managers.

Use an Agile tool – We use Pivotal Tracker, but you could use VersionOne, Jira, or Rally. The key is that everyone on a project should use an Agile tool to track their work. We use Pivotal to manage our backlog, create new user stories, and track our burn downs (and burn ups).

Backlog grooming – Backlog grooming is done once a week during our weekly huddles. The purpose is to ensure the backlog of user stories remain relevant, prioritized, detailed, and continues to address the objective of the project. The user stories, rather than representing specific features, represent analytics-specific needs such as tags that need to be added, new reports that need to be created, or data sources that need to be evaluated.

Sprint planning – Because of the nature of analytics projects, one-week sprints make sense for most of our clients. Our sprint planning meetings include both Numeric and client representation and results in specific user stories being assigned to the upcoming sprint.

Sprint Retrospectives – We meet with our clients and dedicated teams on an on-going basis to review what is working and what needs to change for us to become better at optimizing the clients’ analytics maturity. If you are struggling with successfully managing Agile + Analytics projects, start here but be sure to take heed to the lessons that have been learned and the feedback shared by the team.

Have dedicated teams – One of the key factors to being successful in Agile project management is to have a dedicated team of people who work very closely on each sprint. Our teams consist of the following roles:

  1. Product Owner – This is the stakeholder. In an Agile + Analytics project, the product owner is responsible for making sure that the work done meets the analytics needs of his or her stakeholders.
  2. Project Manager – This is the Scrum Master in some organizations.
  3. Developer/Architect – This person should be become a SME of the product and is responsible for coding on all applicable platforms (desktop, mobile, and tablet). This person needs to have a deep understanding of the specific analytics tools and their intricacies. Just knowing JavaScript tagging isn’t enough.
  4. QA – This person should also be a SME and is responsible for testing all applicable platforms (desktop, mobile, and tablet).
  5. Reporting Analyst – Ingrained in analytics is being able to report on the data and ultimately make informed decisions. At Numeric, our Reporting and Analytics consultant is a vital part of the team.

By implementing the above practices, we have been able to streamline the management of Agile + Analytic projects by assisting our clients in rapidly responding to data trends and insights.

Within the Numeric PMO, we are staffed with a team of Agile-minded professional project managers who are invaluable as we’ve raised our agility intelligence through habits formed over time while implementing successful analytic solutions. Formally adapting Agile to our work has improved our ability to be project managers in a fast-moving industry.

One of the founding traits of the Agile methodology is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable functionality. This makes Agile and Analytics a natural pairing.

Be sure to check back frequently as this is the first blog of the Agile + Analytics Project Manager series.




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Further Reading

Agile+Analytics Project Manager:  Tools of Our Trade

Understanding the Governance Cycle