(c) Rachel Collinson - @donor_whisperer, http://www.donorwhisperer.co.uk/ Agile – a project management approach designed to deal with the need to try things out, fail fast and cope with a constantly changing context. Developed for technology projects, it also has powerful lessons for other kinds of knowledge work. In this session we’ll demystify the jargon around agile project management, and look at how it can be applied to campaigning. Useful for anyone who has to work with techies using agile methodology, as well as anyone who’s ever had to try and answer the gazillion dollar question ‘How long is that going to take?’ This presentation is meant to accompany an immersive interactive session, so some of these slides may make no sense out of context. The presentation is a one hour taster of a full training day in Agile for campaigners. For more information about that, see http://www.donorwhisperer.co.uk/ Presented at ECF Europe 2018. Join the Campaigning Forum and find out more about its upcoming events here: http://fairsay.com/events

1. W H I S P E R E R
donor
AGILE PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
FOR CAMPAIGNERS

2. W H I S P E R E R
donor
ABOUT ME
Ran Rechord, a web agency working with
nonprofits, for 13 years, now
consulting
Transitioned team to Agile in 2010
All about doggos right now

3. W H I S P E R E R
donor
BEFORE WE START:
you are entering a new world…

4. YOU NOW ALL WORK FOR:
“SAVE THE UNICORNS”
The UK is planning legislation to deport all
Unicorns to their origin planet of Mythica.
You are working on a campaign to stop the bill,
while raising awareness and attracting new
donors.

5. W H I S P E R E R
donor
WHAT STRATEGIES MIGHT WE USE?
(I don’t mean to disrupt the
suspension of disbelief here, but we
won’t actually be doing these, so they
don’t need to be realistic.)

6. W H I S P E R E R
donor
BACK TO AGILE.
WHY THIS METHOD?
Some background

7. W H I S P E R E R
donor
TRADITIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Roll it all out
Plan it
out
Design how it
looks
Frantically
implement and fix
issues
Deadline Actually
finish
(Maybe
evaluate)
Guess what
you need

8. THE AGILE MANIFESTO
(MY PARAPHRASE)
• Produce things more quickly and see whether they work more quickly
• Welcome changing requirements
• Campaign materials and actions delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
• Close, daily cooperation between all team members
• Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
• Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
• Sustainable work; able to maintain a constant pace
• Continuous attention to excellence and good design
• Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential
• Best work emerges from self-organizing teams
• Regularly, the team reflects on how to become more effective, and adjusts accordingly

9. W H I S P E R E R
donor
DIVIDE AND CONQUER THE WORK
…with user stories and epics

10. W H I S P E R E R
donor
USER STORY EXAMPLE
As a _________
I can
___________________________
So that
_________________________

11. W H I S P E R E R
donor
WHAT MAKES A GOOD USER STORY?
I = Independent (not dependent on other stories)
N = Negotiable (until started)
V = Valuable (provably leading to your goal)
E = Estimable (you can work out how long it will
take)
S = Small (plannable with a level of certainty)
T = Testable (how do we know when it’s done?)

12. W H I S P E R E R
donor
WHAT NEXT FOR SAVE THE
UNICORNS?
Let’s write user stories
that describe your tactics
for the next month

13. W H I S P E R E R
donor
BUT HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?
Planning poker in action

14. W H I S P E R E R
donor
@donor_whisperer
rachelcollinson@gmail.com