Our team works using agile ways of working, so our approach to communications in Digital is no different. We communicate using agile comms techniques, meaning that we communicate clearly, briefly, and regularly. This enables us to share our work as it happens, reflecting our real-time progress and learnings. It also helps us to build trust along the way and have a more flexible communications approach, just like our agile way of managing projects.
How do we use agile comms techniques?
You can read more about the ins and outs of the agile comms techniques in this book by Giles Turnbull, but here are some examples of how we in Digital use agile comms techniques to share our story.
Layers of information
We create layers of information enabling the reader to decide whether they want to know more and move on to the next more detailed layer. One example of this is through how we communicate our 2030 digital strategy. We often share brief messages on social media and internal channels teasing at our strategy, and then link to a blog post with further info, and again to our digital strategy website for all the extras.
Fortnightly updates
Another way we do this is through having bi-weekly âDigital Demoâsâ, where the team present our progress on different products and areas as itâs progressing, giving our stakeholders the chance to ask questions and co-create with us. If you’re a colleague from the University then find out how you can come along to these sessions here.
Blogging
And another way we enable our open agile comms approach is through what youâre reading now â our blog! We use our blog to give regular updates on things weâre doing in Digital, sharing progress on products and projects before they are âcompleteâ or âreadyâ. It enables us to show you what weâre doing and thinking, and show our progress over time in an informal, personal medium that we can update as much as we want, showing a timeline of Digitalâs work.
Team meetings
An additional way that we encourage a culture of agile communication within the team is through a feature in our weekly team meetings titled ‘five minutes of me’. This is where one member of the team has five minutes to share with the team what they have been working on recently, sharing their personal achievements and progress. This encourages people to be more comfortable with telling the story and giving updates on their progress as it is happening, rather than waiting until they feel they have something ‘ready’ to share.
Why do we communicate in this way?
Agile comms techniques allow us to tell the story as it unfolds, being honest and open about our successes and learnings along the way, rather than waiting until we have a big success story to share are the end. This enables us to build trust with our audiences and allows more room for collaboration and co-creation through giving our users the opportunity to comment and get involved throughout the story, in line with the University’s digital strategy. As stated in Gilesâ book, âAgile comms does not predict what the ending will be, it lets the story unfoldâ, through allowing the team to explain the mistakes theyâve made and celebrate the successes theyâve achieved as they happen.
As I mentioned, Gilesâ book on agile comms is great for a quick read on techniques you can use to communicate in this way, but please do get in touch with the team if you want to learn more about how we use these techniques in Digital at UoE.
– Written by Scarlett Yeo, Communications Advisor for Digital