Scrum Marketing: Applying Agile Methodologies to Marketing, by James Wright
Recently I’ve become a bit obsessed with agile methodology (of which scrum is a subset) 
and how marketers can learn from this.
Agile is different way of working (or project managing) that was started by those smart software developers. Lately I’ve been reading a lot (including this book) on how this can be adapted and used for marketing teams.
My biggest takeaway is that the old style of traditional ‘campaigns’ will soon be dead – instead marketers will adopt a more agile style of smaller tests and experiments, they’ll keep things more flexible and aim for continuous improvements so that they can respond to change and customers needs (fast).
For a good overview of the basics of agile, checking out the original Agile Manifesto for the key set of ideas.
And here’s those same principles adapted for marketing http://agilemarketingmanifesto.org/.
Anyway back to the Scrum Marketing book! I found it was a really good overview of the basics (if you’re looking to adopt and learn from agile) and a really easy read (only about 100 pages). As an added bonus it will set you back a massive $2 on amazon. A bargain intro to agile! 🙂
Quotes from Scrum Marketing
(Heading = mine, all quotes directly from the book)
What is Agile?
“Agile business philosophy is a set of sound fundamentals on how to manage a company, satisfy customers, and organize employees.”
On the traditional marketing plan
“The modern annual marketing plan is a myth. Yes, that’s the right word.”
“I’m not suggesting that the vice president of marketing enter the year without a plan. Some things can be put on the calendar with some high levels of confidence: trade shows, major product introductions, partner training sessions, industry events, and other such items.”
No to being a micromanager
“Micromanagement is bad for several reasons, but for the purposes of this discussion, suffice it to say that it’s very inefficient and typically ineffective.”
“An agile manager teaches correct principles and allows the employees to manage themselves.”
Getting the right data
“It’s better to learn what the reality is than to depend on what you think it might be.”
Lots of small bets over huge campaigns
“Make small bets and experiments to learn. What happens if you spend 100% of your promotional budget on one big event and it doesn’t produce the results you need? Well, you’re done.”
Put the customer first
“Don’t allow siloed thinking or structure keep you from doing the right thing for your customers.”
“NEVER allow your company structure to restrict you from doing the right thing. I’ll say it again: NEVER. You should organize for your customers. Don’t force your customers to adjust to your issues.”
On staying flexible
“Agile philosophy teaches us that after we’ve made our best guess at the right direction, we start our flight and constantly make course corrections based upon what we learn.”
“For the purposes of our current topic, I will write now that good and great companies should choose flexibility over fixed long-term plans.”
Happy reading,
C x
The Marketer's Bookshelf 
I was just wishing this book existed, as always thanks for finding it and sharing. *runs off to purchase*