We are proud to have been the key provider for implementing Agile methodologies in Coca-Cola marketing teams worldwide over the past four years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we supported clients primarily from Belgrade, providing them online support. As borders began to open, clients started requesting our live support, which opened opportunities for new projects and workshops.
This opportunity led us to support a User Story Mapping workshop in entirely new areas – finance, HR, and marketing.
In finance, the workshop helped teams better understand the complex needs of financial services users. In HR, the workshop significantly contributed to optimizing processes and employee development. In marketing, the workshop enabled the team to map the customer journey in detail and identify key marketing activities and interaction points crucial for improving customer experience.
Creating Priorities
Suppose you haven’t yet encountered the “Creating Priorities” workshop. In that case, it’s a powerful technique that helps align different requirements, set priorities, and create a shared understanding of the project’s goals and scope.
It’s best conducted at the beginning of a project, but it’s never too late to do a USM reset if you find you’ve gone off track. For all these reasons, this workshop involves a lot of people, requiring excellent facilitation and concentration.
The Trip to Atlanta
A three-day trip to Atlanta, to the headquarters of one of the largest and most well-known companies, Coca-Cola, was quite a challenge. The travel, time difference, and everything that comes with it, as well as facilitating 30 people in the workshop, added to the complexity.
Another challenge was that five different teams had to work closely together to deliver the highest value to the final product. Accustomed to working only within their functional teams, this was a completely new approach for them.
We will write in detail about how to apply User Story Mapping in everyday work, but here are the results we achieved in the field:
- Team members met in person for the first time.
- We set the project goal and mapped how each team contributed to it.
- All project participants better understand user needs and how they will use the final solution.
- We mapped risks and potential issues at the project’s start (everyone knows and thinks about them).
- We have the first version of the backlog, initial requirements and details, and clear prioritization for each team.
- We mapped team dependencies and reprioritized some requirements, resulting in the initial MVP of the entire project.
- We defined team agreements at the level of the entire large team and specialized teams.
Recipe for a 100% Successful Start
Our visit to Atlanta was challenging but incredibly inspiring. It was our first major in-person gathering after the pandemic, and it allowed us to apply everything we had learned during online work.
The time difference, long meetings, and interactions with local teams brought a new dynamic to our work. Despite all the challenges, we successfully facilitated a workshop with 30 participants, set clear goals, and created a detailed action plan for the project’s next phases.
Our recipe for a 100% successful start in Atlanta includes the following steps:
- Thorough preparation: Detailed planning and preparation of materials in advance.
- Efficient communication: Clear and transparent communication with all team members.
- User focus: Constant consideration of user needs and strategy adjustment.
- Flexibility and adaptability: Quick response to changes and plan adjustment.
- Shared goals: Unifying teams around common goals and priorities.
By conquering Atlanta, we demonstrated that it is possible to achieve outstanding results through agility and dedication. We will continue to apply our experiences and learned lessons to future projects.
What are your experiences with User Story Mapping, and what techniques do you use in the initial stages of projects?
