Can SCRUM be used for creativity?
Concepts of Software Development used for content creation
With so much injection of content on social media, all the popular content hosting applications have changed the inspiration of many in this generation. To become a content creator has become cool and even more profitable. An article on the topics of kids wanting to be YouTubers was published by CNBC a few years back and is even more true now. The rise of corporations' presence on TikTok says if anything that they do not want to miss out on the eyeballs.
Seeing the increase in the importance of creativity and content creation always begs the question of how to be more efficient and organized in your work. Taking a few concepts and methodologies from software development that best suits work with faster output and quicker feedback adaptation, will really help in formalizing the framework for content creation.
For someone who is working in software development, these terminologies are understood very easily, but for those in the content world, this could be a learning curve, that will help in every future venture. We are taking terms from the Agile/SCRUM framework and applying them to creativity
WHAT IS AGILE/SCRUM?
It is a method used in software development where the focus is on faster delivery of products, being adaptive to change, and more importance of the end product while maintaining the quality rather than spending time on the vision board and thinking about the process.
For the creatives, it translates to doing rather than thinking, clicking an image rather than spending all on time on correct aperture and filter, shooting the video and uploading it rather than planning and editing the whole time, recording and publishing the podcast rather than thinking of 40 different ways to say the introduction.
CONCEPT OF TIMEBOXING
Any event, task, or feature in development has to be timeboxed which means it has to be done in a specific amount of time maintaining the quality on the way. The idea being once you agree to take up some part of work, you have to do it in said time, otherwise, there will always be more things you can do with it. In coding terms write a better code, write more efficient code, change the position of the elements, add animation graphics, and much more.
This concept translates really well in the artistic segment because it always feels you can do better and improve your content but in this short attention generation, publishing things on a schedule has become a big advantage for growth unless you are a well-established name.
For example, if you want to upload say one video a week and you give 1 day to complete the thumbnail and title, it has to be done right from conception to editing, storage, and uploading the thumbnail.
STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK
In software terms, this is where the product becomes a hero or a zero, actual people who are involved in making the project get to hear from the business and customer side of the project. This helps people involved in the project understand the value-added, if the budget was spent well, is the customer going to get more confused or product is going to be easy to understand. This brings us back to the storyboard if major changes are to be made or if the timeline needs to be changed
In creative terms, this can translate to many things, the retention rate of on your videos, the click-through rate on your title and thumbnail, CPM by YouTube on your channel, views, likes, and shares on TikTok, what type of guest you bring on the show and much more. It becomes really important to understand what customers is liking and what you want to make next. Most expensive movies with extreme graphics and large sets may not do as well as movies shot in a hand-held phone camera in one room. Things also evolve with time, so it is important to have that feedback and understand what changes need to be made to become more interactive, become more relatable, become more consumed.
The process of making something new is always challenging, however taking the concepts of development and making the creative process more efficient will improve the craft and value it translates to the people.
