Is faster really better? There’s a joke there, but I’ll ignore it and just reply, “It depends.” Faster can be better when we are talking about connecting to a client via cell phone, or receiving a doctor’s diagnosis, or shopping for the cheapest flight from Portland to Phoenix. I don’t want to wait any more than you do. We want what we want, and we want it now.
And sometimes we actually get it. If you are a marketer or a manager, you know what I mean. Data flows to us in huge chunks, instantaneously, continuously. Faster is better and more is best, right? But what are we giving up by making decisions and taking action before we have time to adequately process and reflect on all that data?
I’ve been seeing the word “agile” being used to describe the turnaround time of research services. It’s one of those buzzwords that seem to have multiple meanings. Agile marketing research is defined on one website as an “on-demand market research solution that delivers real-time insights…” In other words, fast. Agile in marketing research means studies that used to take six weeks to complete now take a few days or even a few hours. You want real-time feedback on your new product idea? You got it. “Immediate” insights. “Rapid” responses. It’s all about speed.
I’m reminded of the well known project management adage: Your choices are fast, cheap, and good. Pick any two.
Interestingly, while noodling around the word “agile,” I found out that agile isn’t about speed at all. It’s about flexibility and iteration. Agile means learning and then applying the learning to the next phase. Agile is particularly relevant in software development; there’s even a manifesto. Here is part of it:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
Agile is an alternative to the traditional sequential development process, where you design, build, and deliver the product, and then, as customer complaints roll in, begin the costly process of identifying the flaws. “Interaction” and “collaboration” by their very nature invite reflection. “Responding to change” implies a process of mindfulness: more reflection.
In this age of fast, faster, fastest, a healthy dose of reflection could help restore some balance. The tradeoff in making quick decisions is the risk that some decisions will be wrong. We’ll never be right all the time, but “think before you leap” has some special meaning, considering the cost of marketing research. Quantity and speed cannot compensate for quality. We need balance. We need thoughtful, mindful reflection, followed by decisive action. We need the flexibility to pivot as the situation warrants, while maintaining a strategic overview of the field. It’s a dance of speed and reflection. Agile is a philosophy that provides a framework and an approach to do both.
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