The Language of Persuasion w/ Nic Sementa

One of the most interesting conversations I got to have at the 2019 North American Global Scrum Gathering was with Nic Sementa of Formula Ink. We started talking about Nonviolent Communication and the conversation was so compelling that I asked Nic if we could do a podcast on it.

You may be familiar with NVC, but you might not have thought about it, or communication the way Nic does. I learned a lot from the conversation we had in Austin and even more when we recorded the podcast. If you'd like to check it out, you can find it on my Reluctant Agilist blog on ProjectManagement.com

The Language of Persuasion with Nic Sementa

How to Write a User Story for Marketing w/ Nic Sementa and Alistair Cockburn

Nic Sementa from the Agile Marketing Academy joins me in this podcast to share his thoughts on how to craft User Stories that will work for marketing. Nic's thoughts and opinions on this topic are heavily influenced by his marketing background, which, as he points out in the interview, is a little unique since most of the conversations on the topic are led by agile practitioners.
During the interview Alistair Cockburn joined in the conversation to offer his expert advice and guidance on the subject. Alistair is one of the authors of the Agile Manifesto, the creator of the Crystal methods, leading voice on Use Cases and the man behind the Heart of Agile. (There is lots more - you can find it all here.)


Show Notes:
00:38 Nic’s background and the challenges faced by Marketing that Agile could help with
4:27 Putting Agile together with Marketing
5:52 User Stories from a Marketers perspective
6:52 The historical challenges involved with “marketing” to the customer as opposed to engaging directly with the customer to find out what they need
8:00 How coercing your customer to buy leads to the marketing equivalent of technical debt
8:50 Googling Agile Marketing
9:20 The corporate world is high school with ashtrays
10:00 Why marketing needs a new language framework for Agile
10:57 Apology to the Band Geeks (which Dave is)
11:30 Revenue impact of implementing Agile Marketing Techniques
11:52 How User Stories change in Agile Marketing
12:33 Personas and more
13:33 Developing a deeper understanding of the User and his/her pain points
14:03 MadMen in Reverse is not going to help you understand the “ideal customer”
15:14 Marketing Research
16:10 There is no such thing as offline marketing
17:52 Recap of the Marketing User Story Guidance
18:57 Let’s get al Skynet with this thing!
20:00 Special Guest Alistair Cockburn on Agile Marketing User Stories
25:55 Abstract thinkers vs. concrete thinkers
28:05 Alistair’s visual grammar version of User Stories
35:33 Where to learn more about the Agile Marketing Academy and how to reach Nic

Some Links:
For more on the Agile Marketing Academy you can go to their Certification site or send them an email.

You can reach Nic on Twitter @nicsementa