Summary
Melinda started her career as an in-house creative consultant, often feeling frustrated with her agency partners who “just didn’t get it”. She went on to spend 10 years working in agencies with large enterprise clients—until she “went client-side” again, this time with a little more perspective on the agency-enterprise relationship. Melinda will talk about the ways culture, tools and skills differ between enterprise and agency teams, and how those differences manifest themselves in the working relationship. She’ll also discuss ways agencies and enterprises can bridge the gap by using their differences to equal advantage.
Key Insights
-
•
The agency-enterprise relationship mirrors the left brain-right brain dynamic, combining creativity with business rigor.
-
•
Kate Middleton symbolizes enterprise culture: tradition, institutional knowledge, and risk aversion.
-
•
Megan Markle symbolizes agency culture: innovation, change, and challenging the status quo.
-
•
Tooling incompatibilities (e.g., Dropbox vs. enterprise VPN) create real collaboration barriers that must be proactively addressed.
-
•
Agencies often move faster due to more agile tools and processes, whereas enterprises require robust but clunkier systems.
-
•
Providing agencies with dedicated resources and space fosters better collaboration and reduces frustration.
-
•
Clear roles, responsibilities, and regular communication are critical to prevent misunderstandings and burnout in agencies.
-
•
Poorly managed feedback loops can overwhelm agency creatives and lead to turnover, as seen in Melinda’s example of 'Jennifer'.
-
•
Both sides must equally invest in crafting a strong brief to maximize the quality of the work produced.
-
•
Acknowledging and nurturing the inherent tensions in agency-enterprise partnerships leads to innovation and better outcomes.
Notable Quotes
"The agency and the enterprise are much like the left brain and the right brain; we need each other to exist."
"Kate Middleton has been doing this for a hot minute; she has institutional knowledge and wants to protect her reputation."
"Megan Markle brings a different set of values and serves as a catalyst for change inside the organization."
"If it ain't broke, Kate is not going to try to fix it; enterprises tend to maintain the status quo."
"You cannot collaborate if I send you a Dropbox link on my enterprise laptop and you can’t open it."
"Someone's going to get hit over the head with a shovel eventually, but magic happens when we share tools and space."
"If the brief isn’t awesome, the likelihood of the work being awesome is low."
"Jennifer got overwhelmed because all feedback came third-hand and no one took time to align or communicate clearly."
"The enterprise is often very sensitive to feeling like they have to do too much work themselves to make agency partnerships work."
"It’s a relationship. You cannot set it and forget it. You have to nurture it and have some tough conversations."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Doctors hate using EHRs because it turns them into clerks, interacting more with machines than patients."
Standardizing Product Merits for Leaders, Designers, and Everyone
June 15, 2018
"The Red Queen effect means if others adapt, you must adapt or lose."
Simon WardleyMaps and Topographical Intelligence (Videoconference)
January 31, 2019
"Many smartwatch designs assume male hands as default, excluding smaller wrists and diverse body types."
Sandra CamachoCreating More Bias-Proof Designs
January 22, 2025
"I felt on edge around Jeff and physically depleted after our interactions."
Darian DavisLessons from a Toxic Work Relationship
January 8, 2024
"Stakeholder communication is crucial to professional strategy because without it, we run the risk of activity without impact."
Fisayo Osilaja[Demo] The AI edge: From researcher to strategist
June 4, 2024
"Nobody wants to buy or use a sloppy product, especially when enterprise users engage daily for hours."
Uday GajendarThe Wicked Craft of Enterprise UX
May 13, 2015
"Relying on a single content strategist was a strategic mistake that created a single point of failure."
Davis Neable Guy SegalHow to Drive a Design Project When you Don’t Have a Design Team
June 10, 2021
"Everyone wanted to know what was the official pattern and who was accountable for it."
Eniola OluwoleLessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site
October 24, 2019
"Our two-way Jira integration allows you to link design activities directly with epics, user stories, and tasks."
Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank DeshpandeIntroduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts
September 9, 2022
