Magpie mind

Seeing how my children are taught now at primary school definitely makes me question the quality of my own education! This week they bought home their school reports which my wife and I were very impressed with. Not just behaviorally but also with regards to how their academic progress is being monitored. For every subject they have a complex set of targets and objectives that they are already expected to be hitting. It was particularly interesting to read these in the context of my own performance review this week!

Recently, whilst chatting to my eldest, she took a liking to a word which I used in our conversation and asked "Can I 'magpie' that?" This wasn't a phrase I'd heard used before? Essentially it means stealing a word from somewhere else to enhance her writing. When the class hear or read a word that appeals to them they tell the teacher who adds it to the 'magpie words' board. With the whole class doing the same it means there's always a fresh display of words to 'magpie' into their own writing.

This is an interesting way to encourage taking the best ideas from a variety of sources to pull together and create something new. It also enhances the poor reputation of the magpie who, despite their dashing looks and mischievous demeanour, are often seen as the dandy highwayman of British birds. There's a reason they're currently a winner in the bird race. Numbers are up, and from having been persecuted in Victorian times, they are now a common sight in our gardens, cities and on busy roads.

So what's the lesson here for digital? Well, for me it's about being always inquisitive and able to pull together to collect and share the best ideas. This is particularly demonstrated when working client-side with agencies. I've seen lots of examples of in-house marketing teams sticking with a good agency and continuing to innovate and progress together. When done well this suits both parties.

However, I've also seen examples of where agencies on retainers impress in the initial pitch but then get increasingly lazy once they're not challenged. New ideas dry up or are only shared with the more reckless clients who are willing to take risks. This client and agency dynamic is like the common sight of a magpie on the M25. Having spotted a bit of roadkill, they hop and fuss about it, pecking away, whilst certain death is only a couple of feet away. A high risk strategy indeed but with excellent potential ROI!

This ability to 'magpie' has been a particularly useful technique for me is when working on larger projects. I am yet to find an agency that offers the total package. Some 'full-service agencies' excel at strategy and stakeholder management, some at design, and some at just getting the final product over the line. It's definitely time consuming but for me the ability to identify the best attributes of each, and fuse them together, is very important. The knowledge transfer it requires helps bring fresh thinking to the internal team and the end product. I certainly learn more working with a number of individuals with different skill sets and project management techniques than being stuck with just one way of doing things.

This is why for our website project we split it into three distinct work streams - Discovery, design and development. So that we could pull on the best agency skill set for each. Our team project room (or 'war room') has walls covered in design ideas, examples of copy and imagery we like and anything else we've gained from our agency discussions (and beyond) to help enhance what we eventually deliver.

Essentially it's about always learning from external sources and sharing ideas with a close-knit team who look out for each other in the way magpies do. As an extreme example of their high risk lifestyle they sometimes even hold 'funerals' for a dead companion. If a bird is killed on the road, one will start to squawk, attracting more magpies, and some of them will actually lay blades of grass next to the body, stand quietly as if 'paying their respects', then fly off.

If we don't hit the pre-agreed deadline I have no doubt that this would be something we would do for each other given what we have been through to get this far!
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