1+1=3: Collaboration adds up to better results
Sharing our experience of multi-agency collaboration at DrupalSouth 2025 with PreviousNext

Image source: DrupalSouth on Flickr

Why collaborate? 

Two heads are better than one. When agencies intentionally collaborate, you get access to twice the expertise and experience.  

By working as one cohesive team from day one, you embed a multidisciplinary mindset to a digital product design and build project. Each finding, insight and recommendation developed from research through to build phase is a balanced and considered view of what’s desirable for users, viable for the organisation, and technically feasible. 

Working together with a shared purpose (to deliver the contract) inextricably aligns our goals and success as two agencies, and keeps us motivated to problem-solve and tackle challenges together.

Two agencies, one team 

Multi-agency collaboration also gives practitioners the chance to be exposed to different approaches and methodologies. This exposure strengthens and grows our individual practice – and hey, it’s always good to learn a thing or two you didn’t know before! If we only work within the four walls of our own agency, we can fall victim to siloed thinking and over time, complacency. 

How we made it seamless 

During our presentation, we shared some (unsolicited) advice on what made our collaboration work so well:  

• Collaborate outside your lane. Find ways to inject collaboration in activities that don’t necessarily sit within your remit. During the project, Folk had the Technical Lead from PreviousNext engaged in aspects of the discovery and user research phase of the project, which helped to build their understanding of the key value drivers for users, and build trust with the client. 

•  A shared understanding helps at the pointy end of a project. When it came to difficult discussions in the backend of the project, CSNSW knew our developers had a full understanding of the key objectives of the project. Likewise, Folk injects our expertise right up to the last sprint of development, providing design implementation review and contributing to problem solving technical features and solutions. 

• We could use the right skills at the right time. At different points in the project, each agency was leading the charge on project activities and deliverables. We found it worked best to lean into that agency’s ways of working at that point, to ensure the work flowed smoothly and with rhythm.  

• Over-communicate (in a good way). Don’t reinvent the wheel on communication practices (we used Slack and Jira) – but go the extra step to let the other agency know what you are up to and what you need. Silence equals stress. 

The tricky parts

We won’t pretend it’s all smooth sailing. Collaborating this closely with another agency, under tight timelines and budgets can bring  challenges. 

• Establish roles and responsibilities early. Relationship building can be tricky with multiple parties involved – be very clear upfront on roles and responsibilities with team members, and present as one team to build trust together with the client. 

•  Plan ahead, but stay flexible. Effective planning means you both go into the project on the same page. You don’t have to have as many tricky conversations throughout. When you do need to, compromise. Reciprocity goes a long way when working with another agency – and will save you both effort in the long run. 

Celebrate the wins

When successful projects are delivered together – you have twice the team members to celebrate with.  

Multi-agency collaboration is a rewarding process. You broaden your exposure to other clientsand ways of working, strengthening your own expertise in the process.  

We love building strong relationships with delivery partners, and broadening our offer to clients to suit their needs.  We’re already looking forward to the next project with PreviousNext , which is hopefully not too far off!