AgileAttitudes Article
 
 
 

Vol 02 Issue 09- Without an Agile Customer there is no Agile Team

  
 
Back to the list of articles Agile Attitudes Volume 2, Issue 09 Dec 20, 2005 A free bi-weekly email newsletter Brought to you by Agile Rules consulting www.agilerules.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to Agile Attitudes, a newsletter of ideas, insights and technical tips that help people find better ways to develop software. Feel free to share this with anyone - just be sure you send or print the whole thing, including the copyright notice. Directions for managing your subscription are below. O><O><O><O><O><O Agile related meetings and other events in the Boston area are discussed on the Agile Bazaar email list. For info see: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AgileBazaar/ O><O><O><O><O><O If you would like to receive an email as soon as we know of an event in the Boston area of interest to the agile software community, you can sign up for the announcements list at http://www.agilerules.com/mailman/listinfo/agileannounce O><O><O><O><O><O Without an Agile Customer there is no Agile Team by Nancy Van Schooenderwoert When a theater company produces a play, the actors get all the attention. An audience seldom considers the efforts of the costumers, publicists, and all the other behind-the-scenes participants. These production activities are just as necessary as the actors' efforts. An agile software team relies on the person filling the “Customer” role to keep the team fueled with new stories (or requirements) in much the same way that a company of actors relies on a producer to organize the necessary behind-the-scenes work. The play can't go on without it. The agile customer balances the needs of multiple stakeholders and gives unified priorities to the team. Without this decisionmaking activity, an agile team gets pulled in different directions by various stakeholders and has to guess which stories are most important. The Agile Customer decides which stories should be implemented and the priority of each story. The agile team decides how much effort and technical risk is involved in each story. Together the team and the customer balance this information to plan an iteration – that is, the completion of a potentially shippable set of software. Selecting the right person to fill the Agile Customer role is critical to the success of an agile software project. Key qualifications include: * Have a good understanding of the business * Have good working relationships with most of the stakeholders * Must be able to say 'no' to some stakeholders when it's not possible to please them all * Must be able to communicate technical and business concepts clearly The Agile Customer does not direct the team – the team has autonomy to decide how best to accomplish the job. The Agile Customer does not become a performer on the team either. A good practice is to hold periodic meetings with stakeholders to discuss new items being added to the existing stories, and how best to prioritize them. The final decision belongs solely to the Agile Customer, however. Another good practice is for the Agile Customer to sit with the development team, at least for some part of each day, to facilitate communication. A good rule of thumb is that the Agile Customer should be able to answer – on the spot - 80% of the questions the team asks about the stories. The most fundamental principle in agile software development is that there should be a true partnership between the technical and business sides of the company. The Agile Customer role is key to the business side of this partnership. Aside from staffing the agile development team with good people, having the right person in the Agile Customer role is probably the single most important success factor for an agile project. O><O><O><O><O><O More articles on Agile software topics at http://www.agilerules.com Within our company we have a sub-specialty in embedded systems. Our site has articles on embedded XP and we support a discussion list focused on the use of agile methods for building embedded software. The list signup info is at http://www.agilerules.com/mailinglists.phtml O><O><O><O><O><O To help you get started with in-depth research into Agile Attitudes topics, we have added a Library section to our web site at http://www.agilerules.com/library.phtml Order using our links and receive discounts up to 30%! O><O><O><O><O><O If you enjoyed this issue or found it useful, forward it to a friend! Help spread the word about better ways to build software. Invite your friends and colleagues to join our growing reader community at http://www.agilerules.com/mailinglists.phtml O><O><O><O><O><O Looking for a speaker for your next corporate or society meeting? We present dynamic, informative programs on topics of interest to managers and technical staff in their transition to more flexible, robust ways to create software. O><O><O><O><O><O Want to reprint this issue in your company or society newsletter? For permission to reprint any of the articles, contact us at info@agilerules.com. O><O><O><O><O><O Your feedback is welcome! Send feedback to info@agilerules.com To manage your subscription: http://www.agilerules.com/mailman/listinfo/agileattitudes O><O><O><O><O><O Brought to you by Agile Rules consulting 162 Marrett Road, Lexington MA 02421 Copyright (c) 2004, 2005 Agile Rules info@agilerules.com O><O><O><O><O><O Privacy notice: We will not release a subscriber's address to any third party for any reason. This is a strictly opt-in newsletter. No one is ever subscribed without their explicit request. </plaintext> </td id="bodytable_r1_c3_body"> </tr id="bodytable_r1"> </table id="bodytable">