Agile Support Helping You Get Better at Agile

First I've changed the diagram... hopefully it will be clearer in that we're not trying to do mini-waterfall.

One of the challenges here is that most Agile thinking assumes a team internal to a company and begins AFTER the project is underway, which leaves out some of the important and challenging issues associated with selling a project, initiating an engagement and managing project startup.

Remember the premis of this is NOT an internal team but a consulting engagement. Outformations builds custom software applications and provides professional services to a variety of organizations both large and small. We typically assemble ad-hoc project teams specifically for a particular project for a particular client.

Most clients do NOT understand what an Agile project is and are used to thinking in "traditional" project management and project planning terms when starting a project. They will ask the normal and quite reasonable business questions such as: "How long will it take? What will the end result be? How much will it cost?".

The sales process for "Selling Agile" projects necessarily begins before Iteration Zero but I think it must also continue during Iteration Zero. Like all Agile work the proof is in the delivery of value to the client. In this case the value to a client includes helping them understand the benefits and risks associated with doing an Agile project.

--David Chilcott
Outformations, Inc.
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