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On February 11-13, 2001, at The Lodge at Snowbird ski resort, overlooking the Wasatch mountains of Utah, seventeen independent thinkers, self-described as “The Agile Alliance,” met to talk, ski, relax, and try to find common ground.
Representatives included those with backgrounds in #ExtremeProgramming, #Scrum, DSDM, Adaptive Software Development, Crystal, Feature-Driven Development, Pragmatic Programming, and others sympathetic to the need for an alternative to documentation heavy software development processes.
What emerged was the Agile ‘Software Development’ Manifesto, a set of values (seen in this image) and the “12 principles of Agile Software”.
I have written several articles discussing each of the principles in detail, examining their validity in today’s world. The intent of this article is to discuss the value of “Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation.” It is the fourth in a series of 5 values articles covering the values, including a common fallacy and some detail and practices I encourage you to take in adopting each value and an agile mindset.
Consider reading all the articles here.
The Values of AgileManifesto.org
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
· Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
· Working software over comprehensive documentation
· Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
· Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation
Within mature organizations it is difficult to imagine a business shifting away from the entrepreneurial customer centric mindset that made them as successful as they are, yet it happens regularly. Often, as organizations grow, they begin to focus on those things that can keep them in business as well as look to mitigate legal challenges such as the contracts they negotiate with their clients that could put them out of business. They sometimes shift from the mindset of ‘the customers always right’, to one of ‘CYA’. They focus more on their organization and a bit less on operations as they continue to scale and grow.
What this agile value encourages is to return to that customer centric mindset. We should get back to a place where we collaborate regularly with our customers to ensure that in the end, we are delivering the most valuable solutions to them within a timeline that is manageable and understood by all parties. We need to shift from fixing everything up front, to regularly iterating on portions of a solution and gaining the customers feedback to ensure both our business and the customer gain the most value from the result. We collaborate more and negotiate less with our customers, after all, they are the ones that keep us in business. If we look to regularly involve them in the development and feedback of the solution, they will end up with a better solution that meets their current needs, rather than one negotiated several months previously that may no longer overcome all or even some of their current challenges.
Contracts are important and necessary as the landscape in which we do business is constantly changing. However, to spend significant amounts of time fixing language and forecasting value of a solution up front, along with the scope and cost to which this new solution can be delivered, is a fool’s errand. Involving everyone throughout the process and providing regular opportunities for our customers and those building the solution to collaborate is the most successful path forward. In the end our customers, and those doing the work, will be happier and more successful with the results.
