Deploying Agile/Lean in the Organization- Build Strong Relationships

Strong Relationships

The delivery and information system of the organization should be incorporated with that of the business/stakeholder. I consider two key elements when building relationships while implementing Agile/Lean in your development projects.

• You MUST know what the client/business/stakeholder needs and to know the client, collate as much information as possible about the individuals and groups that make up the stakeholders.

• You must provide timely, quality driven, applications from your development team. You must track and monitor your development efforts and speak to individuals directly, (face to face) to encourage feedback.

• Prioritization of specific stakeholders in the group, if you intend to maintain support you must segment your list into groups and then list them in order of importance. This sometimes sounds bad but you must deliver key information to the key discussion makers (KDM) of the group to facilitate the forward movement of the project.

• Understand their needs, “what do they want the application to do” stand in their shoes and walk through what “they” think will be a successful project.

• Regular status reports are extremely useful but nothing is more effective than implementing the Agile/Lean face to face communication style.

At the end of the project try to complete lesson learned surveys and communicate them amongst all team members to establish a cohesive communication template that you can use on other projects.