Fix-Price Projects And Agile
Peter Bittner
- Developer (of people, companies, code)
- past: Capgemini, HolidayCheck, DACHCOM
- @peterbittner, django@bittner.it
Agenda
- Why Do Customers Ask For It?
- What Is The Problem With It?
- Approach 1: Classic - "Try All, Fail All"
- Approach 2: Workshop - "Convince"
- Approach 3: Sell Advantage - "Yes You Can"
- How Do You Help Them Be Successful?
Why Do Customers Ask For It?
They have to. Be successful.
- It's a planned economy (annual plan)
- Budget known in advance
- Target dates depend on goals + budget
Business Is Boring
reliable dimensions
- Revenue expected from new features
- Sums up to total profit
estimated dimensions
What Is The Problem With It?
3 things to grasp, 2 hands to hold.
Customer Project Goals
- Time
- Budget
- Features
One component must be loose
to be flexible enough
to welcome change
Approach 1: Classic
Try all, fail all.
Try To Do The Impossible
- All features + fixed deadline + fixed budget
- Must be estimated competitively
- Buffers are never sufficient
- Not ready for change = renegotiations
Only one thing is certain:
things will change.
Approach 2: Workshop
Let me convince you.
Good: Offer A Workshop
- They will buy it (low risk)
- Time to get to know them
- Place to sell your approach
- Room to come up with an estimation
Bad: You Try To Do It All
- Your goal: rough estimation
- Because you want all features (too)
- And meet budget + time
- "I told you at the workshop" syndrome
Approach 3: Sell Advantage
You get everything. And more.
On Time, On Budget. Period
- Identify the (earliest) deadline
- Identify their full budget
- Stretch out budget over time-span + adjust
(fit your development resources)
Free People. Happy People
- Sell sprint-wise billing ("reduce risk")
- Flexible partnership, freedom of choice
- Get what you need, not what you ordered
How Do You Help Them Be Successful?
Make them look successful.
On Time: Don't Touch The Deadline
- Ship early, ship often
- Build first what creates most value
- Plan a going-live party with customer
Don't *plan* to build everything!
(It will either happen, or something better will happen.) – If you do it you will fail.
On Budget: Change Plans, Not Money
- Welcome change: Reprioritise, reorder, redo features (before sprint starts)
- Stick to the process: No overtime, no changes in a running sprint (full concentration)
- Bill every sprint ("when time is exhausted")
- Fixed working hours = no renegotiation
We Are Not. We Look Like.
The image of success counts.
- Happy people make the difference: give them software that "simply works" – tested!
- Make them look back and see: they didn't get what they ordered, they got what they need
- On time, on budget, working solutions
Successful partnerships are renewed
Ready For The Change?
