Customers should care if you are agile

Although I understand Paweł’s point in his anti-bullshit (not ani-agile!) post, I have my own thoughts on the subject of customer-vendor relationships. They are based on what I see here, in Poland, so if it is different in your country — good for you

Why should customers care if you are agile? It’s simple. Because so-called agile methodologies bring some concepts which are valuable to them. These concepts include:

• focusing on customer needs
• releasing early

These, in my opinion, are things customers should care because, objectively, these things help achieve business goal earlier and more accurately. Customers should, in their own interest, choose vendors who are able to implement agile concepts. The problem Paweł raised is that customers are unable to verify whether you are really Agile or it’s only marketing bullshit. I think that problem (at least in some cases) is slightly different. It is customers not willing to verify if you are agile, or generally, if you are competent. As long as formal agreement is fulfilled, they don’t care. And they loose money on software which has poor quality, isn’t very useful (but fulfils specification) and is delivered (possibly) on time.

The thing I like most in agile methodologies is transparency of software development process. Anybody, particularly the customer, can see how I am doing in any moment. Do I know how to manage a team (if there is such a role as manager)? Do the team know how to create quality software? These are all verifiable if customer is really on site and cares about project. And if she doesn’t like my way of development, she can quit in any moment, because she pays for my time, not for abstract software product.

So, in my opinion, is not ‘Agile’ label customers should care, but Agile principles. They make software development process more beneficial from customer’s point of view. They also allow customer-vendor relations to me based on facts (about your process), not on marketing bullshit. This is contrary to my current experience which is:

Get the customer, tell him what she wants to hear about Agile, CMMI, or whatever, and make her sign the contract. THEN we will figure out what we have to do…

Natural reaction for such behaviour is customer being extremely careful and, initially not knowing Agile, focusing on preparing more and more detailed specs so that vendors couldn’t cheat. The only ‘agile’ they experience is the marketing’s one, so I am not surprised that they don’t like it and don’t care about it.  Vendors, on the other hand, produce more and more marketing bullshit about their process and it’s closed circle.

The outcome is (besides customers not being happy and not knowing why) that small new vendors who are willing to be Agile and focus on software craftsmanship are fighting a loosing battle because all they can provide is a transparent development process and real quality, not the sophisticated marketing bullshit.