http://blog.xebia.com/2008/07/18/commitment/ Software development done right! Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:41:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://blog.xebia.com/2008/07/18/commitment/#comment-47892 Gerard Janssen Sun, 20 Jul 2008 06:04:35 +0000 http://blog.xebia.com/?p=587#comment-47892 Commitment is indeed a very important factor for the success of a project. On this level there is a second at leas equally important factor, which is focus. Focus on the real goals, achievements and outcomes of the project helps in choosing the right actions. I would not go as far as to say that how we feel about a project is even more important than how we do it. But a project approach that purposefully builds on creating commitment and focus really has the upper hand. That is one of the powers of agile approaches, although it is not unique to agile methods. So the question becomes: "If we value commitment and focus on a project, how to evoke and stimulate them?" Commitment is indeed a very important factor for the success of a project. On this level there is a second at leas equally important factor, which is focus. Focus on the real goals, achievements and outcomes of the project helps in choosing the right actions.
I would not go as far as to say that how we feel about a project is even more important than how we do it. But a project approach that purposefully builds on creating commitment and focus really has the upper hand. That is one of the powers of agile approaches, although it is not unique to agile methods.
So the question becomes: “If we value commitment and focus on a project, how to evoke and stimulate them?”

]]> http://blog.xebia.com/2008/07/18/commitment/#comment-47757 Eelco Gravendeel Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:51:15 +0000 http://blog.xebia.com/?p=587#comment-47757 To answer the question right-away: Yes! In my opinion the biggest difference between doing projects Agile or 'Old skool waterfall' is that you can't hide the problems that are the result of a lack of commitment in the Agile project! Both kind of projects are doomed to fail without proper client / stakeholder commitment, but waterfall project(management) allows problems to stay hidden until delivery time (ouch!), whereas the Agile project will never properly lift of (as you mentioned). So doing it Agile will either cause the client to be more engaged or will fail early ... To answer the question right-away: Yes! In my opinion the biggest difference between doing projects Agile or ‘Old skool waterfall’ is that you can’t hide the problems that are the result of a lack of commitment in the Agile project! Both kind of projects are doomed to fail without proper client / stakeholder commitment, but waterfall project(management) allows problems to stay hidden until delivery time (ouch!), whereas the Agile project will never properly lift of (as you mentioned). So doing it Agile will either cause the client to be more engaged or will fail early …

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