Preparing a Client for Working with Agile - John Gordon, Director of Software Development at Portland Webworks

1. PORTLANDWEBWORKS.COMPORTLANDWEBWORKS.COM
Fixed Price Projects in an Agile
World
—
John Gordon
Director of Software Development
01.11.2017
PRESENTED BYPRESENTED BY

2. PORTLANDWEBWORKS.COM
PORTLAND WEBWORKS
—
Established software and web application development firm,
founded in 1999.
33 Person team representing essential project disciplines
- Project Management / Account Service
- Business Analysis
- User Experience / Design
- Software Development
- Quality Assurance
Deep experience in representing public-sector clients in both public facing
and internal web initiatives.

3. PORTLANDWEBWORKS.COM
Who are our clients?
—
State & Federal government (Maine, Colorado, Idaho, EPA etc.)
Non-profit institutions (Healthcare, Higher Education, Trade Associations)
Private sector corporations (Olympia Sports, L.L. Bean, Sappi Paper, etc.)

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Seen This Before?

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Fixed Bids are a Fact of Life
●Clients feel the need to protect themselves when partnering with a new
consultant
●Public sector projects are almost always fixed bid

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Fixed Price Assumes Everything
is fixed

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Client Education is Key
Clients need to understand we know the least about a project when that
project is first started.
●priorities change
●new requirements are discovered
●Timelines change
Attempting to follow a roadmap created when we know the least doesn’t do
anyone any good.

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Key Education Points

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Expressly
State Things
Will Change
“I agree that this set of requirements represents
our best understanding of the requirements for
the next portion of this project and that the
solution described will meet our needs as we
understand them today. I agree to make future
changes in this baseline through the project’s
defined change process. I realize that changes
might require us to renegotiate cost, resource,
and schedule commitments.”

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The goal of any project is to
achieve a desired outcome. The
output required to achieve the
project outcome can take many
shapes.

11. PORTLANDWEBWORKS.COM
Use Milestone Payments To
Decide What’s in Scope
●Approaching a milestone’s budgeted amount is the right time to discuss
modifying scope.
●Give the client the opportunity to make a conscious decision about what
kind of output is needed to deliver the desired outcome.

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Question Time