Does it work at all? Let’s dig into Agile’s origins.
Fixed scope clashes violently with the flexibility so fundamental to Agile approaches.
Agile needs a different mindset than methodically working through the lines of a requirements list. The ‘delivery what we agreed’ of fixed scope, against the ‘respond to change’ of Agile.
For a moment, let’s imagine we’re a project manager. A bloody good one. One who prides themselves on our ability to solve challenging puzzles. To make complex things appear simple.
We’re face to face with a new client. This client has insisted on a fixed scope and fixed price project. They won’t budge on the expectatio. Both sided has signed the contract (or SOW) which includes this fixed scope clause.
We’ve had zero involvement up to this point. Which means we couldn’t have done anything different. So we need to work out how to pull something brilliant out of the bag.
Turning to the client, we call a short meeting break. We head to a quiet breakout room and scream into a cushion for several seconds.
Once we’ve recovered our composure, we start to wonder; Can Agile still deliver success with a fixed scope?
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