Levent Gurses has an article, 10 Mistakes in Transitioning to Agile, in the Dec 2006 Dr. Dobbs Journal. He writes about the most common mistakes that companies make when transitioning from “legacy development methodologies†to agile ones. In this series of short articles for the winter holidays, we’re looking at each of the ten mistakes he identified. Enjoy the light reading, and don’t think too much about work.
Mistake 4: Fail to Identify the Sponsor
If we don’t identify the champion of the endeavor to convert to agile processes, we can’t keep them informed of progress. Their expectations need to continually adapt to progress just like every element of agile.
Our Addition
Close collaboration with stakeholders is critical to any product success. Converting an organization to agile is a change-management project. The sponsor of this change is the stakeholder for this project (not to be confused with the stakeholder of the project that is underway). Keep the stakeholder informed.
