How do you manage external stakeholders and clients who create anti-patterns in your agile methodology?

3 Negotiate the scope and expectations

The third step to manage external stakeholders and clients who create anti-patterns is to negotiate the scope and expectations with them, and establish clear and mutual agreements. To do this, you can use the MoSCoW method to prioritize requirements based on importance and urgency, the INVEST criteria to break down requirements into manageable chunks, and the SMART goals to align your team's velocity and capacity with the stakeholder's and client's expectations. This will help you define the minimum viable product (MVP) and nice-to-have features, avoid scope creep and gold plating, as well as ambiguity and complexity, while also avoiding unrealistic deadlines.

4 Manage the feedback and communication

The fourth step to manage external stakeholders and clients who create anti-patterns is to manage the feedback and communication with them, and foster a collaborative and transparent relationship. To do this, you should use the feedback loop to solicit, analyze, and act on their feedback. This can help validate assumptions, learn from mistakes, and improve deliverables and processes. Additionally, you should use a communication plan to define the frequency, format, and content of the status updates and reports for stakeholders and clients. This can help keep them informed and engaged while avoiding unnecessary interruptions or distractions. Lastly, an escalation matrix should be used to identify roles, responsibilities, and channels for resolving issues or conflicts with stakeholders and clients. This can help address problems promptly and effectively while avoiding escalation or damage.

5 Adapt and improve your agile process

The fifth step to manage external stakeholders and clients who create anti-patterns is to adapt and improve your agile process based on the feedback and learning from the previous steps. You can use the retrospective to reflect on what went well, wrong, and what can be improved in your agile process. This can help you recognize the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your team and project. Additionally, you should measure and monitor your team's performance and delivery with agile metrics such as velocity, quality, satisfaction, and value. This will allow you to track your progress, achievements, and challenges, as well as adjust your plans and goals accordingly. Lastly, you should use the agile best practices such as Scrum, Kanban, XP, or Lean to implement and improve your agile process. This will help you follow proven methods and techniques for agile development while avoiding common pitfalls and mistakes.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?