Hidden Pitfalls of Agile: User Contact

by Jens Coldewey

When transitioning to agile, some traditionally educated project managers face a rude awakening when they first run an actual agile endeavor. They looked forward to the increased transparency and the daily reports they'd receive from their team, but suddenly they're hit by reality in the form of real customer contact. The team may ask silly questions such as, "Who are we developing for?" and may spend time meeting these customers, watching them do their work, and discussing the problems with the customers. This results in the one thing our manager was trained for decades to avoid: change.