How to handle changes?

General
1

I’m kinda new to Agile stuff, and I got a problem. In our last project bit, we got hit with some unexpected changes, and it’s messing with our plan.

Any tips on how you folks handle changes without messing up everything? How can we make changes without making the project late?

Thanks a bunch!

2

In handling scope changes in Agile projects, it’s crucial to maintain flexibility without compromising project stability. Here are a few strategies that might help:

  1. Iterative Planning: Embrace the iterative nature of Agile. Plan and reassess regularly, so you can incorporate changes seamlessly into upcoming sprints without causing major disruptions.
  2. Communication is Key: Keep the lines of communication open with all stakeholders. Regularly update them on any scope changes, and ensure everyone is on the same page regarding project priorities and objectives.
  3. Buffer in the Plan: Build some flexibility into your project plan. Having a buffer for unexpected changes allows the team to adapt without jeopardizing deadlines.
  4. Change Control Mechanism: Implement a change control mechanism that involves the necessary approvals before incorporating scope changes. This helps in maintaining control over the project and prevents ad-hoc changes.

Remember, the key is to strike a balance between agility and stability.

3

@John.Greer Every software project is going to have unexpected changes. On the other hand, it is also very probable that as you build the software, you’ll discover things that you can do without or that could be deferred until later.

The problem many teams run into is that they don’t set up their work in a way to take advantage of things that can be deferred or left out, so the scope can only grow. Here are a few questions I encourage teams to constantly be asking themselves.

  1. Is there any possible future where we might be able to go live without this particular story? (If so we shouldn’t build it until every story that has no such possible future is done.)
  2. Is there any part of this story that we could split out to prioritize and deliver independently.

When you are asking those type of questions, you end up with a project where details are constantly evolving in a way that is constantly providing feedback and options to the stakeholders. If hitting a particular date is more important, they can choose to leave more things out to get to a go live state as early as possible and then continue to add features until they run out of time or money.