Experiments with Agile Contracts in the Real World
Tue, 2009-02-03 09:12 — Lars Thorup, Bent Jensen
Download session PDF
Add to calendarLevel: Practicing
How do you sell an agile project? Most customers expect to buy software by time-and-material or by fixed-price-fixed-scope contracts based on detailed requirements. These models can not create a fertile environment for collaboration between customer and supplier. In this presentation, we will report on our experiments with commercial contracts that supports an agile development process, based on concrete examples of win-win contract types. We will outline the different aspects of these contracts, as well as experiences creating and delivering software solutions under these contracts.
Process/Mechanics
During the presentation, we will
- introduce the principles of agile contracts: sharing the risk as well as the benefit fairly between the customer and the supplier
- show how agile contracts is in line with modern legal research in creating fair and incentive contracts
- provide the arguments that convince customers that agile contracts are better for their projects.
- highlight trade-offs that agile contracts needs to balance and the criteria used to negotiate the proper trade-off
- give advice on handling resistance from from customers, where the legal departments has concerns
- talk about the areas where we still have room for improvement and how we plan to continue our experiments in this direction
Learning outcomes
- Equip Agile Software Companies/Consultant to create better contracts. The concrete examples on working agile contracts, and our account of the negotiation process, can be of inspiration to others in the same situation
Featured participants
Primary target persona
Other target personas
Customers who wants to work with agile suppliers