enthiosys agile product management - agile product management, motivated from within

Unlike Size (of Firm), Experience (of Consultant) Matters

 

As Agile practices continue to be adopted by organizations, we’re seeing a substantial increase in the number of consulting firms providing services regarding Agile practices. That’s not surprising, as market demand motivates consulting firms to create supply. Unfortunately, what they’re supplying just isn’t all that helpful, and, in some cases, downright harmful. As Enthiosys has recently won three consulting projects from firms that were either much larger than us, much older than us, or (in the case of a VC-backed tools company) much better funded than us, I thought it would be helpful to post a simple checklist for product and/or service companies embarking on an agile transformation on choosing a consulting firm for your agile project. Here’s the quick summary:

• Are they Agile?
• Have they been a product manager on an agile product?
• Do they understand their own limits?

Let’s review each of these in detail.

Are they Agile?

While it might seem painfully obvious, the sad truth is that in the rush to get Agile companies are starting to get sloppy in checking the credentials of their consultants. In one of the projects that we won, the client initially accepted a lower bid from a much larger consulting firm. Unfortunately, you don’t just hire a firm—you hire individual consultants. And in this case, the actual consultant they put on the project didn’t have any actual Agile experience—other than reading a few books and taking a CSM class. So, your first step in choosing an Agile consulting firm is to check their credentials. A few questions that you might find helpful include:

• What Agile projects have you worked on?
• What was your role in these projects?
• What Agile projects have you coached?
• Can I talk to some of your clients?
• How do you embody the principles and practices of the Agile Manifesto in your own organization?

Have they been a product manager on an agile product?

As readers of this blog know, Enthiosys focuses on agile product management. That means our consultants have all been product managers. Which means they can do a whole lot more than a product owner, ranging from helping you design and implement market research strategies to identify what your customers want before creating your product backlog to helping you price, license, position, train the sales team, and work the distribution channel all in an Agile way. Because Agile changes all of this. So, even if your potential Agile consultant is Agile, you have to ask them if their specific experience in Agile is right for you. If you’re a software-enabled product and service company, here are some areas of discussion that you might find helpful:

• Tell me about the products and services that you’ve priced, and the process you used for determining that price.
• My market is currently conditioned to expect a major release every 12-18 months. How have you helped recondition markets to manage a faster release cycle?
• What forms of market research do you recommend to help me prioritize my backlog? Why?
• A lot of agilists talk about positioning and vision statements. What vision statements have you developed?
• What aspects of a typical software licensing agreement could Agile change?

Do they understand their own limits?

Product management is a very big and complex job. Although it is common in Silicon Valley startups to find one harried and overworked product manager doing everything, it is much more common for the overall responsibilities of product management to be shared among several people. The best product managers know their own limits, and have learned to collaborate with others in ways that are unique to each person and each organization. Similarly, the best consulting firms don’t claim that they can do it all. Because, frankly, most of the time they can’t. To be certain that you’re working with a firm that has focus, and simply isn’t saying what you want to hear so that you’ll give them some work, consider these kinds of questions:

• What kind of Agile consulting do you avoid? Why?
• Who are your partners? Why were they chosen?
• Can you provide me examples of projects in which you’ve collaborated with these partners?

In the long run, choosing a consulting partner isn’t just about whether or not they have more CSMs than the next consulting firm. It is about your business context, your current goals, and your longer term, more strategic goals. If you’re a software enabled product and service company adopting agile, getting the basics of core Agile practices are just the first step. Choose a partner than can help you through the long run.

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