I was working with a customer this week doing a process diagnostic. One of the things they happened to mention is that they miss waterfall. I was surprised as these days all I hear is how everyone wants to be more agile.

I asked for more, and the anecdote provided was that they cannot get commitment to specific Features being delivered as part of a release as they could in the past. Their requirements process had migrated from Features to User Stories where if they asked for a Feature the first response was give us the stories and then when asked when they can get the features they were told “when it’s done”!

Now of course, for any company where success is meeting market needs, this is not desired. So after that phase of the diagnostic was complete, I mentioned we could help them create an environment where Features and Stories can coexist and a release commitment could be created. I do not see this as breaking agile simply making it work in an environment where the Product Owner needs to meet the team’s needs but also the needs of a commercial company where commitment to stories is not enough. Do you agree?

We announced today that we have secured $17M in Series B funding.  In today’s economy, any funding announcement is a huge deal, however, what makes this announcement extra special to us, is that it’s because of our outstanding customers who continue to support us, and who are critical in our continued growth and success.    Our customers and their successes are the real stories, and it’s what makes us all work harder to continue to provide outstanding products for them.  Thank you to all our customers for this acheivement, this is your win too!