@MartinVinther

Agile projects and

suppliers

Who am I?

Martin Nymann Vinther

• Project Manager on 12.

year

• Consultant at Danske

Bank for 5 years

• Using Agile methods

• Small - big projects

Agile projects and

supplier

management• In agile projects we want to be able to

change plans and priorities all the

time...

• Suppliers wants to have plans and

budget in place 1 year ahead

• So how do we deal with it?

Agile concept• When we work in an

agile project we

want to be able to

plan for only one

sprint at the time.

• Some of the back-

log items could be

depending on

deliveries from

other department

(Internal suppliers)

• We want to aim for

having a flexible

supplier that can

support iterative

plans

Sometimes it helps the supplier if we try

to predict and plan in releases

(But this is not really Agile)

One Single Team

• In the my current project we have had great success

with making agreements on resources lend into the

project instead of trying to negotiate a contract and

fix our development plans

• The resources from the supplier could be part of the

team for a shorter or longer period

• Direct and smooth

communication

• No Management

overhead

• Optimal knowledge

transfer to the team

• Minimize the risk

At a certain

level the

project team

will learn to

develop in the

suppliers

domian

If it's not

possible to

have 1. Project

team... Then we must

return to the good

old school ISA

contract and try to

plan the

sprints/releases

ahead. (How much

ahead depends on the

Supplier)

But you need to be

aware that the

Product Owner

properly will change

his/her mind over

time

Start early…… with building up a

good and trustful

relationship with the

supplier (the

developers)

We have found that

it’s very powerful to

start out with a

proof of concept. This

will build trust

between supplier and

project. And also we

will be much better

at planning the actual

work

Key take aways• Be carefull not to make to many

detailed and static agreements with

the suppliers...

”Flexibility is good”

• Explain the situation to the supllier -

they will properly know the agile

concept already

• This is somethig that is wearth fighting

for

Questions?Fell free to contact me

+45 2989 5310

@MartinVinther