Be prepared to change

Even when a project’s price and scope is fixed, getting user feedback on working features as early as possible in the development process helps the team to deliver the right solution. It is one of the underpinning principles of Agile, but you need to be ready to accommodate suggested changes – and that means plan for them.

Whether it’s a sprint review in Scrum, or pre-release demo on a waterfall project, a review helps to build trust and understanding with the client. It aligns everyone’s expectations of what the solution will do, and how it might look and feel, and in practical terms it helps the development team to better understand the requirements of an end user. By working collaboratively with the client you also can openly make trade-offs; ideally these are centered on the functionality and complexity which will yield the highest value, in the build time remaining.

But when planning any kind of review with a client or end user; be realistic. You should expect valuable feedback, and the client will expect you to accommodate that feedback and make changes to the solution. So plan for change in whatever processes you have in place. It also helps to collaboratively reprioritise the remaining work with the client, immediately after the review.