Where's the reality? was, Re: [Sigia-l] Off Topic Posts

[Leisa Reichelt]

> 37 Signals are advocates. Advocates move the needle and raise the bar,
> necessarily breaking best practices along the way. So how their reality maps
> to the fat part of the "ordinary-reality" Bell curve begs the question as to
> whether they are a fad or a harbinger of things to come.
>
> I'm curious why you think it wouldn't work with consultants.

i guess it depends on the nature of the consultant relationship.
Basically I'm concerned that the very short and non-specific 'scoping'
phase advocated by the Getting Real methodology is potentially
troublesome in a project where you and your 'client' have to agree on
what the project is and the points at which you can agree that the
work has been completed.

Given that functional specifications are a no-no in Getting Real and
'wireframes' are essentially rough sketches on paper that are coded
ASAP, then move into an iterative release cycle, based on my
experience I'd say that there would be a lot of arguing over whether
or not a 'deliverable' had absolutely been achieved (meaning that your
client then owes you money).

In the 37 Signals environment, this simply isn't an issue they need to
deal with, so its relatively easy for them to ditch documentation like
signed off wireframes and functional specifications. Where there's
ongoing client expectation management required - documentation can be
very helpful!

Would be interested to hear others thoughts on this :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leisa Reichelt
leisa.reichelt at gmail.com
www.disambiguity.com