> Once a good working relationship has been established and the project
> gets into "steady state", then risk-hedging or EV prioritization
> certainly becomes a reasonable option.

Thats starting to support a slogan I've been thinking
about proposing. In Agile software development, what is
the first and most important thing that we build? Some
would say executable (and working) software; Some might
say, "the code"; Non-agile methods might say "specs".

I'm starting to wonder if maybe it isn't any of those
things. Maybe the first and most important things that
an agile development project builds is TRUST. We do it
with intense collaboration (including with the customer,
but also with other stakeholders across the lifecycle);
we do it with short iterations and feedback-loops;

We don't require anywhere near as much documentation
or specification or traceability ... because we
BUILT TRUST IN to the process very early on. We
gave the customer control, made our process and
progress visible and transparent, and we listen,
and learn. And we get better at it, and give better
results by continuing to build and earn TRUST.
--
Brad Appleton <brad@...> www.bradapp.net
Software CM Patterns (www.scmpatterns.com)
Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration
"And miles to go before I sleep." -- Robert Frost