Failing to communicate...

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
How important do you think continuous communication is for a team working on a project? 
A bit...
Somewhat...
Hugely important...


Let's see what happens when a team of smart individuals eager to get going forget to communicate at crucial points during a project...


Mr. Perfecto is our client. And he, as indicated by his name, is a stickler for perfection. He loves to have things just so...No wonder Sheila (name changed), the CEO chose him to talk to the BAs about a software they needed for their sales team. Mr. Perfecto explains the requirements at length, clarifying exceptions, the work flow followed by the pre-sales and the sales team, the dependencies, the decision points, and everything he could think...


You can see Mr. Perfecto in conversation with our BA.

Mr. Perfecto has this in mind...

Mr. BA, satisified that he has understood what the client needs, goes back to the team and lays down the specs. Eager to get started, the team grabs the specs and gets to work on their individual piece. 


Things are pretty hunky dory with no alarms or flags being raised...


Integration time and everyone is excited for that first look...!!!

Mr. BA and team thinks it's ummm...ok...and shows it to Mr. Perfecto...

Mr. Perfecto is less than pleased...

And our CEO....

Communication failure!!!
Quoting from Communication on Agile Software Projects

Why is communication an issue worth discussing?  Because the need to communicate effectively pervades software development, operations, and support.  Developers and users must communicate.  Developers and operations staff must communicate.  Developers and management must communicate.  Developers and …  well, you get the idea.

Given below is a diagram from the same site on different modes of communication...use them all and keep talking...

Thanks a ton to Ajith, Sam and Julie for the pics and the poses...:)

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