Negotiating Contracts for Agile Projects: A Practical Perspective

The Agile Manifesto values “customer collaboration over contract negotiation”. However, in many real projects, Agile practitioners spend considerable time and effort negotiating contracts with customers. We have conducted grounded theory research in India with Agile practitioners. In this paper we present the strategies these practitioners use to overcome the problems of negotiating contracts. These strategies include changing the customers’ mindset, providing different options of working, and — in the worst case scenario — keeping the customers unaware of internal Agile practices.