The client’s obligation to collaborate in an Agile contract

The Agile manifesto highlights the collaborative process on which the methods of the same name are based. The numerous interactions between the provider and the client ensure that the project can:

• be open to change and adaptation,
• and thus be better aligned with the client’s expectations.

Two elements are essential for this collaborative approach to be successful: the service provider must play an advisory role in guiding the client, and the client must contribute to the collaborative process.

How to formalize the client’s collaboration in an Agile contract?

The necessary collaboration of the client must be effective from the beginning of the Agile process. To do this, the steering method must be binding. It must integrate specific project execution methods into the contractual field.

This formalization of the project management processes will make the customer aware of his necessary contribution to the success of the project.

An increased involvement of the customer is thus required in the development phase, essentially during the meetings with the provider’s team where decisions will be taken:

• points to develop during the sprint
• definition and evaluation of results,
• etc.

The client must then ensure that sufficient resources are made available to the project. Clauses setting availability obligations, reaction times, etc. are therefore common in the practice of Agile contracts.

What are the consequences of the obligation to collaborate?

In this same perspective of making the parties responsible for their necessary involvement in the Agile process, clauses limiting the responsibility of the service provider in the event of the client’s failure to collaborate seem essential to us. If they are sometimes considered severe, they are totally justified. Indeed, the common intention of the parties is to conduct the project on the basis of a collaborative method. It should be added that the insufficient collaboration of the client can undoubtedly be qualified as a breach of contractual obligations within the framework of an Agile project of which the said collaboration is a cornerstone.

For its part, the service provider will be aware that the intensification of the client’s duty to collaborate results in a proportional increase in its duty to advise. Indeed, the more the client has to be involved and make decisions, the more he has to rely on the knowledge and advice of the provider to do so. It is therefore necessary to document in a sufficient manner:

• the advice given and
• decisions made

in order to avoid any discussion or dispute on these elements in case of a later problem.

What to do if the customer does not collaborate during an Agile project?

To avoid a blockage due to a lack of responsiveness from the client, it may be tempting to provide tacit acceptance mechanisms. However, such a solution only postpones the problem. The customer may later challenge a decision that he or she did not make. Moreover, this is not in the spirit of a collaborative process.

However, governance clauses can help clarify roles and decision-making procedures. They provide mechanisms that avoid blockages while stimulating the involvement of the parties in the decision-making process.