One of the core values of the Agile Manifesto is favoring “Customer collaboration over contract negotiation”. Unfortuntely, product companies with thousands (to millions!) of customers can find collaborating with their customers nearly impossible, as few tools exist to explicitly support meaningful customer collaboration. This workshop explores the advantages of including your customers as part of your distributed team and some of the tools that are emerging to enable agilists to better collaborate with their customers. Bring your laptop, as we may be trying out some of these tools.

Flirting is about connecting. A German university now requires their IT engineers take a flirting class—not to attract a partner, but to learn how to interact more effectively in the workplace. We will explore how flirting techniques translate to use in a business setting—inspiring us to create stronger connections with our customers. Our 8 Steps to connecting with your customers will help teams better understand customer requirements and build business value. “Flirting” With Your Customers creates the connection that can make a significant difference in a project’s success.