Risks on XP Project Associated with Non-colocated Stakeholder

Problem Domain

The scenario presented was for an XP team where a/the Senior Business Analyst (BA) was always (effectively) offsite. The BA is responsible for many roles including managing customer teams, QA as well as providing requirements and guidance to the XP team. The BA could not be available to be colocated due to the number of commitments allotted to him.

Discussion
The group raised some concerns that the BA (as well as the team) would not feel properly integrated and that the two would not effectively work together as a team as a result. This was confirmed as being encountered in the problem domain.

The group also raised concerns regarding the workload attributed to the BA and the capability of that BA to support an XP team where time availability was at a premium.

The conclusion of most group members was that it was not possible to have an effective XP team in such a scenario. Recommendations included:

• Hiring a second BA who could liaise with the Senior BA, shadow him and gain the knowledge necessary to help drive the XP team
• Alter the Senior BA's responsibilities so that the XP team becomes well supported, which would likely require a renegotiation with the customer