Most discussion is focused on completing features, with not much mention of the quality of the user experience. Lean Startup, 37Signals, Apple, etc., suggest thrilling customers with fewer features. How should Agile be tweaked to include this perspective more front and center?
The customer perspective is so vital to steering product development, the topic could use more emphasis and suggestions in Agile circles. A couple of thoughts. It seems that an ideal situation for product development would be a team working to solve some problem they personally have, and very knowledgable of the present and future of that domain. (See Paul Graham's How to Get Startup Ideas, http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html) Adding in some real external customers would be even better. (Five is a number frequently recommended in Lean Startup circles.) Compared to the ideal situation, the odds get tougher. If the team doesn't know the domain or the customer's need, they need to get out and talk to real customers, test ideas with them, etc. etc. Now if that's not possible (really?), a representative could be used. Someone who really goes out and talks to real customers frequently, conducts tests of actual behavior and choices, etc. How many companies really do that? Versus, how many companies assign someone to manage a project, and rely on Marketing Depts to prioritize features? A key Agile value is communication, preferring face-to-face communication. Are we doing that enough with customers? Or is most of the development done by an isolated team, albeit with collaboration inside the team? Lean Startup, and customer development addresses that balance in interesting ways that can commplement Agile implementation methods. With nine of ten products failing, because nobody wants them, we need to work in a way that maximizes the odds of building the right thing, plus building it well. Would you rather have an excellent buggy whip, or an OK cell phone? If most people would take the OK cell phone, all the work on making the buggy whip excellent was essentially wasted. We have limited time and resources, and should be building things that people want and use.