WolforthJ (11/23/2011)
When the team does the equivalent of locking the door to the cubes and finds that a meeting with the business people the equivalent of an hour of water torture, it comes across and they can't be bothered either, they're busy too. Get and keep them involved, and you'd be amazed at how rarely that occurs.
......In my experience of being hard to work with, I have found that if I ask the business to be involved it is perceived as if I am asking them to do work for me or making excuses for not just coming up with the solution. Ask them to participate in testing, that sounds like I should have tested better, ask them for more detailed definition, I should know those answers, ask them to consider the financial consequences of asking for more bandwidth, forget about it....
Really? That has never been my experience.
At the beginning of any project, I approach the stakeholders and warn them I'll be regularly trying to pick their brains so I can properly understand their needs. Without exception, they've been gratified at being both consulted and involved, even if it costs them extra effort. This point is driven further home by the number of these stakeholders who then come back to me again after the project is finished and present me with a new challenge. I make sure they're involved, they then view me as a problem solver and seek me out again. It's a clear, strong, demonstrable and measurable link.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat