Agile Fixed Cost Delivery
After 8 years in the consulting industry, Coefficient has developed an Agile Fixed Cost Delivery model that brings the most value to the client. Coefficient also offers retainer models (i.e billable days per week), however Agile Fixed Cost Delivery is our team’s preferred way of working.
Agile + Scrum
Coefficient delivers projects under an Agile Fixed Cost model. This approach combines the flexibility of Agile with the budget predictability of a fixed-cost model.
Scrum is an iterative Agile development process that enables teams to rapidly respond to new information or changes in priority. This is especially important for data-centric work such as machine learning, where a data quality issue can halt an entire strategy until fixed. Scrum prioritises continuous improvements delivered over a series of Sprint iterations.
You can learn more about our approach in our recorded talk, Agile Data Science, for the PyData Global 2021 conference, or by reading our Intro to Agile guide.
Story Points
We have provided a Story Point Estimate for each stage of the project plan. For Agile teams, Story Points represent the effort required to implement a feature, considering the amount of work, complexity, and associated uncertainties.
Why not time estimates?
Story Points provide a more flexible and consistent estimate compared to traditional time-based estimates, accounting for variables in team speed and experience. This allows for efficient planning, improved productivity, and better management of workloads across sprints.
Changes Are Free
Unlike some agencies, we don’t charge for change requests. We want to embrace change as new information is discovered about the best pathway to success. Therefore, all changes are free. We provide a fixed price for a fixed allocation of Story Points. Every Sprint, the customer can change priorities completely. Any item in the Product Backlog can be moved anywhere else. New features can be requested, and we will scope their effort and complexity using Story Points.
The Rule:
Any deliverable can be added to the Product Backlog, as long as equivalently sized features are removed from the Product Backlog.
Why is this good for everyone?
Why is this good for everyone? This ensures that our customers can re-prioritise tasks based on new information, whilst ensuring that we deliver on time and within budget.
Learn more here about the Changes For Free concept and why it’s a great deal for our clients over standard fixed-price contracts.
Early Termination
We allow you to terminate the contract at the end of any Sprint if you feel like you’ve already got what you need. At this stage, you (the customer) are billed for the remaining 20% of the unbilled contract value.
Why is this good for everyone?
Charging by the hour can incentivise working inefficiently whilst delaying key deliverables. Forecasting the correct time horizon for a fixed-term project will yield an under-estimate (someone loses out, or deliverables are incomplete) or an over-estimate (the customer loses out, and time is spent on lower-value items). This clause gives the customer control over the contract duration, and incentivises our team to maximise the value we deliver early on, given that Early Termination represents a form of performance bonus.
You can read more about this principle here.