Reduce Constant Interruptions With Time Box Planning Meetings

One of the problems with software development can be the constant interruptions and moving requirements from the customer. This problem can arise because the customer, internal or external, can feel they only have one chance to get things right. But with agile development we can always change and improve the software.

Make sure the stakeholders understand that for each iteration they will be invited to a planning meeting where we can all assess the development so far and identify the next most important issues that need to be addressed. Make it blatant that no decision is final, all things can be changes and nothing is wrong.

Once you can get this understood then stakeholders and developers are more likely to look at the bigger picture rather than get fixated on some trivial issue that may only be important to themselves.

The part of the planning meeting attended by the important stakeholders should be short, half an hour is ideal. You will find the most important things are discussed in that half hour and any longer is generally used to discuss trivial issues and unknowns (let the unknowns mature for a while you will know what to do in a later iteration).