Fight this. Make sure everyone actively monitors the environment for changes. Maybe appoint a chief water tester. Have this person check constantly for increased scope, decreased time scales, additional features, new environments—anything that wasn't in the original agreement. Keep metrics on new requirements (see page 209). The team needn't reject changes out of hand—you simply need to be aware that they're happening. Otherwise, it'll be you in the hot water.
Communicate It's obvious that developers in a team must talk to each other. We gave some suggestions to facilitate this in Communicate!. However, it's easy to forget that the team itself has a presence within the organization. The team as an entity needs to communicate clearly with the rest of the world. To outsiders, the worst project teams are those that appear sullen and reticent. They hold meetings with no structure, where no one wants to talk. Their documents are a mess: no two look the same, and each uses different terminology. Great project teams have a distinct personality. People look forward to meetings with them, because they know that they'll see a well-prepared performance that makes everyone feel good. The documentation they produce is crisp, accurate, and consistent. The team speaks with one voice.[1] They may even have a sense of humor. [1]
The team speaks with one voice-externally. Internally, we strongly encourage lively, robust debate. Good developers
tend to be passionate about their work.
There is a simple marketing trick that helps teams communicate as one: generate a brand. When you start a project, come up with a name for it, ideally something off-the-wall. (In the past, we've named projects after things such as killer parrots that prey on sheep, optical illusions, and mythical cities.) Spend 30 minutes coming up with a zany logo, and use it on your memos and reports. Use your team's name liberally when talking with people. It sounds silly, but it gives your team an identity to build on, and the world something memorable to associate with your work.
Don't Repeat Yourself In The Evils of Duplication, we talked about the difficulties of eliminating duplicated work between members of a team. This duplication leads to