Over the past few years I've heard people say - you can't use agile when doing a package implementation, such as Siebel. Does that make sense? Does agile work when building a Siebel CRM or Loyalty system implementation?
When using Siebel you can configure specific functionality without much effort in terms of custom development. In fact, the best approach for a package implementation is to keep the amount of customization to a minimum. That's part of why you select a package, you don't have to build custom code; instead you can use out-of-the-box or configured functionality. Both allow the development team to put together working code with a minimum of effort, getting early and frequent feedback from the product owner. Product owner's are able to see working code, provide feedback and then quickly see the updated functionality.
For this to work well you'll need experienced team members who know the package software well enough to make decisions on out-of-the-box, configured or custom code. It's best if the development team knows the domain as well (e.g., travel, retail, ...). You'll need ready access to business subject matter experts and knowledgeable people who can give the details of what needs to be developed and how it must be tested. Needless to say this is the same kind of work that needs to done regardless of whether you're building from scratch or starting with a package.
In my example, there's nothing preventing us from using agile values, principles and practices to build a system using Siebel. In fact, that's what I'm working on right now - a Siebel loyalty implementation using agile development.
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