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Preventing a Customer Representative from 'Going Native'

publish date2026/06/04 22:55:39.703832 UTC

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A known risk of having a customer representative embedded closely with an agile development team is that they may 'go native' — adopting the outlook of the development team and losing sight of the needs of their user colleagues. Which of the following approaches could help prevent this problem? Select all that apply.

Correct Answer

(1) Rotate the customer representative role periodically — cycling different users into the team so no single individual becomes overly integrated with the development culture
(2) Require the customer representative to attend regular meetings with end-user colleagues outside the development team to maintain their user perspective and report back on user priorities
(3) Establish a user panel or advisory group that the customer representative consults before prioritising requirements — providing a structured channel for wider user input beyond the representative's own viewpoint

Explanation

Three approaches to prevent 'going native': (1) Rotate the customer representative role — cycling different users into the team prevents any one person from becoming too embedded in the development culture; (2) Regular meetings with end-user colleagues — structured contact with the wider user community keeps the representative grounded in real user needs; (3) User panel or advisory group — a formal consultation mechanism ensures the representative's prioritisation decisions reflect broader user perspectives, not just their own evolved viewpoint. Preventing stand-up attendance or enforcing formal-only communication would undermine the agile collaboration model.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th edition


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