"Offing the Off-site Customer" is a simulation for a group of five or more people. It can be finished in an under an hour, including time for discussion. This simulation demonstrates the difference between having a customer onsite and working directly with a programming team and having the same customer offsite, working through intermediaries or written documents.

In addition to providing a pointed demonstration of the value of an on-site customer, this simulation is a lot of fun. It works well as a brown-bag lunch and makes a great icebreaker for a larger workshop.

You can lead this presentation yourself! I've included all the materials you need right here:

• Presenter Guide
• Handouts

This material is Copyright 2005 by Titanium I.T. LLC. Permission is hereby granted to copy the material in the above two files, for the purpose of running the simulation only, so long as all copyright notices are maintained and James Shore, Titanium I.T. LLC, and http://www.jamesshore.com are clearly stated as the source of this material when the presenter introduces the simulation.

If you use this material, please let me know! It takes a lot of effort to prepare something like this for use by others. The best compensation you can give me is to let me know how it worked for you.