Agile lets you solve real business problems

On most projects your data is ported at the end, and you hope it all works, that everything you implemented comes together.

Show your customers how to use their current data to prioritize stories. To do this, you must understand what the system is going to be used for. You'll need a business architect who can explain what the system is trying to accomplish.

1) At the beginning of the project ask your customers for some real data - something that is as simple as they can think of that they use frequently. This is your first target. You need to help them identify these. Use your business architect.

2) Ask them what they do with that data. Include administration and use. These form your gross stories. Break those stories down even further - into small doable steps.

3) Make a plan that may span iterations for getting these real processes running. Use rough guesses for complexity.

4) Rejuggle the plan to make it better. It's only a plan.

5) Ask them for the algorithms at this point, if it is complex (involve you business architect and whatever resources necessary of the algorithms are hard)

6) Ask your users for examples. Show how you will convert them into tests.

You have shown them how to take real problems and break them down into small doable steps and then extract tests to verify them. This is your first planning session.