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Continuously learn and improve

This practice is about delivering products and services using flexible, iterative and user-centred methods, including:  

  • Choosing a delivery method that suits the unique needs and context of your project 
  • Starting small and scaling up using rapid prototyping and incremental improvement 
  • Re-evaluating your work often to ensure it aligns with user needs and government goals 
  • Staying up to date on the latest practices, tools and technologies and incorporating them into your work  

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Use flexible and responsive methods

Modern software development methods help teams focus on user needs, efficiency, flexibility and collaboration. They allow teams to deliver and improve their service in small increments rather than trying to perfect and release it in a single push. Examples include Scrum, Kanban, DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering. The best option for your team will depend on your context.  

Being flexible and user-centred helps ensure your service meets user needs and helps you address issues as early as possible. It also reduces the risk of project failure, meaning you won’t spend time developing a service only to find it doesn’t meet user needs or doesn’t solve the problem it was intended to.  

To be flexible and responsive in your work:  

  • Build a multi-disciplinary team that is empowered to make timely decisions
  • Choose a delivery method that suits your context, including the details of your product, team, ministry and compliance requirements 
  • Create a roadmap showing the core requirements of your service and how you plan to meet them 
  • Break your roadmap into a backlog of smaller tasks and organize them by priority 
  • Deliver a minimum viable product or show work-in-progress as early as possible 
  • Re-evaluate your product and make rapid improvements as technology, user needs and government priorities change  
  • Focus your decision making on user needs and use insights from usability testing and user engagement to improve your service 
  • Meet regularly as a team to reflect on your progress and performance 
  • Stay current on the latest technologies and development practices and use them to enhance your work 
  • Consult with experts in modern development methods, such as the Exchange Lab agile consulting team and the Agile Community of Practice

Alignment guide

The alignment guide is intended to be used with the supporting context of the related practice and resources. This guide provides examples of what the implementation of this practice may look like and defines a range of competence within the practice area.

1

Initial

Initial teams are missing key resources, knowledge or processes that could help them align their work with government business needs.   

Examples include:

  • Proceeding without planning out the development process or understanding how their product will deliver value
  • Having no way of measuring their performance or gathering feedback on their work
  • Lacking sustainable resourcing, working without needed skillsets and isolating themselves from the rest of government

2

Developing

Developing teams are reshaping their team to be more flexible and responsive to changes in government business needs.  

Examples include:

  • Defining the essential requirements for their product and documenting a basic plan to meet them
  • Identifying meaningful performance metrics to track their progress and demonstrate the value of their work
  • Building a flat, multi-disciplinary team with an empowered product owner and training them in agile delivery techniques

3

Delivering

Delivering teams are proactive and flexible, using business value as a guiding principle in designing their product, planning their work and organizing their team.  

Examples include:

  • Documenting a vision and roadmap for their product that focuses on delivering maximum value
  • Regularly reflecting on their work and gathering feedback to track their progress
  • Ensuring they have the resources, knowledge and support they need to sustainably iterate and improve their product for its entire lifecycle

4

Optimizing

Optimizing teams continually experiment and iterate to improve their internal processes and ensure their product aligns with business needs.   

Examples include:

  • Comparing their performance against their project plan and adjusting it as needed to adapt to changing business needs
  • Using meaningful quantitative and qualitative metrics to assess their performance and improve their capacity to deliver
  • Experimenting with ways to improve their team’s effectiveness and providing them with exceptional training and support 

5

Innovating

Innovating teams take a cross-organizational perspective, allowing them to innovate and find new ways of working that benefit all of government.   

Examples include:

  • Adapting their work to respond to changes in government’s strategic goals and take advantage of the latest advances in technology
  • Integrating with other teams to share their expertise, optimize their processes and build government’s agile capacity

Resources

  • Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

    Learn the 12 ideas shaping the way modern software is delivered.
    https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

  • Agile Delivery Journey

    Learn how to deliver digital products using Agile methods.
    https://developer.gov.bc.ca/Agile-Delivery-Journey

  • UK Service Manual: Agile delivery

    Learn the principles, tools and governance to work in an agile way.
    https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/agile-delivery

  • Steps for digital service delivery

    Follow basic steps to build or improve your digital project or service.
    https://digital.gov.bc.ca/topics/service-delivery/

  • Agile community of practice

    Learn and support each other while gaining a deeper understanding of the agile mindset.
    https://digital.gov.bc.ca/communities/agile/