Episode 9
During one of our last episodes, we talked about the importance of designing with users in mind. This is a foundational part of the GC Digital Standards. What could be better than putting users at the centre of our efforts to improve our jobs and service offerings?
How about doing all that while being agile? Sounds great, right? But hmm… what does “agile” mean? Watch this 2 minutes video to know more.
Transcript
share their experiences and figure out
00:08
why so many software projects were
00:10
failing this wasn't just about
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documenting best practices they knew the
00:14
industry required a fundamental shift in
00:16
values and so the agile manifesto was
00:19
born the Declaration of for bold value
00:22
statements that became the basis of a
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new approach to software development and
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would change the industry forever but
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what were those four values and why
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should you care take a look but first it
00:34
is important to point out that the agile
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manifesto ends by noting that all of the
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things mentioned are important just that
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some things must be prioritized over
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others okay here we go number one
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individuals and interactions over
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processes and tools
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this doesn't mean throw processes and
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tools out the window simply means that a
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good face-to-face chat should trump
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rigid workflows and impersonal forms of
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communication number two working
01:01
software over comprehensive
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documentation makes sense right but
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traditional software development often
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produced extensive documentation before
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a program was released for initial
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testing some documentation is good but
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wouldn't it be better to have the
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program than a book describing it number
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three customer collaboration over
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contract negotiation sure you'll want to
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start out with some initial guidelines
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but instead of locking customers in a
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cage by defining the exact details of
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the project before it starts teams and
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customers should collaborate to find the
01:33
best solutions and finally number four
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responding to change over following a
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plan nothing ever goes entirely
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according to plan
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so instead of sticking with something
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that isn't working it's much more
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effective to make adjustments as your
01:47
situation changes following the values
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isn't always easy but when you build
01:52
them into your team's processes
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customers notice hey
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is huge which of the agile values do you
02:00
think is the most important
Ok, did you get that?
- Ask for feedback early and frequently
- Adjust course along the way
- Know when something is good enough
- Launch the real work product, get feedback again, iterate and update. It’s a never-ending story.
Meet Todd Scanlan
Todd Scanlan, the Digital Academy’s Agile Coach, explains in more detail and tells us why the agile approach is relevant for all of us.
Canadians are expecting products and services to be intuitive, easy to use and at pace with their ever-changing needs. We too, as public servants, have to change the way we work to become more adaptable and focused on clients and customers, no matter the field we’re working in.
To do this we need our leaders and management to be less “command and control” or micro-managers. They need to see themselves as enablers who create the conditions for individuals and teams to learn and improve.
They do this by:
- creating an environment of psychological safety, trust, candour and openness
- embracing uncertainty through experimentation
- setting priorities and high standards for “what work will be done”
- being open to working-level decisions on “how to collaborate”
Can we ask you some questions Todd?
Q1: How can we use agile approaches individually and as a team?
Individually, you can start by creating a personal “kanban” to help you manage your work. “Kanban” is a Japanese term that means “visual signal.”
A kanban is designed to help an individual or a team prioritize work, create efficiencies and remove constraints so that work gets completed faster and with higher quality.
Watch the following video on how to use it (a 1 minute video that could change your life).
Transcript
00:05
hi this is Dave fryer with another p.m.
00:08
problem solver I've been in 90 seconds
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to help you get better at getting your
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work done if you're a pn you probably
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spend so much time focused on other
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people's work it doesn't leave a lot of
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room for you to be efficient with your
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own so I have four tips from personal
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combat that will help you become better
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at managing your own work first
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visualizing your work is a big part of
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understanding it set up a task board for
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yourself with three columns ready doing
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and done create a post it for each item
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of work you have and prioritize them in
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the ready column second start using that
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board each time you start a task put it
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into doing and when you're finished move
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it over to done it sounds like a simple
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thing but physically moving those cards
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is a big motivator third stop starting
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and start finishing limit your work in
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process to two to three items in the
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doing column at a time and don't let
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yourself bring anything else into doing
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until you first move something over into
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done and forth take time each day to
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reflect on how you're maintaining your
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priorities and your work in process
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limits if you're sticking with them
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great if you're not you just have to
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figure out why so you can figure out how
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to become more efficient in your work
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the next day if you'd like to learn more
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about personal combine or thousands of
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other ways you can improve your project
01:11
management practice check out the
01:13
webinars of project management com by
01:15
following the URL below thank you
01:25
Use the kanban as a team by putting all of the team’s various projects and tasks on the wall to better understand what everyone is working on and “unhide” work. Doing this will help you discover time thieves in your processes:
- too much work in progress
- unplanned work
- conflicting priorities
- unknown dependencies and bottlenecks
You can then start injecting more feedback loops where possible. Most projects include a lessons learned report, which is typically written at the end of the project. To be more “agile,” you could reflect on the project while it is in progress to examine how things are going and come up with ways to improve the team and how you are working together.
Q2: I can see how the agile approach works for big software development projects, but is this really a viable approach for everyone?
Yes, all areas can benefit from getting feedback early on in the process. That way, you know you are on the right track. Our colleagues from the Canadian Digital Service are paving the way, as you will hear in this 3-minute bilingual video:
Transcript
00:00
What is effective design to me? So,
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collaboration, first and foremost, trust,
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is another and openness, would be the third.
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Design is the conception of everything,
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of all the services we offer to Canadians
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The whole UX aspect is super important.
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So, going to see the customers,
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testing our products,
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then making changes and then
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retesting before releasing the products online
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or any kind of product, really.
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So, in our context at the Canadian Digital Service,
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our users extend everything from the back end staff who
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manage the services to the frontline
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staff who are working in local offices,
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are working in call centres, and get to
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experience firsthand some of the pain
00:51
points and challenges that users actually bring to them
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And then users as in the Canadian public.
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If you design something, the user must be able to use it.
01:00
If they can't use it, there's no point in designing it.
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How? Because
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They're the ones who usually approach us
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because they have a problem and they want to resolve it.
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When you work with users,
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it's not just about asking them what they want.
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User testing, user research, is really about
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sitting down, noticing what they do,
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how they interact with the service,
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they interact with something. And
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that's really about taking the full account
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of how they use something.
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So, digging deep down and asking them
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questions and keep digging,
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“why, why are you doing this?”
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really allows us then to understand
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what their needs are.
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And so there's, you know, the adage of like,
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you may want something but that's not
01:40
exactly what you need and that's what we're about:
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we're about designing what users need.
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So, of course, they have to be consulted
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and once our products are made,
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we have to go back and ask them
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what they think about them and then do better.
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They have to be to their liking so they can learn better
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And from there when we start
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building, when we start creating services,
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we want to use research to compare
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what we've built to what people need
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and see how it measures up.
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We do that over and over and over again
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so research is not just happening
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at the beginning of a product
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but at every phase of a product's development.
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So really, when we talk about how design
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and research are infused,
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it's not just starting with research at the beginning,
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it's not just doing some at the end,
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to see how you've done,
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it's doing it at every stage of the process.
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You also have to be thoughtful
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about the people that you're approaching
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and how they sort of all work together to create
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a system that works well
02:32 and that the way that you're engaging them 02:35 is voluntary and not coercive to them. 02:37 So we think about privacy. 02:38 We also think about how the data 02:41 that we're collecting about those people 02:43 gets stored and is used over time 02:45 and being thoughtful about that. 02:46 So there's a variety of ethical considerations 02:48 that go into any good research 02:50 but at the end of the day, 02:51 we think research is also part of building 02:52 an ethical system in general.
Q3: How do we create a non-tech walking skeleton?
The goal is to create a perfect “slice” or “chunk” of work that can evolve over time through continual feedback. In software, this is called a “walking skeleton.”
You need to focus on your first iteration and its potential for learning and discovery. For example, if you were writing a 100-page document, to make sure you are on the right track you would write your document incrementally and in a way that’s fast and adaptable (lightweight and disposable). You would follow steps like these:
- The first iteration could be an outline of the titles of all the chapters in the document
- A second iteration could be all the chapters plus all the headings and subheadings, and so on.
These steps help ensure that the document is exactly what the end user wants in a way that doesn’t require a lot of upfront effort. You save a lot of time in the process.
Q4: What should we absolutely avoid or change in our traditional way of working?
We need to stop rewarding outcomes because outcomes are largely outside the control of the working level. We need to start rewarding behaviors such as learning, experimenting, collaborating, being a great team member, building on other people’s ideas—instead of putting them down (“yes and” vs “yes, but”). Having great behaviors will create high-performing teams.
The good news is that some teams in the Government of Canada are getting there. Here are two examples:
Employment and Social Development Canada
We, the Youth Pod at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), are transforming the way we deliver services to young people in Canada. Our team provides resources young Canadians need to develop successful and satisfying careers. We're working to create a new youth-focused side of government services by recreating the Youth.gc.ca web page while being Agile and user-centric. We have a cross-functional team following a Scrum Agile process. We use a human-centred design framework with a design thinking approach, and we work across the entire spectrum of design: from service design to interaction design, to experience design, to interface design. We're also able to work incrementally toward our big vision and deliver small pieces as they're ready. And we've been able to deliver an incredible amount of value to young Canadians in a short time. Come visit our in-progress web page: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/youth.html.
Transport Canada
This year, Transport Canada launched its Digital Roadmap – a plan to “go digital” by providing TC staff with the right tools, knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly-changing transport industry. Each month, we showcase a different aspect of digital government, and in April, we are focusing on Agile. While some teams within TC already use Agile in their day-to-day work, it’s a new concept to many. Through activities, events and learning opportunities, we are showing TC staff how an Agile approach can have an impact across government, including procurement, HR, legislation, and policy development.
Q5: What tools would help us to collaborate better?
The best tools are those that rely on and replicate face-to-face conversation and visualization. All you need are sticky notes, painter’s tape and Sharpies.
Keep it simple and bring everything to a human level. If your team works remotely, use technology:
- video conference, Skype for Business, Webex, Zoom
- online chat (Slack, GCmessage)
- virtual kanban boards (JIRA, Trello, VersionOne, TFS, Wrike) or have a webcam pointed at the team kanban 24/7
Finally, you don’t become agile, you become more agile!
Learn more about the agile approach
- Agile: How We're Working Differently
- Being agile in the Ontario Public Service
- Agile in a Nutshell poster
- A Simple Introduction to Lean UX
- Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Design
- Make Your UX Design Process Agile Using Google’s Methodology
- TC's Digital Roadmap - April 2019/AGILE Approach (Internal to GC)
- TC Transformation (Internal to GC)
- TC Digital (Internal to GC)
