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An Insider’s View Of Agile

In The Public Sector

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x 1.3 Million

Photo credit: Ralphy Daly, https://www.flickr.com/photos/92269745@N00/4612732045

(annual tuition fees)

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x 50 000

Photo credit: By Graham Richardson from Plymouth, England - South Western Ambulance VX09FYP, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13250417

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x 250 000

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/16762770039

(annual salaries)

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x 250

© Copyright R Greenhalgh and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence 2.0

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x 200 000

Photo credit: peter russell [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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x 650

Photo credit: Martin J Galloway, CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)] via Wikipedia

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“I'm so glad we extended the sprints to 3 weeks long. We get 1 week of solid development work now”

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“Programmers are a liability. The industry is moving towards generic rules engines & BPM tools [so we don’t need programmers]”

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“The Oracle web server we will use for this project is probably older than you”

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“Stand up is at 11[am]. And actually we sit down. It only lasts for about an hour, though.”

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“As a Message Bus�I want an API that I can call�So that…..”

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We

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​

​

Users

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https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/phases

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Digital Service Standard - User Needs

  1. Understand user needs
  2. Do ongoing user research
  3. Make sure users succeed first time
  4. Make the experience consistent with GOV.UK
  5. Encourage everyone to use the digital service

https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/digital-by-default

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Digital Service Standard - Agile

  • Have a multidisciplinary team
  • Use agile methods
  • Iterate and improve frequently

https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/digital-by-default

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Digital Service Standard - Tech

  • Evaluate tools and systems
  • Test the end-to-end service

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https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/digital-by-default

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Digital Service Standard - Open

  • Make all new source code open
  • Use open standards and common platforms

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https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/digital-by-default

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https://www.github.com/hmrc

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Pass alpha assessment

You can spend money on a beta

Pass beta assessment

Live on gov.uk (with beta banner)

Pass live assessment

Live on gov.uk (no beta banner)

https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-assessments/how-service-assessments-work

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“You can’t be half agile”

- Mike Bracken, Ex Head of GDS

https://gds.blog.gov.uk/author/mike-bracken/

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Digital

IT

Agile

Citizens

Not Agile

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“You can’t be half agile”

- Mike Bracken, Ex Head of GDS

https://gds.blog.gov.uk/author/mike-bracken/

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Agile

Citizens

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Problems I’ve Seen in Gov IT

  • Separate digital and IT silos
  • GDS not assessing full system
  • Lack of long-term culture building
  • Not embracing assessments

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Fixing the Problems

  • All agencies must be more open
  • Agile leaders in gov agencies
  • Assess end-to-end system
  • GDS should be embedded

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“HMRC Digital deploys to production multiple times per day, and has a platform running over 300 microservices.”

https://www.infoq.com/news/2016/08/devops-gov-hmrc

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Government IT Needs More People Like You

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So, have GDS made any difference?

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Let’s keep in touch

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blog.ntcoding.com

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