Agile Methodology at WDI

Owned by Andrew Padilla
Last updated: Apr 01, 2020
2 min read

WDI has adopted an Agile approach to realizing our Vision and Goals within the technical integration teams participating from the directing agencies. This approach is thought to be well suited for technical teams from different organizations working on unprecedented objectives using and iterative process of discovery, validation, development with regular feedback intervals.

 

Agile Primer

The following subsections give a brief overview of Agile concepts. For more information, please consult Atlassian’s agile pages that begin here.

Overview

  • Agile Methodologies were borne out of a frustration to accommodate changing business requirements so common in software

  • Needed a malleable approach that would respond to these realities

  • General conclusion that Software Engineering does not mirror Physical Engineering (i.e. waterfall) and as such requires it’s own process constructs 

 

Key Concepts & Terminology

  • (User) Story – basic unit of work in Agile. Typically work that can be performed in a 2 week time period

  • Epic – A large chunk of work that is larger than can be fit in a story ( i.e. A user request, features, requirements etc…)

  • Sprint – A single development cycle in Agile composed of a collection of concrete user stories to be completed in that cycle 

  • Scrum – Generally speaking , a framework that helps teams work together.  Commonly used to refer to short, frequent status meetings (i.e. scrum meeting) that focus on blockers to completion in a Sprint (which is also known as a ‘standup’)

  • Backlog - prioritized list of work for the development team that is derived from the product roadmap and its requirements

  • Sprint Planning (i.e. Backlog grooming) – A planning meeting at beginning of sprint to prioritize existing Backlog items

  • Sprint Review – A meeting to showcase the work performed by the (scrum) team during a previous sprint. 

  • Standup – short, frequent meetings (< 10 minutes) that allow each team member to describe…

    • What did I work on yesterday

    • What am I working on today

    • What is blocking my work

Scrum Timeline

The following timeline illustrates the 2 week cadence that is used to deliver incremental but usable pieces of functionality by scrum teams in accordance with overall Vision and Goals (or themes in Agile speak).