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<\/a><\/p>\nCynthia Schwarz, with Dave Lacy and all the staff in LTS\/LTD have put into operation a robust set of tools for communicating, documenting, and tracking workflows for all the complex work going on at the Libraries – technology-based and beyond. I think there is a relationship between these tools and principles associated with assessment and organizational development: <\/span><\/p>\n So last week I sat down with Cynthia to talk more about how Agile and assessment are connected. <\/span><\/p>\n NBT: You’ve really mastered the principles of Agile for project management in the last couple years. I know that the whole Library Technology\/Knowledge Management area is proficient in using Agile tools – and we are all learning more about how best to use those to communicate and share information. But there are additional aspects to Agile principles that relate to organizational values and assessment – and I\u2019d like to ask you about those as well. <\/span><\/p>\n NBT: In a nutshell, can you tell me what Agile means, and why it’s been adopted for managing technology projects here at the Libraries\/Press?<\/span><\/p>\n CS: Continuous improvement is one term; also flexibility is another term that I\u2019d use to describe Agile. Here is an analogy that helps to explain how Agile works. <\/span><\/p>\n Imagine that you are taking a trip at night. You set your destination on your car\u2019s GPS. That provides you with the estimated time of arrival, and the route you will take. But it\u2019s dark and there is only just so much you can see in front of you. And you have to be prepared for unforeseen challenges. In Agile, we know what our outcome needs to be, and we know how much time we have to get there. But we need to stay adaptable and flexible, because there may be unexpected barriers on our path. <\/span><\/p>\n Compared to the website development project, Alma was very straightforward. \u00a0Ex Libris provided a clear, defined script for the implementation. With the website, <\/span>we need to stay much more flexible and in some cases, create our own path forward. <\/span>Because we aren\u2019t using a traditional CMS. We have identified an end goal – to demonstrate what the Libraries are to the community, but there are a hundred ways of getting there. Changing course is inevitable, so being adaptable as we go is essential to success.<\/span><\/p>\n NBT: There are many areas of Agile that relate to assessment and organizational effectiveness. For instance, transparency and communication. That\u2019s something we\u2019re seeing more of. <\/span><\/p>\n CS:\u00a0<\/span>Transparency and communication are not necessarily part of Agile, but definitely part of the operating principles for LTD\/LTS and part of the JIRA and Confluence tools that support working together in an Agile environment. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We know we need to document. This provides us insight into what we do. It also allows staff from outside the projects to come into our space. They may not know too much about what we do, how we spend our time, but this makes it easy for people to read about it, to learn and provide feedback.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n NBT: Yes, that and Slack really open up new doors for us all. Sometimes when I go to the Developers\u00a0 Slack channel it\u2019s like they’re speaking a foreign language. All those references to Honeybadger!<\/span><\/p>\n CS: Yes, and it is another way that we are continuously improving on our work and connecting with stakeholders.\u00a0 We try to maintain frequent back-and-forth with stakeholders. <\/span><\/p>\n JIRA has been particularly useful for this. Here\u2019s a good example: The website\u2019s Events & Exhibits page. Rachel mocked up the page. Chris Doyle coded it. Throughout the process, Sara Wilson was able to provide input. \u00a0It\u2019s just a matter of \u201ctagging\u201d someone in the comments, and they can provide feedback immediately. <\/span><\/p>\n NBT: What do you like about living in an Agile world? <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s <\/span>exciting to actually do Agile – a lot of organizations claim to do it ; but we are fairly Agile as a development team. \u00a0It gives structure to projects. It requires us to think through the various elements when a project is initiated, so we don\u2019t take on more than we can \u201cchew\u201d – work wise. <\/span><\/p>\n NBT: Yes, and it seems as though with the increased communication and visibility, and the flexibility that the approach allows for, and the inclusion of stakeholders every step of the way – you\u2019ve opened yourself up to continuously reflecting on and improving your processes. If we think of assessment in those terms, you are definitely modeling it. <\/span><\/p>\n Thanks, Cynthia.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cynthia Schwarz, with Dave Lacy and all the staff in LTS\/LTD have put into operation a robust set of tools for communicating, documenting, and tracking workflows for all the complex work going on at the Libraries – technology-based and … Continue reading \n