Methodology Matters:

A Story of Business Transformation

Workforce Optimization

Monday

August 31, 2015

Utah’s Implementation of Agile

Kevin Burt Utah Department of Workforce Services

Evan McCall Utah Department of Technology Services

Historical Climate

• Legislative discussion of privatization

• Recession leading to increased demand for services (50% increase in households served)

• Demand to do more with less (29% reduction in staffing levels)

• Significant operational changes and expanded use of IT

• Once privatization talk subsided, Department goal of continuous improvement

AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

10 Key Principals of

What is Agile Software Development?

• An alternate way of

managing software

development

• Different values and

principals to traditional

development

• Incremental, iterative

and collaborative, rather

than distinct stages

Agile Development Values

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software

over lengthy documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

“While there is value in items on the right, agile teams value items on the left more.”

- Agile Manifesto

Principal No. 1 — Active user

involvement is imperative

[to give and receive continuous feedback]

Principal No. 2 — Agile teams must be

empowered

[to give their full commitment and make timely

decisions]

Principal No. 3 — Time waits for no man

[requirements emerge, timescales are fixed]

Principal No. 4 — Agile requirements are

barely sufficient

[high level, visual and piecemeal, just in time as

each feature is developed]

Principal No. 5 — How do you eat an

elephant?

[one bite at a time — small incremental pieces]

Principal No. 6 — Fast but not so furious

[focus on frequent delivery of products, and regular

iterations]

Principal No. 7 — Done means DONE!

[features completed within an iteration should be

100% done (i.e., shippable)]

Principal No. 8 — Enough’s enough

[apply the 80/20 rule — less is the new more]

Principal No. 9 — Agile testing is not for

dummies

[testing is a continuous, integrated part of

development]

Principal No. 10 — No place for snipers

[close cooperation and collaboration between all

team members and stakeholders]

Incremental, Iterative and Collaborative

Approach

Benefits of an Agile Approach

• Revenue

• Speed to market

• Quality

• Flexibility / agility

• Right product

• Visibility

• Cost control

• Customer satisfaction

• Less risk

• More motivating!

AGILE AND UTAH

Case Example

Agile and Utah

• Utah has not decided on the Optional Expansion

• Utah submitted first APD in February 2013

– Including A87 exception; business rules engine

(mandatory MAGI compliance while remaining

integrated with SNAP, TANF, Child Care) and IVR

• MAGI rules available for open enrollment

starting October 1, 2013

Agile and Utah

• The Business Rules Engine was built in-house

• Used the Agile methodology

• Rewrote all program rules in Drools (previously

Curam)

• Not a screen re-write / rules re-write

Keys to Success

Decision makers assigned full-time to project

Teams empowered and did not need to go outside

of the team for answers

Constant and organized communication

Keys to Success

No. 1 — Decision Makers Assigned Full-Time to

the Project

• Executive level for each impacted department, housed in

the same building for the length of the project

– DWS — SNAP, TANF, Child Care Policy and Operations (Policy

and Business Owner)

– DOH — Medicaid Single State Agency (Policy Owner)

– DTS — IT Department (Project Manager)

Keys to Success

No. 1 — Decision Makers Assigned Full-Time to

the Project

• Key Points

– Not a token decision maker, agile not waterfall, immediate and

final decisions

– Watch out for snipers

– Late start helped minimize snipers and expedite process

Keys to Success

No. 2 — Teams empowered and did not need to

go outside of the team for answers

• Organizational Structure

– Scrum Master (Contractor) and Product Owner (DWS)

– Developers (DTS / Contractor)

– Business Analyst (DWS / DTS)

– Tester (Component Testing) (DWS / DTS)

– Policy (DOH) / Program Specialist (DWS)

– Trainer (DWS)

Keys to Success

No. 2 — Teams empowered and did not need to

go outside of the team for answers

• Key Points

– Daily stand up to define tasks for current stories and epic

– Not just IT; policy, training, notices, and testing completed prior

to moving to next epic

Keys to Success

No. 3 — Constant and Organized Communication

• Daily stand-up with Business Owner, Policy Owner,

Project Manager, and Scrum Masters

– What completed yesterday, what working on today

– No batching of decisions

• Weekly conference call with executive leadership

– Status, risks and concerns, decisions made

• Bi-monthly all hands

– Discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly –

key messages

Keys to Success

No. 3 — Constant and Organized Communication

• Key Points

– Communication was in-person and constant, less formal write-

ups which was difficult for many

– Importance of key decision makers involved full-time

Lessons Learned

• IT does not resolve flawed procedures or

operational designs (challenge process)

• IT can be built to account for silo produced

policy; however it is error prone, expensive, and

confusing to the customer (challenge policy)

• IT should not drive process, often IT will push

for the easy way rather than the right way

(challenge IT)

Lessons Learned

• Dedication of important resources is a must, well

worth the investment for large projects

• Short deadlines can help, as decisions

expedited and less interference

• Parallel IT design, policy/procedure writing, and

training development was very effective

QUESTIONS?

Thank You

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