Applying Agile Practices to Maximize the Benefits of Remote Teams for the Air Force
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The Challenge:
The U.S. Air Force needed critical software to be quickly and reliably developed and deployed by dispersed teams for use by the warfighter. This lead to challenges, such as:
- As Defense needs adapt, software development teams must keep up with increased demand and aggressive release schedules.
- Reduced productivity, schedule slippage, changing requirements, team turnover, and ramp-up times often delay software delivery.
- Remote and/or geographically dispersed teams can be difficult to keep on track and maintain productivity.
The Solution:
LCE provided the U.S. Air Force with Agile-based solutions to bridge the gap between grand design government processes and incremental development across multiple teams. We ran run several Agile Software Development teams concurrently, using the Scrum framework and with the added twist of doing it all virtually from Charleston, SC. The team itself was spread across the eastern and central United States including a core group located with the client in Alabama. Scrum provides a perfect vehicle for remote environments by providing daily, formal “touch points” with the team and client. This level of transparency helps build trust with the client and allows the team to adapt quickly to shifting requirements. There are several key components to running a successful team virtually, and that Scrum inherently encompasses.
Clear communication – Strong phone and email skills are critical. The client and team members must always be on the same page and up-to-date on progress.
Effective meetings – There is a balancing act to conducting needed meetings to keep everyone aligned without sacrificing development time. Scrum provides an effective cadence for meetings and uses time-boxes to control time spent away from the work itself.
Good tools – Effective work management tools allow all the stakeholders to manage work items visually including what the work is, who’s doing it, and what it means to be done. Good conferencing tools allow for real-time communication, screen sharing, and recording when appropriate.
Reinforced goals – The best way to keep team members from feeling isolated is to make sure they have a shared understanding of Team, or Project-Level goals. The regular touch points provided in Scrum help keep everything in more meaningful context.
Strong hires – Disruptive personalities can greatly diminish the success of a virtual team. Encouraging collaboration and properly leveraging team members according to their individual and collective strengths helps the team avoid issues.
Metrics – Scrum with Agile allows the team to define predictive results in a continually changing environment. The metrics tracked via Scrum establish repeatable capacity focused on HOW MUCH can be done instead of WHAT is left to be done.
LCE is proud to be a member of this diverse virtual team as we help deliver software that will enable the Air Force to more readily plan and execute contingency operations
LCE’s successful utilization of Scrum and online communications tools:
- Ensures shorter development and release times for critical U.S. Air Force software applications.
- Enables the use of dispersed teams, allowing the customer to access a larger talent pool and extending the work day across time zones to better support U.S. Air Force stakeholders.
- Agile coaching and the use of task boards and project management software further allows for up-to-the-minute progress updates, thus reducing the frequency and duration of virtual meetings.
- With dispersed teams, communication is critical. In addition to normal Scrum ceremonies, LCE uses industry-standard virtual applications (e.g., video conferencing, group chat, online task boards) to build rapport and communication across all stakeholders.
- Structured guidelines and rules of engagement ensure meetings remain productive, allowing ample time for project development and delivery.
