Agile-focused delivery
Digital development is complex, priorities change and requirements evolve – so you need a process that caters for this and puts you in the driver’s seat.
At Luminary, we believe delivery works best when we have a true partnership with our clients.
We do this by requesting that a client representative (Product Owner) is nominated to join the delivery team and work in tandem with us on a day-to-day basis. This allows you, as the client, to experience the delivery process first hand, and presents a level of comfort that we’re focusing on the right things. It also facilitates quick turnaround times for decision making - effectively putting you in control at the level of detail you’re comfortable with.
The process we follow is optimised to deliver the most important features, set by the Product Owner (ideally based on your customer needs) as quickly as possible, and then iterate. The process includes feedback mechanisms to continually optimise the way we work as a team and ensure we are being as efficient as possible.
How we do it
The following is a broad outline of some of the terms you’ll hear associated with Scrum, one of the most common implementations of Agile development. Scrum is just one implementation of the Agile philosophy and is our preferred process for large projects and projects where we are delivering continual improvements to the customer.
User stories
Description of a task or feature which is focused on the end-user (customer, member, donor). For example, “As a customer, I need to register for an account, so I can get access to restricted content”. User stories should be written in such a way as to be easily understandable by anybody with knowledge of the product.
Acceptance criteria
A set of tests that need to be true for a user story to be complete. These focus the team on a shared understanding of the work at hand. For example, “Given I am a customer registering an account, when I enter my email address it will need to pass a ‘valid password’ check.”
Product backlog
User stories are placed into a Product backlog, which is essentially an evolving to-do list for the project. One of the benefits of the backlog is that as new requirements arise, they can be slotted into the backlog for future consideration, allowing the team to retain focus on the highest priorities.
Sprint backlog
A sprint is a focused effort of work toward an agreed and shared set of goals. The timeframe is usually between two and four weeks. As with the Product backlog, the Sprint backlog represents a set of user stories the team has selected to be executed in a sprint.
Scrum meeting
One of the keys to the success of this delivery model is a daily meeting, including the Product Owner. This should be less than fifteen minutes at the same time every day and helps align the team and present an opportunity to remove blockers.
Planning
This is specifically included as there is planning in Scrum. Another key to success for this process is making sure enough planning is done during a sprint to be adequately set up for the next sprint.
Definition of done
Depending on the situation, the ‘definition of done’ can vary. Ideally this would be something like ‘User story delivered to production’, however this may not always be possible for large rebuilds.
Retrospective
A meeting every fortnight which allows the team to reflect on the process and provide feedback on what’s working well, what isn’t working so well and anything that warrants further investigation.
And the proof?
A snapshot of the clients we've provided Agile delivery for
Our expertise
Key team members and musings from our blog
Jase Watson
Delivery Director
As Delivery Director, Jase is accountable for successful project delivery, with a keen eye on team satisfaction and client delight.
Adam Griffith
Managing Director
Adam is a trusted advisor for our clients, and welcomes new clients to the Luminary community.
Liam Thomas
Engagement Director
With more than 20 years’ experience in technology consulting – including seven at the helm of a prominent digital agency – Liam brings a wealth of knowledge to his role as Engagement Director.
Matthew Stobo
Digital Producer
Matt has worn many hats, from developer to consultant, and is as comfortable in the meeting room as he is behind a code editor.
Sarah Dam
Front End Developer
Sarah is Luminary's longest-serving front end developer.
Agile is not a process
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We often hear terms like 'agile methodology', 'agile process', 'hybrid agile', and – God forbid – 'wagile' or 'agfall'. But I’m here to set the record straight: Agile is not a process; it’s a mindset.
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