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What agencies have to say about working in the open
on May 24, 2018
18F has long espoused the benefits of using open source technologies and more broadly, the value of working in the open. We wanted to hear from other agencies about how open source has worked for them and what the future looks like for them. So, we asked a few of our partner agencies to talk about their experience.
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So, you’re a Product Owner...
on April 17, 2018
At 18F, a primary goal we have when working with agency partners to build or buy great digital products is to make sure the agency partner has full ownership over the product and its outcomes by the time we leave the project. One of the ways we build this sense of ownership is by identifying a Product Owner early on.
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Getting partners on board with research findings
on February 6, 2018
As a consultant who does user research, I’ve found that the way consultants present “findings and recommendations” to clients isn’t always effective: findings immediately followed by recommendations, all at once in a single presentation. A better approach in sharing user research findings with a partner is “findings, consensus, and recommendations.”
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Getting DevOps buy-in to facilitate agile
on January 25, 2018
Agile without DevOps is a bundle of potential energy with no outlet. We’ve found that it’s easier to get agency buy-in for DevOps if automated security audits are part of that work.
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Getting stakeholder buy in for agile development
on December 14, 2017
Transitioning to agile development doesn’t need to be a big, sweeping, organizational change. Here are some tips to make it more approachable and less scary by introducing it in small chunks.
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4 lessons from building our own recruiting tool
on November 8, 2017
As of September, GSA is running its own recruiting tool for moderated design research. In this post, we would like to share four key lessons we learned while building this tool, including the ways in which software development can serve as a starting point for broader conversations about information practice, privacy, and security.
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From launch to landing: How NASA took control of its HTTPS mission
on May 25, 2017
In 2015, the White House Office of Management and Budget released M-15-13, a "Policy to Require Secure Connections across Federal Websites and Web Services" the memo emphasizes the importance of protecting the privacy and security of the public's browsing activities on teh web. This is a guest post by Karim Said of NASA who was instrumental in NASA's successful HTTPS and HSTS migration.
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The life-changing magic of writing release notes
on January 17, 2017
A key part of agile development is constantly shipping new features. With so many changes happening to the product, it can be hard to keep track of how the product is growing and improving. Release notes help keep everyone on the team in the know about what’s shipping, give a clear list of features to check, and help always frame our work in terms of the value it delivers to users.
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Build empathy with stakeholder interviews, part 2: Conversation
on July 22, 2016
In the first post of this series, I covered what stakeholder interviews are, why they’re valuable, and how to prepare for them. In this second post, I’ll cover how to actually run the interviews as well as some tips for synthesizing and socializing what you learn.
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Build empathy with stakeholder interviews, part 1: Preparation
on June 20, 2016
In this post, I'll cover what stakeholder interviews are, why they’re valuable, and how to prepare for them. In the second post, I’ll cover how to actually run the interviews as well as some tips for synthesizing and integrating the results into the team’s shared understanding.
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What exactly do we even do all day?
on December 7, 2015
We've always been open about our code, but we decided to experiment with being open with our project management as well. We've opened up the Trello board for a project we're working on with the Environmental Protection Agency to the public, and the results have been fantastic.
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