Agile Framework

The FAS Agile Framework provides a framework for rapid, manageable, iterative, and incremental development and delivery of modernized solutions at GSA. The Framework combines principles of project and product management to promote transparency and best practices in project execution, architecture, design, development, and operations of new solutions. Characteristics of the Framework include close collaboration between project teams and customers allowing for immediate feedback, and ultimately more satisfied customers.

Agile Topics & Concepts

Overview

The FAS Agile Framework incorporates different types of planning that facilitate more consistent and outcome-focused project execution and delivery. These levels of planning include the Strategic Roadmap, PI Planning, Sprint Plan, and Daily Plan, which are all shown below. At the Strategic Roadmap level, the product owner develops a vision for the product's future and aligns features and releases with that vision. At the PI Planning level, the product manager leads out in deciding what features or enhancements will be developed in the ensuing 1-3 months. The Sprint Plan addresses the organization of what will be worked on in the short term as part of the PI Plan and the overall roadmap, and the Daily Plan sets the priorities for each day of the sprint and allows the team to adapt to short-term needs and constraints.

Scrum Framework Scaling Scrum Program Increments in Action Planning Horizons

Product Strategy Planning, Execution, and Maintenance Feedback

Jira also has many useful tools for supporting Agile ceremonies including standups, sprint planning, PI planning, retrospectives, and so forth. For additional information on implementing Jira for these use cases, visit the resources below from the FAS Agile in Action sessions.

Scrum Framework

Scrum Framework Using Scrum within Agile enables development teams to constantly re-evaluate development progress, adapt to evolving needs, and contribute to an overarching vision that comes about from the product owner. This vision informs what is included into the product backlog, which is then in turn pulled into a sprint, and planned, implemented, and reviewed over the course of the sprint. The scrum master and scrum team take a hands-on role in producing product increments that help to gradually realize the product vision. Check out the graphic below to learn about the three components of the Scrum Framework and how they work together to ensure the best possible product delivery. Looking for templates to jump start your project documentation throughout the agile framework? Visit the Agile Product Templates.

Scrum Applied with Iterative Development

The iterative nature of scrum enables product development to happen gradually instead of development occurring all in one phase and the release occurring all at once. This gradual, iterative process allows for more robust development that is less susceptible to bugs and defects. It also allows the product to be more tailored to what the product owner and business users want and encourages product increments to be flexible and easy to be incorporated into the existing product.

SAFe Applied with Continuous Planning, Development, Integration, & Deployment

Sprints are the most short-term level of planning within the FAS Agile Framework. While each sprint represents new work, a sprint is an iterative process where needs and alignment with the roadmap are constantly evaluated. This iteration ensures that product development stays focused on the business use case and the outcomes that stakeholders are most interested in. In each iteration, new functionality is planned, built, tested, demoed, and deployed. The sprint is a more granular and applicable way to break down the work that is required for a given project increment, and the daily standups within the sprint help monitor progress of the work through stories and epics that easily communicate what needs to be done and why it needs to be done. Daily standups are usually less formal and allow for a significant amount of flexibility.

PI in Action

Each strategic roadmap includes multiple releases that are targeted and implemented through multiple project increments (PIs). Releases are broken up to group features that will be rolled out together. A release could represent a product's initial development or new functionality that is added on after initial development. The PIs are planned collaboratively in a way that organizes the scope and focus of the product development based on an established cadence. With each new PI, objectives can be revisited and realigned, with some objectives building off of work from a previous PI. Keeping different levels of planning for short-term and long-term objectives aligned allows the short-term workload to contribute effectively to the long-term vision for the product.

Planning Horizons

At the Strategic Roadmap level, the product manager develops a vision for the product's future and aligns features and releases with that vision. At the team level, the product owner oversees the execution of the product manager's strategic vision over time.
At the PI Planning level, the product manager leads out in deciding what features or enhancements will be developed in the ensuing 1-3 months.
The Sprint Plan addresses the organization of what will be worked on in the short term as part of the PI Plan and the overall roadmap, and the Daily Plan sets the priorities for each day of the sprint and allows the team to adapt to short-term needs and constraints.

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