The plan nobody wanted
A college asks its IT team for a new ticket system. The team writes a 200 page plan first. It takes four months.
The system arrives. Staff try it and say, "This is not what we asked for." Nobody saw it until it was finished.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Agile | a way of working in small steps, with feedback after each step |
| Value | something a team believes is more important |
| Customer | the person or group who uses what you make |
| Documentation | written guides and plans about a system |
| Contract | a signed agreement that lists what will be delivered |
| Collaboration | working together as a team |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can state the four agile values and say what each one means for a support team.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
What agile means
In 2001 a group of software people wrote down four values. They called the whole idea agile.
Each value has two sides. The values say we like the left side more. They do not say the right side is bad.
Support teams use these values too. A help desk changes every day, so it needs to change fast.
The four values in a help desk
| We value more | Than | In a help desk |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals and interactions | Processes and tools | Walk over and talk to the user, not only send a form |
| Working software | Comprehensive documentation | A tested fix that works, not a long report about it |
| Customer collaboration | Contract negotiation | Ask the customer what they need as work goes on |
| Responding to change | Following a plan | Change the plan when a new problem is more urgent |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check: the values
Have a go
Check: the values
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.