The Application Development Team
The Application Development Team is comprised of Developers who support the team’s vision. Our vision is to develop digital HR products that provide information, resources and tools anytime anywhere to the Defence Team members who need access to HR.
Product Development
The team’s current focus is on efforts in the HR-GO-RH Application and the DNDCareers Recruitment Platform. These products are supported through the following lifecycle, a form of Agile methodology.
Product Vision
Prior to any work, the team needs to understand why the product is being created. This will help them ensure they are building something of value. The team focuses on products that are effecient, and reduce manual or repetitive workloads, and that they aren’t just taking a process and making it electronic.
The Teams Agile Methodology
The Agile method of work the team uses is an iterative development methodology that values human communication and feedback, adapting to change, and producing work results. The team follows four guiding values:
- Individuals and Interactions over process and tools;
- Working products over comprehensive documentation;
- Client collaboration over contract negotiation;
- Responding to change over following a plan;
The team has six milestones as well:
Product Backlog
The Product Backlog is a list of requirements, or tasks to complete in order to develop a product that meets the clients needs. It is also used as the team’s way to track the work they’ve completed, and the priority of each request. Each task is assigned a type based on the task to be completed :
- Bugs: Something that isn’t working as intended.
- Enhancements: Updates in functionality or new features.
- CI/CD & Process: Changes related to continuous integration, continuous deployment, or processes.
- Discussion: A prompt to talk, and make decisions and other items for the Backlog.
- Documentation: Updates or changes to the team’s documentation.
- Refactor: Addressing Technical Debt.
- Test: Adding, changing, improving, or moving automated tests.
Sprint Planning
Prior to any work, the team meets to plan the work going into the Sprint. After items are selected, the team uses an activity called “Planning Poker” to make estimations around the workload of tasks.
Sprint Backlog
The Sprint Backlog is the team’s workload over a 3-week window. The team has committed to deliver the items selected in the backlog based on the priority of each task in the Product Backlog.
Sprint Review
The Sprint Review is an opportunity for the team to share the progress of the Sprint in an open meeting. Developers walk through the task they’ve completed with stakeholders.
Testing & Release!
At the end of the three-week window, the team demonstrate to the client the progress completed within the sprint. We complete further tests, and then releases the completed tasks. Lessons learned are captured and documented to ensure these efforts are not wasted and can help improve team efficiency (velocity) for future sprints.
Sprint Retrospective
The team meets internally to discuss how they can further improve. The purpose of the discussion is to be a safe space for the team to share honest feedback so we can improve our method of work. This guarantees that our process is always evolving and focused on people first.
Daily Standups
Every morning the team meets to discuss the current progress of the sprint, and give a chance to address any challenges that might occur. We avoid rote status updates, and instead focus on how we can continue to help each other and share information.