https://github.com/pglevy/playbook-epics
Boilerplate content for kicking off a project with stories based on the U.S. Digital Services Playbook as epics
https://github.com/pglevy/playbook-epics
Last synced: 5 months ago
JSON representation
Boilerplate content for kicking off a project with stories based on the U.S. Digital Services Playbook as epics
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/pglevy/playbook-epics
- Owner: pglevy
- Created: 2020-03-09T19:47:46.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2020-03-10T01:00:15.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-05-15T13:51:33.471Z (about 1 year ago)
- Size: 17.6 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# About this project
By instituting the trappings of Agile without shifting the mindset of the whole team to embrace the underlying principles of *focusing on customer value* and *delivering a working product iteratively*, government projects will continue to take too long, cost too much, and fail to meet the needs of the people they’re trying help. The [U.S. Digital Services Playbook](https://playbook.cio.gov/) is a collection of principles, prompts, and action items aimed at improving the creation and delivery of government services. This playbook can be used as a framework to organize projects and work in a way that helps instill this mindset of delivering value to customers. By thinking of the [plays as epics](#think-of-the-plays-as-epics) and our [teammates as customers](#think-of-your-team-as-customers-in-the-early-stages) in the early stages of a project, we can begin to [build our shipping muscles](#build-your-shipping-muscles) in a way that increases the performance of the team and the success of the project.
# How to use
Using this content as a starting point, build out epics and stories in Jira by copying and pasting content as needed.
# Epic plays
## [Play 1: Understand what people need](https://playbook.cio.gov/#play1)
Stories:
* [The whole team needs a shared understanding of the project](/play1/shared-understanding-project.md)
* [The whole team needs to set and understand expectations for initial research](/play1/expectations-initial-research.md)
* [The development team needs to understand initial technical requirements and constraints](/play1/initial-technical-requirements.md)
* [The visual design team needs to understand initial branding requirements and constraints](/play1/initial-branding-requirements.md)
* [The whole team needs to understand who we're designing for](/play1/who-designing-for.md)
## [Play 2: Address the whole experience, from start to finish](https://playbook.cio.gov/#play2)
Stories:
* [The team needs to understand the technical security (e.g., ATO) requirements](/play2/technical-security.md)
* [The whole team needs a summary of findings and insights to confidently move forward with design and development](/play2/summary-findings-insights.md)
* [The whole team needs to develop metrics that will measure how well the service is meeting user needs at each step of the service](/play2/develop-success-metrics.md)
## [Play 3: Make it simple and intuitive](https://playbook.cio.gov/#play3)
Stories:
* [The whole team could use some inspiration from how others create a human-centered interactive form experience](/play3/inspiration-from-others.md)
## [Play 4: Build the service using agile and iterative practices](https://playbook.cio.gov/#play4)
Stories:
* [The whole team needs a working agreement](/play4/working-agreement.md)
* [The design team needs to quickly prototype content and interaction flows](/play4/prototype-flows.md)
* [The whole team needs visibility into the development environment](/play4/dev-environment.md)
* [The whole team needs to collaborate on building out the initial backlog](/play4/initial-backlog.md)
* [The whole team needs to have a plan for an MVP release within 3 months](/play4/plan-mvp-release.md)
## [Play 13: Default to open](https://playbook.cio.gov/#play13)
Stories:
* [The whole teams need quick and easy access to project files and resources](/play13/project-files-resources.md)
* [The whole team needs visibility into the research, design, and development process](/play13/process-visibility.md)
# Mindsets
## Think of the plays as epics
When you think about an epic as a segment of work that provides discrete value, the plays themselves are a perfect organizing structure for the early part of a project. For example, the epic Understand What People Need (Play 1 from the Playbook) can include stories relating to writing a research plan, writing a working agreement, compiling technical questions/assumptions, and starting on brand exploration.
## Think of your team as “customers” in the early stages
Everyone agrees in theory that the goal of Agile is to deliver value to the end customer/user. But what I’ve found is the beginning of a project is often a period of ambiguity and increasing anxiety as project managers and developers nervously await wireframes from UX designers. Instead of arbitrarily assigning tasks that will sit on a Jira board for weeks while the design team is “doing discovery,” break down the work the whole team is doing at this time and who it’s for. For example, “The whole team needs to understand expectations for initial research.”
## Build your shipping muscles
When a project begins with the team members focused on the “tasks I need to do” as opposed to thinking about “the team needs this artifact for this purpose,” it’s hard to make the mental shift when product decisions are made and you start building for the external customer. By starting to focus on working together to deliver value for others early — and holding each other accountable for finishing and “shipping” stories on time — this mindset can more easily carry through to actual product development.