New IAM Planning Methodology Scales Agile Principles to a Program-Wide Level

August 25, 2014
New IAM Planning Methodology Scales Agile Principles to a Program-Wide Level

From its inception in 2013, the Identity and Access Management (IAM) program at Harvard University Information Technology has been committed to Agile methodology at the development level, recognizing the benefits of a fast-paced, iterative approach to service and system development in the complex, constantly evolving field of data and user access and security. Now, the IAM team has applied the same key principles – including active user involvement, a focus on frequent product delivery, and working within fixed time scales – to the program’s overall planning structure, reflecting a commitment to the best means of delivering the fruits of their program vision to the entire Harvard Community.

"Release planning at the program level across many Agile teams is crucial to efficient software delivery that aligns with core business objectives," said Erica Bradshaw, director of IAM strategy and planning. "Taking the time to discuss objectives and jointly plan for the delivery of associated feature sets as a team not only sharpens our focus on priorities, but increases our likelihood for success through identifying dependencies and risks very early on in the process."

Team members from across the IAM program met for an offsite workshop Thursday, Aug. 21 to discuss the new methodology and brainstorm key deliverables for the first iteration under this new planning structure.

While standard Agile development practices are based around the core unit of a “sprint” - a short, fixed-duration interval in which specific software deliverables are completed and tested – extending this methodology to IAM’s larger planning structure also overlays a “program increment” of six sprints, providing a larger-scale structure for mapping longer-term goals or more complex project milestones while still enforcing firm time borders for delivery and rollout. The structure also budgets in room at the program increment’s beginning and end – just as with each sprint – for defining objectives, summarizing progress, and forming best practices for future activities. As a result, larger-scale projects are more efficiently tracked by intermediate milestones that also serve to demonstrate progress to IAM end users; additionally, through delivery of these intermediate milestones, end users are more fully integrated into overall project development, leading to boosted project relevance and higher overall satisfaction.

For more information about the IAM program, including the full three-year program plan and updates on project and overall progress, please visit the IAM website at iam.harvard.edu or contact iam@harvard.edu.

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