Agile ways of working are helping to improve eHealth NSW’s business performance. They are increasingly becoming an important part of how we deliver information communication technologies (ICT) and other projects.
What is agile?
Agile is a methodology for delivering complex projects. It is also a mindset. The agile way of working is guided by a set of values and principles that improve the way we work together as a team, and with stakeholders and customers.
It enables value to be delivered to customers sooner and continuously in smaller, regular increments. Agile favours more efficient processes and cross-functional teams.
Benefits of being agile
eHealth NSW's Technology Services team recently adopted the agile ways of thinking and working.
“A lot of the benefits our team are seeing from using agile practices can be summed up in one word: Clarity. Using sprints, the team has clarity over what we should be working on and when,” eHealth NSW Group Manager of Directory and Collaboration Platforms, Tim Daniels, said.
“By improving how we define and break down our work into what are called user stories, the team has clarity over why we’re doing the work and ultimately what value the work is providing. And most importantly, provides clarity for our customers. We can set realistic expectations and they have clarity on when a particular feature will be implemented.”
Agile coaches and scrum masters work closely with eHealth NSW project teams to help them embed the agile mindset, practices and techniques in their day-to-day work.
eHealth NSW also provides a range of agile learning opportunities through our Digital Academy. The Agile stream is open to all staff regardless of their career background or experience. It offers a range of learning pathways including Agile Fundamentals which enables anyone at eHealth NSW to gain an understanding of agile and why it’s important to us. "As a non-technical person, I really appreciated the clear and interactive workshop format of the Agile Fundamentals session. The Digital Academy provided a safe and comfortable space for the group to learn, making the session so much more effective," eHealth NSW Principal Program Support Officer, Sarah Keep, said.
