Barcelona City Council Agile Policy

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION - Multidisciplinary teams are created with people from various fields or working environments in which every member is fully involved and which include the roles and specialities needed to develop applications, services and processes. Only one or two people are directly responsible, but team success is the equal responsibility of each team member.

SELF-ORGANISED TEAMS - Teams that organise themselves autonomously and flexibly can create new approaches and independently adapt to new challenges in their environment. As a result, the roles and responsibilities within these teams will have a certain level of flexibility and fluidity based on the experience, skills and knowledge of the people making up the team in question, as well as on the needs of the specific project.

COMMUNICATION - It is necessary to put in place a communication plan that takes into account the need for transparency and responsibilities of the agents involved. The key service users and municipal processes must be identified, as well as the players involved in the technical issues. All these will be the recipients of the communication actions that must be undertaken as frequently as necessary based on the targets and needs of each project. Face-to-face conversations will take priority over other channels of communication.

TRANSPARENCY - The project status, priorities, risks, problems and potential “impediments” should be openly and transparently shared with the key players in order to tackle the challenges swiftly. This can be done via direct communication but also by using tools adapted to the agile methodology, such as Kanban boards.

ONGOING IMPROVEMENT - Collaborative working practices will be established in order to foster a culture of learning and continuous improvement, both in the service provided and in the team members.

RAPID FEEDBACK - The team will endeavour to build the shortest possible iterations. Team efforts will be undertaken in such a way as to facilitate rapid feedback and incorporate that feedback into the project backlog.

ACCEPTANCE OF CHANGE - It is understood that plans and projects will evolve and change during the time a service is provided. Analysis and planning practices will be established to reflect that fact.

ITERATIVE THINKING - The activities of analysis, design, planning and development will adopt an iterative approach in short cycles so as to enable feedback and priorities to be changed according to needs.

RAPID DEPLOYMENT, FREQUENT DEPLOYMENT - Emphasis should be placed on providing value to the end users as quickly as possible, reducing the time needed to produce applications and receiving feedback from users as quickly as possible. Priority will be placed on the identified minimum viable product capable of meeting the priority needs of the users, and subsequent deliveries will be undertaken according to that approach.

INTEREST IN PROVIDING VALUE TO USERS - Priority must be given to the needs of users. User needs stand above any other need, including those of the key players. Whenever a conflict of needs arises between groups, the existence of clear priorities must be guaranteed. Diversity within teams will be encouraged in order to foster inclusive designs.

QUALITY - Quality not only refers to technical quality but also to quality of service. Quality is present in each step of the process, and every member of the team has a responsibility to ensure that the service is of the highest quality.

TRACKING PROGRESS - Delivery of executable software is the main measurement of progress. Other measurements should also be applied that reflect the value provided to users and the business in order to ensure that real needs are met and real value is provided.