Insights

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Agilist

        Filed under: Agile development

a·gi·list /ˈajələst/ noun a·gi·list  Simple Definition of agilist noun a person who supports the agile delivery process and methodology. Full Definition of agilist noun : a person who feels enthusiasm for agile design, agile development, agile delivery, and agile methodology : a person who enjoys getting things done and quickly getting a minimum viable product (MVP) into the hands of … Continued

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agile

Agile Development Contract Holder in Washington DC

        Filed under: Agile development, GSA 18F group

WASHINGTON, DC – Agileana, a lean agile web development shop in the DC metro area, is proud to be one of 17 vendors on the 18F Agile Delivery Services (ADS) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA). Long before we migrated to Washington DC area from California, we were a lean, iterative development shop. As lean startup enthusiasts, … Continued

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18F logo

18F Agile BPA Contract Holder

        Filed under: Agile development

We first started hearing about the 18F Agile Delivery Services (ADS) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) around late 2014.  By January 2015, 18F started to put feelers and request for information (RFI) out on FBopen.  GSA held an industry day about the potential BPA in February, 2015.  Then, they had a pre-solicitation conference in May, 2015. … Continued

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strangler approach vine

CIO Mark Schwartz, DHS, prefers a Strangler Approach

        Filed under: Agile development

Last week at the ATARC Federal DevOps Summit, I took note of DHS CIO Mark Schwartz use of the phrase, “Strangular Approach” to phasing out monolithic legacy systems.  I had to look it up. The Strangular Approach was first coined by Martin Fowler who compared an agile development rewrite of a legacy system similar to the … Continued

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the rub

How firm fixed price (FFP) rubs against agile

        Filed under: Agile development, GSA 18F group

Firm-Fixed-Price” Ceiling Prices places an undue and unfair risk on the Contractor by shifting the burden to the Contractor. This is the rub with agile development and software development in general because when Customers hire agile Contractors, they expect Contractors to be flexible and agile enough to deal with their changing and evolving requirements. Three … Continued

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Hackathon Weekend: IncubateDC

        Filed under: Agile development, Hackathons in Washington DC, Startup

This past weekend, Agileana and InQbation Labs co-sponsored an impressive hackathon event, reaching hundreds of young entrepreneurs and leaders, creating unforeseen opportunity for disruptive startups and their founders in the Washington DC metro area. This event was held in conjunction with 19 other cities worldwide participating so it was a busy and fun-filled 2 days with me giving … Continued

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Summer Internship Hackathon

6 Lessons Learned: An Internship Summary

        Filed under: Agile development, Summer Internship Hackathon

Six weeks ago, my fellow interns and I walked into the Agileana offices starry eyed yet determined to make an impact and differentiate our summers from that of our peers. All of us were products of the US public education system who knew how to handle well defined tasks in a classroom environment; but this was the … Continued

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agile-retrospective

Sprint Retrospectives as a vehicle for continuous improvement

        Filed under: Agile development, Project management, Web Development, Web Development

Agile is not just a great methodology for implementing complex projects, it also helps solving operational problems and developing best practices. While the Sprint Planning, Standup, Sprint Review and Backlog Grooming meetings are focused on the project, the Sprint Retrospective is focused on improving the way the team executes their sprint for the purpose of continuous improvement. This meeting is scheduled at … Continued

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dilbert-agile-user-stories

The power of a user story

        Filed under: Agile development

Comic by Scott Adams User stories are critical artifacts in any Agile project. It allows stakeholders communicate their requirements to the development team in an integral fashion. But why are user stories so powerful? Because they communicate the purpose of a requirement from the user’s point of view. Say that you own a very popular news website … Continued

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Agileana present summer internship hackathon inQbation

Growth Hacking at the Summer Internship Hackathon

        Filed under: Agile development, SEO, Web Development

Hi there everyone! This week at Agileana, Farhan and I have been working on the Balystic (online community management platform) marketing page. I am an admin on the WordPress powered site and have learned how to make edits and change the way the webpage looks as well as its content! I think it’s improved a … Continued

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Summer Internship at inQbation and Agileana Hackathon

Sprint Planning, SEO Algorithm, and Majestic

        Filed under: Agile development

The past two days were consumed with sprint planning, algorithm planning, and getting more Majestic data! Monday morning, we spent almost the entire day planning our two week sprint. It was a little different this time though, because we played product owner and decided which stories to take on and prioritized the stories ourselves. After … Continued

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Summer Internship Hackathon

Finishing Sprint 2

        Filed under: Agile development

Last week, on Thursday and Friday, the Tool Team finished our second sprint! Pranav and I put some final touches on the Google Local Listing method and did more extensive testing. We finally settled on an SEO algorithm that retrieved accurate responses for most businesses, except for some large ones that are linked to by … Continued

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