An Agile Approach to Redesigning FCC.gov

Drupal can be a significant driver of digital innovation for enterprises in the public sector. But traditional government contracts leave little room for the continuous learning and Agile methodologies that allow product owners to fully unleash the potential of Drupal in their projects.

For the recent redesign and Drupal upgrade project we completed for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), we sought to bring Agile development processes right into the waterfall environment. In this presentation, team members from the project will share lessons learned about effectively operating as an Agile contractor in the U.S. government space.

We’ll evaluate how we overcame challenges around leveraging Agile, holding true to balance, emphasizing project goals, managing bounds, and delivering a launchable product within a tight timeline. We’ll share insights on how to empower agencies by helping them infuse Agile into their processes, and outline how we set up a foundation for the organization to succeed with their longer-term goals.

The continuous learning process that we managed to implement proved absolutely essential to the project’s success. Quality and usability were paramount, as previous iterations of the agency’s CMS were not user-friendly and caused challenges for their editorial staff.

Only by communicating and iterating with administrators and end users could we help the FCC effectively harness the problem-solving power of Drupal. Even within the waterfall environment, our tenacity in following Agile processes allowed the agency to refine their goals throughout the project, resulting in a superior-quality site that will be relevant and useful for years to come.