[Narrator]: To engage stakeholders
and demonstrate progress on CEDCaP
and other enterprise programs, the Office of Innovation
and Implementation leads a process called the Census
Release Train, a rapid, software development process
that occurs in 40 day increments.
[MUSIC]
[Martine Kostanich]: We start off every 40-day cycle
with a planning meeting.
All of the teams come together: teams from the program,
the business is represented there, and they get guidance
from the vision on what it is that they're expected to deliver
by the end of the forty days.
[Stephanie Studds]: At the end of that planning meeting,
two weekly status meetings every week.
We then go to interim builds in week 3 and week 5.
We actually get to see what the systems are doing -
how they're coming.
[Martine Kostanich]: At the end
of every forty days we hold a demonstration not just
for the system teams, but for the business stakeholders
as well, our customers, so that they can come
and see our progress.
They get to see all the work that we've developed
over the last forty days, and when they actually get
to see the working software integrated with other teams.
[MUSIC]
[Martine Kostanich]: We tried to group you guys according
to some features and functionality
that people you may be working or interfacing with
but at this session this is
where we want you guys to be collaborative.
[Participants Working in Teams]
[Martine Kostanich]: There's a lot of excitement in the room.
People are getting up.
They're going to other tables.
They're talking to other teams.
They're talking about realistic work that needs to be done
and how they're going to work together to achieve that.
We touch base twice a week to status any issues
that are going on, so that we can remove impediments
for those project teams.
We want to make sure that the systems are able to develop,
that they're able to do their work
and that the program is there, and is listening
so they can remove any impediments
that the project teams are seeing.
[Stephanie Studds]: The big finale is at the end
of the 40 days - an actual demonstration...we want them
to see the systems, we want them to be able to give feedback,
and be able to incorporate that potentially
within the next 40-day build.
[MUSIC]
[Martine Kostanich]: This is our Program Increment 6
Demonstration, so this is the end of the 40 days
and we can't wait to show you all what we've done.
[John Studds]: We wanted to also allow survey areas the ability
to set all of their survey up in one spot
and then manage their own schedules.
There's the navigation which are the buttons that appear
on the Centurion screen.
Once we receive the file, we'll ingest the data in the database.
On the right-hand side, where you enter in any of the data.
[Alessandro Ferrucc]: It's radically different.
It's a lot better.
It's been a lot smoother because we've been communicating
with other systems early on.
It's just incredible that within 40 days, within 2 to 3 months,
you have designed a ton of your code, of your system.
[John Studds]: I think the best part
of it is the collaborative nature
that everybody has come together.
There's a framework in place
that everybody can participate in,
and everybody has a voice in,
and you get to see the excitement on people's faces,
especially on that demo day,
when they see their work being shown off
to that large audience.
[Martine Kostanich]: It's also really exciting
to see us be inventive with the way
that we are approaching software development,
with delivering scaled solutions."
We always take the opportunity at the end of the 40 days
to inspect and adapt this process.
We want to make sure that we are continuing to leverage practices
that are working for us.
This will streamline our development processes.
It will increase collaboration between the teams.
The more that we can collaborate on ideas
and the more effective we are at communicating with each other,
the more productive we will be.
The stakeholder community and the systems teams and IT
at Census Bureau has really embraced this new approach
that we're taking.
[Teams Working Together]
[Martine Kostanich]: Our customers get
to see working software early and often so that we can respond
to their feedback early and often.
[Stephanie Studds]: Business stakeholder feedback
is critical.
They can actually see what the systems are creating
and building, are their requirements really being met.
[Chris Laskey]: I think it provides an opportunity
for stakeholders to see the systems.
[Barry Sessamen]: We can see progress
and we can see what's changing,
we can see what the priorities are.
[Stephanie Studds]: They actually get to see all
of the work that's going on, in a rolling wave every 40 days.
[Barry Sessamen]: These 40 day demos make it real,
we can see something tangible that is there
and that's available now.
And I think we could all be proud at the end of it to say
that we were all a big part of this.
[MUSIC]