GDS To Hire Agile Teachers For Government Departments

Apr 22, 2014

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is seeking Agile coaches for various central government Departments to help with digital service delivery.

The Departments involved include the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The government has become convinced that the Agile development methodology should always now be the default on IT projects, as it believes it capable of supporting the rapid creation of systems in short timeframes that are based on the feedback of real users.

“Agile methodologies will help you and your team to build world-class, user-centred services quickly and affordably,” it says.

The news comes via a tender for a framework agreement, in which GDS says its transformation team requires four part-time Agile coaches for a six-month period, working a minimum of 10 days a month.

According to the notice, the GDS transformation is progressing and the focus is increasingly moving towards building and maintaining the internal abilities of Departments in order to effectively deliver and manage the digital services being built.

It says that the new teachers will be integral to ensure Agile methods of working within the participating Departments.

They will be responsible for ensuring that team capabilities are set up to allow for new ways of working and providing advice to public services on how to maintain delivery and improvement of digital services.

GDS says the coaching is needed at project and team and portfolio and organisational levels to deliver the transformation programme objectives.