Team Six Blog

PLAY 3 Make it simple and intuitive "Using a government service shouldn’t be stressful, confusing, or daunting. It’s our job to build services that are simple and intuitive enough that users succeed the first time, unaided." - CIO Playbook Take a moment and consider your favorite apps,  the ones you rely on every day.  My favorite apps all have a few things in common, they are simple, they get things done, they live on my mobile devices and I don't need to squint to use them.   Truly great applications are built around the user and around their life space.   Dozens of books have been written about the topic of user experience, yet few things are neglected more often than user-centric design.  Most failed apps fail here.   The focus of application design is not simply to please the eye but to be usable and usable means functional.   As I have stated many times, the arbitrator of functionality is the user.   If you release an app without their feedback, it

"We need to understand the different ways people will interact with our services, including the actions they take online, through a mobile application, on a phone, or in person. Every encounter — whether it's online or offline — should move the user closer towards their goal." - CIO Playbook Continuing my series on the USDS Digital Playbook: playbook.cio.gov Play 2: Address the whole experience, from start to finish I recently had the opportunity to work with the most amazing user experience professionals on an abbreviated project (a 36-hour "code fest").  We designed, deployed and submitted three applications for consideration by the GSA in pursuit of a coveted spot on their new Agile Services  Delivery BPA. Together with two of our key capability partners Three Wire Systems and Fermata Creative , I am very proud to report that we won a spot on this innovative new delivery contract!  I think a key factor of our win was that we embraced the

"We must begin digital projects by exploring and pinpointing the needs of the people who will use the service, and the ways the service will fit into their lives. Whether the users are members of the public or government employees, policy makers must include real people in their design process from the beginning. The needs of people — not constraints of government structures or silos — should inform technical and design decisions. We need to continually test the products we build with real people to keep us honest about what is important." - CIO Digital Playbook  The principals at Agile Six (Ernie, Brian, Edward and I), decided to jump out of rather stable and lucrative jobs to start a company in the service of Veterans.  We saw a hole and we felt an obligation to fill it.   As a team, we are immensely inspired by the USDS and the CIO Playbook because in them we find support and advocacy for ideas we have been espousing for the last several years in the face of many cr

Most of us at Agile Six have experience delivering software to government programs.   Federal employees are some of the most genuine and purpose-driven people with whom I have ever worked. It is particularly meaningful for me to have empowered social workers in the family advocacy programs at VHA, AFMOA or MEDCOM.  These are people that have dedicated their careers in service of Veterans and Military Families. While some of these wonderful people are certainly more tech savvy than I am, the bulk of them don't have enough time to follow all tech trends.  This is why we are particularly excited about some of the trends in federal technology buying.   This is why we started our own firm . The folks at GSA have assembled a group of very intelligent people over at "18F".  This is a "digital services agency" seeded by 11 former Presidential Innovation Fellows and pushing smart concepts such as Lean Start Up methods, Agile,  Open Source software, and Minimum Viable

Thanks to Team Six for Serving our Vets! Friday the 17th of July, the team at Agile Six was honored to pick up trash at the annual Veteran Stand Down in San Diego. Homeless veterans and their families receive food, clothing, showers, medical and dental care at Stand Down, and can take advantage of a special court for the homeless, recovery services, employment referrals, counseling and chaplain services.  Serving the community together, builds stronger teams.  Thanks to our nation's Veterans!  WE'VE GOT YOUR SIX! - Robert  -  (robert.rasmussen@agile6.com)