The Softhouse way of working

Introduction and overview

The first part is about giving an introductory overview of how we work agile with our development and delivery model and our processes. This is simply our work process and our way of always working in our projects. Evaluation, improvement and details must be added by each phase of the process and must be done continuously by each project that we work with or in the moments that the model is used. .

Phase 1: Before commit: 

The goal is to define the project on a broad level. We explore and work out the idea for the project and its known conditions. We go through the purpose and evaluate and then determine the technical and financial profitability of the project. We also review the feasibility of the project so that we have a clear picture of the project before starting.

Phase 2: Development

The project takes its form.

• The division and project definition are created by setting requirements and choosing a technical solution. Iteratively, we work with analysis, design, implementation and testing.
• The results are evaluated based on the scope, design and requirements. We build the team that will do the job and invest in team building, training and ensure that the team understands why the project needs to succeed and sets the goals at a high level.
• We clarify the team’s agreement and project plan, both internally and externally with the customer and others involved in the project
• Replacing people in a project is expensive and time consuming. We agree together on a definition of clear, which helps you to make estimates and clarify expectations.
• Estimates should be based on experience and solution, not requirements, ie HOW not WHAT. The reason is that “WHAT” can be solved in many ways with several different costs.

Phase 3: Acceptance

In phase 3, the focus is on getting approval from you as a customer and the project result and then starting with preparation for and implementation in a production environment.

The acceptance phase is about defining a set of acceptance criteria.

• Define a clearly approved / failed result .
• Criteria that cover both functional and non-functional requirements.
• The criteria that constitute a “Definition of Done”. – And by Done we mean done well!
• We have set up two different types of acceptances
  • Sprint delivery acceptance – A review in a demo.
  • Project delivery acceptance – Test by the customer / stakeholder or designated resource from the requesting organization.

Phase 4: Stabilization

• People keep a high focus on monitoring and solving problems.
• Rule of thumb 2-3 weeks with increased support.
• Differences from project to project and customer to customer.
• In the end, the project members are released and the support goes into a “normal” operating phase.

Phase 5: Normal operation

“Normal operation” Completed phase or location where either the customer’s own IT department or Softhouse continues to manage the customer’s IT system.

Agreement

Management of the conditions for operations that are different from the development part of the project from customer to customer based on their needs and the use of the system.