The document discusses an agile approach adopted by a health insurance company to optimize their digital strategy, emphasizing the importance of user engagement and responsiveness in a regulated and risk-averse industry. Utilizing Scrum methodology, the team delivered valuable features iteratively while adapting to evolving needs and managing multiple projects simultaneously. Despite achieving significant advancements, the implementation of agile was not fully integrated across the enterprise, limiting overall campaign success.

1. An Agile Approach to Optimising
our Digital Strategy
Mia Horrigan
ACS Conference
March 2012

2. Health Insurance Industry
• $6.8 billion Industry
• Grudge purchase
• Heavily regulated industry
• Risk adverse
• Baby Boomers and Ageing Population
• Difficulty attracting Gen Y members

3. Traditional Channels

4. The Result
Return to Sender

5. Info Centric Approach
Branding

6. Get Users Engaged
• Previous mass media channels not:
– Measurable
– Responsive
– Targeted
• Customers embracing social media
• Take debate to consumers - digital strategy
Awareness Desire Knowledge Action Reinforcement

7. Why Agile ?
• Needed to be up and running with three sites
in three months
• Message was complex
• Requirements not fully understood
• New to social media (low capability)
• Policy environment changing
“Agility in healthcare is critical as it is one of few industries
where lives are quite literally on the line”

8. The Agile Triangle
Value
(releasable product)
Adaptability
vs.
Conformance to plan
Constraints
Quality (cost, schedule, scope)
(reliable, adaptable product)
Source: Jim Highsmith – Agile project management 2009

9. Achieving the vision

10. What We Did
• Engaged a Scrum Master/Coach
• Implemented Scrum
• Determined what was of value to stakeholders
• Aligned needs to priorities
• Continuously integrated provided something
of value each Sprint

11. Approach - Scrum
Team
Product Owner Design, Development and
Vision & Budget Scrum Master Delivery
Process facilitation
Product Backlog Sprint Backlog Day Daily Stand-up
Tasks meetings
Prioritised by PO Sprint planning Detailed by team
meetings Product
increments
Themes/Epics
Tasks
Stories Sprint Product
Stories 2-4 weeks
Sprint Review
meeting
Sprint retrospective
meeting

12. Scrum
• 2 weekly sprint cycles
• Continuous integration to build upon skinny
solution
• Responded to evolving needs
• Collaboration
• Build knowledge from retrospectives
• “Definition of done” important

13. User Centered Design
• Wanted to be responsive to users
• Engage and produce what is of most value
• Based on ISO 13407 Human Centred Design
Identify need for
Human Centred
design
Specify context of use
System satisfies
Evaluate design specified Specify requirements
requirements
Produce design solution

14. Sprint Planning
Elements of User
Experience
Things to
Produce
Things to Do
Things to
Consider
(patterns to
apply, requirements)

15. Product Backlog
Do now
Do later

16. Story Sizing - Complexity
• If the user story is too big (complex) then
break it down
• User stories should shrink in size and grow in
detail as they progress through the backlog
• Estimate by analogy
“Stephen’s story is like Anne’s story so let’s estimate Stephen’s
story to be the same size as Anne’s story”

17. Planning Poker

18. Product Backlog
20% fine grain user stories
• 3-4 days work Do now
20% medium-grain epics
• weeks of work
60% course-grain sagas
• weeks-months of work
Do later

19. Kanban Board
• Visual tool to manage the
backlog, focus team on the
ranked priorities
• Process to manage
workflow and remain
flexible

20. Task Board

21. Develop User Stories from Agile Personas
• As a [Role]..Gen X consumer thinking
about starting a family,
• I want to [Task]..know how much the
change to the rebate will affect me
• So that I [Goal].. can understand the
extra costs
• Generation
• Profile and background
• What they value
• Value of Info providers
• Pain points

22. Card – Conversation - Confirmation
• Start with the Agile framework
• Add Behavioural Context
– What do they want to achieve?
– What do they value?
– Why?
• Understand “definition of done”

23. Behaviour Driven Development
Title: Rebate Calculator
• Given I am a.. [Role] and.. As a consumer on a tight budget I want
to know how much the change to the
rebate will affect me. So when I input
• I Value.. [+/- Context] info into calculator via drop down
menus I will see how much extra $$$ I
•
will pay via graph and text
When I ..[User interaction]
• Then I expect.. [This]
• To achieve ..[Result/Outcome]

24. Product delivered at end of Sprint
• Used prototype to communicate
functionality
• Design part of the sprint
• Delivered prioritised stories of
most value to Users
• Launched a “skinny” version within
4 weeks

25. Managing Multiple Projects
• Interdependencies
• Simultaneous Execution
• Shared resources (BAU)

26. If One Board is Great, Why Not Two?

27. “Scrum of Scrums” Board
• Viewed all 3 projects
within the campaign
• Multidisciplinary
teams across the
projects
• Applied learnings
from one to the next

28. New Requirements
• New micro site required
• IA of pilot site not suitable
• High Priority

29. What if You are Mid Sprint?
• Option 1 - Continue to deliver agreed tasks
for current Sprint (Scrum Purists)
• Option 2 -Terminate Sprint and start
planning new work (design spike)

30. Option 2 – Terminated Sprint
• Uncompleted tasks
to Product Backlog
• Re-Prioritised
• Assigned to next
Sprint based on new
priority
• Microsite up within
5 days

31. Constraints ($$$, Time, Opportunity)
Mobile App Requirement
changed to Responsive
Design ( CSS, HTML5)

32. Sprint Retrospective
• What worked well?
• What could be done better?
• How well did we estimate effort and
complexity?
• What would we do differently?

33. Continuous Integration
• Continuous Integration of new features
• Reuse of widgets across projects = reduced
costs
• Utilised learning across projects
• 3 ½ sites in 12 weeks
• Developing social media capability

34. Social Media

35. From Info Centric to User Centric

36. What we learned
• Multidisciplinary approach allowed us to
remain flexible, inspect and adapt
• Kanban Board great visual tool
• Scrum process an effective way to continuously
integrate features of value
• Scrum coach was crucial to success
• Design part of the Scrum team (not working
ahead)

37. Partially achieved the vision
• Well accepted by users and enhanced findability of content
• However Agile not implemented cross the enterprise so
campaign not as successful

38. My Favourite Board

39. Thank you
Mia Horrigan
@miahorri
www.zenexmachina.wordpress.com
Mia Horrigan
http://www.slideshare.net/miahorri