After Prototype, we moved into the Build phase of the HackIT Agile Lifecycle. The purpose of this phase was to build the service and deploy it to live.
Following Agile methodology, the Build phase comprised a series of two-week sprints. Principally, developers tackled stories together: the back-end developer would create the APIs and any integrations with databases; and the front-end developer would code the user interface using Angular JS and HTML and call the APIs. Code was commented by the developers as per our development standards to ensure a smooth transition to Support or to other developers at a later date. Please see Technology and Development for more details.
The front-end was coded as per the wires devised in the Prototype phase, to GDS design guidelines. Wires were given a final review and marked as approved before any of the screens were assigned to a developer, to limit waste of effort. We created a second Design Jira board to track this process, linking designs back to the original story in the Development Jira board. Screens were tested again after they had been coded. Where any necessary amendments could be made on the fly, they were; but sometimes wires would need recreating, testing and approving.
At the end of each sprint, completed stories in the Development Jira board were tested to ensure functionality was fit-for-purpose and bug-free. We will also be carrying out end-to-end testing with agents to unearth any final amendments required. We need a number of environments for testing purposes.
Agents are trained in the use of the interface and we have a plan for continually improving the service, subject to resource constraints. We have a roll-out plan for launching to live as well as a plan for when the service is offline.
We have not yet reached the end of this phase yet, however, we have achieved the following: