University of Hull and Evoco use the Agile Business Consortium’s AgileDS™ approach to give graduates the opportunity to develop and grow their skills for government and private sector
The challenge: Matching methodology to demand
Formed in July 2017, Lampada Digital Solutions is a 100% wholly-owned subsidiary of the University of Hull and incorporates the Digital Delivery Academy which is managed by Evoco Digital Services. The Digital Delivery Academy took part in the beta development phase of Agile Digital Services (AgileDS), which was created by the Agile Business Consortium and accredited by APMG International. Through Lampada, university graduates are employed on competitive salaries to deliver live projects to paying clients.
Chris Hewitt of Evoco and Academy Director at Lampada Digital Solutions said an agile methodology was needed that would meet the various educational demands of the trainee developers and the variety of customers they would be working for, which included public and private sector organisations.
The solution: AgileDS
“AgileDS has proved versatile as we are already using it to deliver for several customers including two in central government and one university,” says Chris. “For government customers, the developers can fit in really quickly, and for the university, this is a slightly newer way of working but fits in well with their future plans.”
One of the key advantages of the AgileDS approach for Lampada is that the training course covers a broad range of topics at different levels of detail. Some are covered in depth and others are at an awareness level with signposting for further resources. This helps give developers a broad understanding of agility and the range of skills needed to fit into a modern team.
Chris added: “The emphasis on user research and user experience has been a real eye-opener as university degrees often focus on more traditional, documentation-heavy methods rather than engaging face to face with real users. This interaction is vital to our way of working and the ability to deliver great outcomes. This is of significant benefit to Lampada’s clients, in that they get to see prototypes more quickly, and the outputs are more closely aligned to their needs.”
The student developers are receiving training and experience that is closely matched to their future in business, which means that they should be more employable.
The results: Happy students, happy client
“It’s almost like agile has come full-circle from its roots in software development, proven its worth in many other areas and now with the interest in digital everyone in the team needs to know enough about modern software development and AgileDS helps us achieve that.”
The most recent intake of graduates started on the AgileDS course on day two of their employment which has given them a flying start when it comes to tackling their first real development project.
Feedback from the students has been good, with AgileDS allowing them to really get to grips with agile working having either only touched on the methods at university or having had no contact with agile at all.
How to find out more:
AgileDS:
AgileDS brings a digital services approach to agile project delivery. The AgileDS qualification provides the knowledge to develop a consistent approach, common language and a skilled workforce for the successful design, delivery and evolution of digital services, using guidance aligned with the Service Manual of Government Digital Service, the UK Government’s department responsible for digital transformation.
Learn more and find a trainer: https://apmg-international.com/product/agileds
Lampada Digital Services:
Lampada Digital Services is based at the University of Hull and is operated in partnership with the Digital Delivery Academy and Evoco Digital Services. Lampada offers graduates the opportunity to learn and develop their skills on real client projects.
Discover the Digital Skills Academy: www.dd.academy
Learn about Evoco: www.evoco.co.uk
Agile Business Consortium:
Agile Business Consortium is the not-for-profit professional body for business agility, and we are now in our 25th year. Our mission is to lead, promote and enable business agility worldwide.
We are the brains behind AgilePM®, AgileBA®, AgilePgM® and AgileDS. Through APMG International we have certified over 100,000 Agile Project Managers around the globe. We are the world’s oldest agile organization and organisers of the world’s longest running Agile Business Conference.
Learn more at:
Please note: This is a commercial profile
Emily Ruffle
Head of Insights
Agile Business Consortium
Tel: +44 (0)1233 611162
