agile

Fork it! The benefits of sharing features at SWS

Anna Watt — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 00:40:40 +0000

Let’s say you want to make a cake but you don’t have a lot of time to make one from scratch. You already have a box of cake mix ready to go but this box is for chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. But you really wanted one with dark-chocolate ganache frosting —because you can never have too much chocolate.

Investing in the Future: How our team takes the time to innovate for campus

Linnea Ann Williams — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 18:45:16 +0000

One of the challenges we at Stanford Web Services face as both a software development group as well as a client-facing web design team is finding time to create new and innovative tools for campus amidst client projects. Most of the time we are heads down, working with clients to launch scores of websites each year. So how do we approach innovating for campus?

Thoughts on Design and Agile

Megan Erin Miller — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:00:06 +0000

Over the past three years, I have been the sole designer with Stanford Web Services. I like to think that I’ve levelled up the rest of the team to embody user experience best practices and approaches to everything we do, though the reality is that I’ve had to wear many hats: user experience designer, content strategist, visual designer, themer… As our team has grown, this role I’ve played has grown as well, and it’s given me a perspective on how different facets of design fit best for different types of projects.

Hey BADCamp-ers! Want to work at Stanford?

Sara Worrell Berg — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 15:16:32 +0000

Are you at BADCamp this weekend? Want to talk about opportunities for web-savvy folks at Stanford?

We want to talk to you, too!

Agile Project Management and its flavors: where does Scrum end and Kanban begin?

Linnea Ann Williams — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 20:18:09 +0000

Agile has become a big buzz word recently in the project management world. In this post, I'll try to clarify where some of the lines are being blurred between terms like Agile and Scrum, and what some of these terms actually mean.

Keep in mind while reading this that I am primarly trained in Scrum, so my descriptions of other Agile methodologies are only decently informed. :)

What is Agile Project Management?

From the ever-present wikipedia:

The SWS team is growing!

Sara Worrell Berg — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 20:45:35 +0000

Stanford Web Services is growing again! In the not-quite-three years since SWS first opened its doors, the service we support now hosts over 1,000 websites, and our team of 8 has launched over 50 new Drupal websites and provided web strategy on over 20 vendor-led projects in partnership with schools, departments and groups of all sizes. It’s time to add to our team and get everyone on board and ready to go before the new school year begins in September.

Scrum Resources: Learn about Agile Project Management

Linnea Ann Williams — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 16:00:22 +0000

Welcome back! We're kicking off the new year with a post on Agile Project Management. I've been speaking a lot to folks recently about Scrum and how to think about incorporating it into your team structure.

One form of Agile project management, Scrum is an iterative development process that focuses the development team on the highest priority work and increases the product/project manager's ability to forecast timelines and delivery. For Web Services, it has improved our project estimates and helped us to work in a more focused way on our larger projects.

Holding Space: A Scrum Master Overview

Linnea Ann Williams — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 16:23:20 +0000

In June, I wrote a post about the role of the Scrum Product Owner in a website project. For this post, I'll outline the role of the Scrum Master and how it differs from the Product Owner role.

Getting Your Priorities in Order: An Agile Product Owner Overview

Linnea Ann Williams — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:00:12 +0000

Last December, my coworker Zach Chandler wrote a great blog post on the core principles of Agile Project Management and how to think about them in relation to web development at Stanford. In Zach's "Be Careful What You Ask For" section he briefly outlines the challenges for the Product Owner (primary decision maker) in Agile projects: balancing the power to change project direction with budget and time constraints. In this post, I'd like to go into the role of the Product Owner in a bit more depth.

Our One-Week Sprint Process

Cynthia Mijares — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:31:14 +0000

Agile Developer, Waterfall Client

Zach Chandler — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:53:55 +0000

In my role as Web Strategist, I enjoy a privileged perspective on the state of the web industry in higher ed. I get an inside look into the new methodologies employed by some the best agencies in the business.

Hello, world

Sara Worrell Berg — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:06:42 +0000

In late September 2012, Stanford Web Services (SWS) reached the one year milestone. We took this opportunity to reflect on the past year - our successes, failures and lessons learned - including: