To facilitate the process of design and development for the Vessel Registry project, we are following the UK Government methodology for Agile service delivery laid out in their Service Manual. This process begins with a 4-8 week Discovery phase.
Planned Duration
We have decided to restrict ourselves to 3 Sprints for the Discovery Phase. As there is a considerable amount of existing knowledge for the context, problems, and expected outcomes for this project, it should give us a solid head-start with discovery. We are aiming to finish sooner, however we will go no longer than 3 sprints unless absolutely necessary.
Discovery Goal
The goal of the Discovery phase is to gain a shared understanding of the Vessel Registry service, its users, and their pain points, so that these can be addressed and improved in the solution. We want to reach a common understanding of the expected outcomes so that we can begin working progressively towards that new future-state for the Service.
Goals
Establish what the vessel registry service is
Who the vessel registry is for;
Why is the vessel registry important;
What a “good service” looks like
Outcomes
A clear idea of the scope of the new digital service
A shared understanding and buy-in of the senior stakeholders of what we are trying to achieve
What does success look like and a good idea of how to measure success
Think about all the people needed to build an alpha
Constraints
As the Vessel Registry service is heavily rooted in regulations and compliance, the vast majority of the service (i.e. information we collect) is designed to comply with the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, as well as the associated consolidated regulations. It is not within the scope of our project to effect any change in regulations or policy, so we will need to ensure that service or system design we do is in compliance with the regulations. Rather than attempt to document any and all regulatory element in advance, at the advice of the Chief Registrar, we will include compliance checks (completed by SMEs) as part of the testing process as we build and implement components of the solution.
The scope of the project is focused on the “Service Request” relationship. That is, the process of receiving a request for service from a client (e.g. a First-time Registration application) to the point of issuance of the certificate of registry. While the program would be happy to be provided with any recommendations for improvements elsewhere in the service, we received guidance that for scoping and focus purposes, our attention should be on the service request process.