This guide is initended to help State of CA agencies write effective Request For Offers for agile development projects.

Before we start building software, there are a wide variety of research techniques we can use to understand the problem we’re trying to solve. By observing people struggling without the benefit of our new solution, we can gain a deeper understanding of the problem and our audience.

Even if we could perfectly understand what is needed before we build it, change happens. We don’t need to wait until the software is complete before allowing people from our target audience to try the software. Getting software in front of people allows us to learn more about how they work and adjust the design of the software to meet their needs. This allows us to correct an incomplete understanding, and also to notice when the landscape changes. In today’s world, our software often runs on several platforms and needs to integrate with other software as well.

The old linear method of software development deals with change poorly. A key component of agile is iterative development with quick validation, emphasizing testing early and often with real users to ensure that the product actually works for real people. This cycle of learning helps manage change and leads to more successful outcomes.

First, define the actual problem. Rather than prescribing a solution, share as much as possible your understanding of the problem your agency is trying to solve. This could be:

• CA residents are taking too long to fill out
• we have low engagement on our website [TODO]: add more examples