Bringing Agile to Higher Ed Without Scaring Anyone

Working on the Web in higher education has its unique challenges. Regardless of your team setup, getting client feedback at each stage of a project is inefficient; too much time passes between feedback and design next steps. This type of workflow increases the possibility of mistakes and false expectations of deadlines. Nick will talk about creating an agile workflow in your environment to transform clients into partners on a project. This shift in relationship can have a major impact on the speed, accuracy, and level of work produced. Every team is different and introducing agile practices can lead to resistance. Nick will explore techniques to bring an agile workflow to a team for faster feedback loops and to produce better work. Nick DeNardis

Nick DeNardis leads the strategy, execution, and implementation of all public facing digital communications for Wayne State University, including the websites, social media and digital signage around campus. His team is also responsible for creation and maintenance of several university-wide tools including the content management system, events calendar, RSVP system, HTML email creator, form creator and short URL system. He and his team pride themselves on research based decisions, creation of fully cross browser and accessible solutions. He previously hosted a video podcast called EDU Checkup, where he reviewed higher education websites from the perspective of a first time visitor. The podcast examined the websites visuals, information and code which resulted in an A-F “grade” overall. Nick is also an organizer of Refresh Detroit, he is the technical director for TEDxDetroit, avid conference speaker and teacher for Girl Develop It.

You can find Nick on the web on Twitter.

To view the presentation

• git clone git@github.com:nickdenardis/agile-workflow.git
• git submodule update --init --recursive
• open index.html

or

• Download the PDF version.