News and Updates

Agile Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Agile Adoption and Implementation—Agile is an approach to software development in which software is developed incrementally and is continuously evaluated for functionality, quality, and customer satisfaction. Agile can reduce the risks of funding a program that fails or produces outdated technology. This GAO guide released in September 2020 presents federal auditors and others with best practices to assess the adoption and use of Agile in federal agencies and elsewhere. It is available in two files: a 268-page PDF, and a 290-page PDF that is accessible. — via Government Accountability Office

Become a DAP Certified Analyst—The Digital Analytics Program (DAP) now offers the opportunity to become a DAP Certified Analyst. Prospective analysts must complete the DAP Certification Exam with a score of 80 percent or better. The exam is 50 questions and is multiple choice. Prospective analysts can take the exam more than once. — via Digital Analytics Program

How to Build an Analytics Strategy—The Digital Analytics Program (DAP) recently partnered with Digital.gov to help set up an analytics strategy to monitor their website and overall platform performance. DAP provided a start-to-finish approach for assessing, reporting, and taking action using this strategy in a 3-part series. — via Digital.gov

A Dashboard for Privacy Offices—Through work funded by 10x, a team from 18F investigated how technology can help busy privacy offices manage your PII, and make their work more accessible and understandable for the public. — via 18F

Transition Post 4: President-Elect Transition Team Materials—Here is a fourth post in GAO’s series on records management during presidential transitions; it is related to questions concerning the records management responsibilities related to Transition Teams. — via National Archives and Records Administration

COVID-19 Is Complex, as Is COVID-19 Open Data—HHS recently released granular Covid-19 Hospital Data in order improve data sharing to accelerate scientific and public health insights. — via Data.gov

Archivist Memorandum to Agency Heads on Presidential Transition—On Monday, November 30, the Archivist of the United States sent a memorandum to agency heads reminding them of the importance of records management during a presidential transition. In this memo, the Archivist emphasizes that in order to have a successful transition, it is crucial that agency heads work with their Senior Agency Official for Records Management and Agency Records Officers to ensure that this message is communicated within the agency and that all agency officials and employees are properly briefed on their records management responsibilities. Review the resources posted on their website for additional information about federal records management during transition. — via National Archives and Records Administration

Deceptive Design: How to Identify and Combat Consequence Design—Consequence design is part of everyday life. Deceptive techniques like “dark patterns” and “hostile design” trick people into taking unintended actions—learn how to prevent them from sneaking into our design work. — via Digital.gov