“Agile project management principles are critical to building trust with our clients,” says Alison Schestopol, Director of Project Management at Portland Webworks/GovWebworks. “Clients see results early and often and provide real-time feedback that is integrated into the product features.”
Since 2012, starting with the State of Idaho, we’ve embraced agile principles and Scrum methodologies on our software development teams. This approach offers predictability for our teams, transparency for our clients, and overall project satisfaction.
What is Agile?
Agile and Scrum project management breaks large bodies of work into incremental blocks that are reviewed early and often with stakeholders. Agile’s incremental development process, known as Sprints, ensures predictable expenditure, ongoing business value delivery, and alignment with client expectations.
The definition of Agile is: ‘the ability to move quickly and easily.’ It is flexible and meant to be intentionally and purposefully adapted for the needs of the team or organization. Agile prioritizes people over processes and tools, and promotes continuous improvement, constant learning, and curiosity.
Agile is based on the four main principles of the Agile Manifesto, developed in February 2001 at Snowbird ski resort in Utah by a group of 17 originators:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
How Does Agile Work?
Our teams generally practice both Scrum and Kanban methods. Scrum designates specific roles, emphasizes a schedule, and enables work estimation in story points. Kanban, on the other hand, does not have set roles or a fixed schedule, but emphasizes flexibility, making it ideal for projects with smaller, more discrete tasks. Both methods have been impactful, as they share guiding principles that enhance teamwork and client delivery.
Scrum’s structure, with frequent check-ins and progress reporting, provides high transparency. Clients participate in Scrum meetings and review deliverables via online collaboration tools. We use Jira, Atlassian’s project/issue management tool, for real-time visibility into project progress. Key tools include:
- Project Backlog: Lists all User Stories and Epics, their prioritization, and current Sprint assignments.
- Kanban/Swim Lane Board: Visualizes the state of the Sprint, showing completed, in-progress, and pending User Stories.
- Burndown Chart: Offers an at-a-glance view of Sprint progress, plotting time against Story Points (effort level of User Stories).
The iterative process continues until sufficient backlog stories are resolved, ensuring efficient and transparent project management.
For more from our project managers on common agile challenges, see Agile Maine Day Takeaways.
To meet our project management team members, and find out what they have to say about working with agile, see below.
MEET OUR TEAM
Alison Schestopol: Director of Project Management
“Agile is critical for us to build trust with our clients. Clients see results early and often and provide real-time feedback that is integrated into the product features. Agile emphasizes delivering business value, which is something clients get to experience throughout our projects.”
Alison started as Director of Project Management & Quality Assurance in 2011, and has worked as a QA analyst on several projects including:
- WA Cares Fund
- St Germain (Sentry EHS)
- Network Advertising Initiative
- Iowa Department of Education (CACFP Shopper App)
- New Hampshire Health and Human Services (The Doorway)
- Washington Health Benefit Exchange (WA Healthplanfinder)
- Washington Public Disclosure Commission
Highlights from Alison’s background include:
- Project Management Institute Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Project Management Institute Certified Agile Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
- Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
- Certified Product Owner (CSPO)
- Certified Scrum Developer (CSD)
- Certified Agile Leadership Essentials (CAL-E)
- Certified Agile Leadership for Organizations (CAL-O)
- Certified Agile Leadership for Teams (CAL-T)
- Certified Agile Facilitator (ACS-CF)
- Senior Project Manager (Abilis Solutions)
- Business Analyst & Project Manager (Diversified)
- Beta Software Project Manager (IDEXX)
Jim Lochran: Project Manager
“I appreciate that agile favors working software over in-depth documentation.”
Jim started in 2019, and has worked on several projects including:
- Colorado Judicial Branch
- Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks
- Maine Department of Education (MOOSE – Maine Online Opportunities for Sustained Education and RREV / EnGiNE platforms)
- Sappi Paper (Website and Ecommerce applications)
- North Dakota Department of Health & Human Services and Department of Transportation (case study)
- Idaho Child Support (Nexi)
- Modern Pest
Highlights from Jim’s background include:
- Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
- Certified Product Owner (CSPO)
- Certified Agile Leadership Essentials (CAL-E)
- Certified Agile Leadership for Organizations (CAL-O)
- Co-founded a software company (OnPlane)
- 13 years of product management experience in the computer networking industry
- Avid Golfer and skier
Max Levi: Business Analyst
“Agile/Scrum practices enable our teams to quickly get client feedback and identify problems with internal communication and project processes, and provide visibility into project constraints, risks, and progress.”
Max started in 2022, and has worked on several projects including:
- Center for New Energy Economy (AEL Tracker & SPOT for Clean Energy)
- Colorado Department of Natural Resources, aquatics app
- Finance Authority of Maine
- Florida Turnpike Enterprise, Sunpass.com
- Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, idalink
- Idaho Tobacco Project
- Maine Department of Labor Virtual Job Center
Highlights from Max’s background include:
- Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
- Certified Product Owner (CSPO)
- Implementation Consultant & Lead Sales Engineer (CAI Software / ShopVue)
- BA, Professional Music, Berklee College of Music, MA
- Lead noodler (guitar player) in the Great North Band
Tammy Schlesinger: Project Manager & Agile Lead
“Agile processes structure the work and make space for constant communication and feedback, pushing teams to continuously improve. That improvement and growth gets stronger with each project we tackle.”
Tammy started in April 2023, and has worked on several projects including:
- Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, department
- Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, idalink
- Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, PDAP
- Idaho Tobacco Project
- Idaho Sound Beginnings
- Live Better Idaho
- Fermilab Newsroom
Highlights from Tammy’s background include:
- Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
- Certified SAFe 4 Scrum Master
- Certified Product Owner (CSPO)
- Certified Agile Leadership for Organizations (CAL-O)
- Member of the Agile Maine Community
- Manager QA Engineering, Covetrus
- Senior Manager of Marketing Services, TideSmart Global
- BA, Communication, University of Southern Maine
- PWW People’s Choice: Grace Under Pressure – 2023
Eleanor Glover: Project Manager
“I like that Agile/Scrum allows for large bodies of work to be broken up into incremental blocks of work that are reviewed early and often with stakeholders. Having the right people with authority to make decisions while also being flexible is key to our efficiency, success in facilitating projects to their completion on time and on budget.”
Eleanor started in 2023, and has worked on several projects including:
- Maine Department of Labor Virtual Job Center
- Minnesota Department of Education and Economic Development (DEED)
- Minnesota Office of Higher Education MyHigherEd
Highlights from Eleanor’s background include:
- Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
- Certified Product Owner (CSPO)
- Certified Agile Leadership Essentials (CAL-E)
- Certified Agile Leadership for Organizations (CAL-O)
- Certified Agile Leadership for Teams (CAL-T)
- Sr. Program Marketing Manager (Data Axle)
- Technical Director, Managed Services (QuickPivot)
- Technical Engagement Manager (Northhighland)
- Director Project Management/Business Systems Analyst (Universal Wilde)
- Data Analytics & Subscription Services Manager (The MathWorks)
Meet our other teams
Join our team
We’d love to hear from you. We have a variety of remote and hybrid positions available.
- Check out our current job openings
- Contact us with any questions
- See PWW/GWW clients: Portfolio of work
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