Update VA Digital Services Handbook - Digital Delivery Guide

shiragoodman commented 2 years ago

User Story

As a VFS team member, I want to ensure that the Platform guidance I am directed to is current and up to date so that I may better support my team and also meet the Platform expectations.

Intended Audience: VFS Teams

Description

VFS teams are still going to the VA Digital Services Handbook for guidance. The Digital Delivery Guide contains many outdated references including the Onboard team page which has been replaced by Platform Orientation, and the Research and Discovery, Prototype and Build and Test pages all include outdated guidance that has since been replaced by the Collaboration Cycle.

Per @gmaciolek from the Platform Content team, "Our content ecosystem is fragmented in ways that are not intentional and are confusing to end-users. We should consider how to clean things up and finalize the migration of information to the Platform website which would involve: sunsetting info sources, updating info sources, and documenting the purpose and goals of each info source to make it clear what information goes where and why."

Tasks

[ ] Placeholder task

Acceptance Criteria

How to configure this issue

[ ] Ensure that story is attached to appropriate Iniative (if not tech debt) (what body of work is this a part of?)
[ ] Ensure that any additional labels are added ('tech-debt', 'collaboration-cycle')
[ ] Ensure that story is in the correct pipeline (Backlog, Planned, In Progress, Review/QA, Closed)
[ ] Ensure that assignees are correct so you receive all updates/comments on the ticket

vbellissimo commented 2 years ago

Q3-related task
For the content team: This is specific to the Digital Delivery Guide, however, we have a larger Q3 initiative to "write/communicate/socialize what belongs in Platform website vs other documentation repos".
Inquire with Shira's team on checklist under "how to configure this issue".

shiragoodman commented 2 years ago

@vbellissimo this ticket came up today in our Refinement meeting. Is this something that I can transfer to your teams backlog? I'm not sure if Governance has a role here.

shiragoodman commented 2 years ago

@vbellissimo Ok, just seeing your label removal from a few months back. Do you think we should escalate this to Platform leadership?

vbellissimo commented 2 years ago

@shiragoodman Hi Shira, looking at this ticket again, I think the scope of this might be a lot bigger than this single ticket. Do you know the answer to these questions?

Outside of Gretchen's comments, how did this ticket originate?
We don't maintain the VA Digital Service Guide Handbook referenced. Do you know who does? https://department-of-veterans-affairs.github.io/va-digital-service-handbook/delivery/index.html

shiragoodman commented 2 years ago

@vbellissimo For question 1, I know Gretchen contacted me via Slack. I don't know who maintained the VA Digital Service Guide Handbook.

I agree that the scope of this is likely bigger than this single ticket.

vbellissimo commented 2 years ago

@shiragoodman My instinct is to close this ticket due to the fact that we've been auditing the website and we also have an upcoming initiative that will attempt to tackle a way to ensure the Platform website is refreshed with the help of content SMEs across Platform teams.

My suggestion would be to close this ticket and simply pose the question to leadership about who maintains the VA Digital Service Guide Handbook? Do VFS team members still use it? Do they think it overlaps with the content on the Platform website?

shiragoodman commented 1 year ago

@vbellissimo combing through our backlog and stumbled upon this. I am in agreement with your last comment. Is this something you could bring to Erika?

vbellissimo commented 1 year ago

Hi @shiragoodman Yes, I'll ping her on Slack and ask her.

vbellissimo commented 1 year ago

@shiragoodman thoughts from Erika are that the decision to retire this site feels like a Governance PO call, which I think is Matt Dingee? She agrees that the site looks like it can be deprecated. Still unsure who actually maintains it though.

shiragoodman commented 1 year ago

Thanks @vbellissimo ! I'll fill in @humancompanion-usds . :)

humancompanion-usds commented 1 year ago

Oof. I know the people who wrote the Handbook and it would be a shame to deprecate it. There is a ton of content there that bridges the gap between the USDS Playbook and how VA operates on a daily basis. But I don't understand the history of why we let that site rot so happy to hear more about the thoughts behind all of this.

shiragoodman commented 1 year ago

@humancompanion-usds Our biggest question right now is... who owns the VA Digital Services Handbook? Is there a process for getting it updated?

shiragoodman commented 9 months ago

@jknipes @EWashb based on conversations above, I think this ticket should be moved over to the Platform Content team backlog. I am removing the governance-team label. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks.

EWashb commented 9 months ago

I agree with this one too @shiragoodman @jknipes

shiragoodman commented 9 months ago

thanks @EWashb ! FYI we had 84 issues on our backlog and 27 of them were items we thought made sense for other teams. I may have a few more to send your way. Keep an eye out!

jknipes commented 9 months ago

@shiragoodman and @EWashb Content Team will own this ticket and related discovery. Additional ticket(s) to referenced here.

jknipes commented 9 months ago

Related Discovery Ticket

jknipes commented 6 months ago

@shiragoodman and @EWashb we are having trouble finding out who owns VA Digital Services Handbook, but I am wondering if maybe the original issue has been resolved?

The issue, which is from 2022, originates from a Slack thread where it is stated:

One of the new VFM PM's shared this link with me earlier today: https://depo-platform-documentation.scrollhelp.site/collaboration-cycle/VA.gov-experience-standards.1683980311.html It's the VA Digital Service Handbook and it looks like it references the process that was in place pre-Collaboration Cycle.

The above VA.gov experience standards page on Platform Website now links to the VA Design System website, instead of VA Digital Services Handbook. The Handbook has not been updated since 2018, and is likely not being used.

cc: @CherylEvans

shiragoodman commented 6 months ago

@jknipes yea, I think so. If there's no links on Platform Website that point to the VA Digital Services handbook, then I think we're in the clear. Thanks, Joe.

department-of-veterans-affairs / va.gov-team