Software Engineering Institute

The FY18 National Defense Authorization Act and the Defense Innovation Board Software Acquisition and Practices study indicated that the DoD needs to develop organic expertise in Agile and other iterative development methods. The SEI’s years of experience with Agile and the government setting have helped it develop and continually evolve multiple Agile classroom courses, which it adapted to the online format in 2021.

Throughout that year, about 250 learners from five DoD program offices used the Agile Virtual Schoolhouse platform to access a tailored sequence of learning packages, each of which includes a custom self-study assignment of curated learning resources and a live, online lecture and discussion session. Topics in the learning packages focus on DoD concerns, such as Agile in the DoD landscape, oversight and insight in Agile government settings, Agile and requirements, and Agile and testing.

“The real-world examples the instructors share add depth and background to the topics, rather than the purely academic description that could have been given,” said one participant.

“Our intent from the beginning has been to remain customer centered,” said the SEI’s Crisanne Nolan, one of the platform development leads. “We built the Virtual Schoolhouse to be modular. We refashion our learning packages to always provide a rich experience relevant to the highly regulated environments in which our customers work.”

U.S. government organizations interested in the Agile Virtual Schoolhouse should contact the SEI at course-info@sei.cmu.edu.