This page outlines how IT Services and the University’s digital portfolios are making this transition, with case-studies exploring what it means in practice for delivery teams and service users.
What’s changing?
We are adopting a more agile approach to service delivery to support the University’s ongoing digital transformation. The focus is on continuous improvement – making incremental changes that enhance efficiency, quality and value and minimise waste or defects, so that staff and students are equipped to do their best work at Oxford.
Our focus is on delivering maximum value for research, teaching and learning, and administration at Oxford. Increasingly, we put less emphasis on stand-alone projects with defined outcomes that build and disband, with more focus on coordinated services and products that evolve incrementally in response to feedback and user requirements.
Pilots got underway last year, involving teams in IT Services and the University’s digital portfolios. Below you’ll find case-studies on what the new delivery model looks like in practice in different areas. Look out for more, over the coming months.
Our change principles
In IT Services, the transition to the new delivery model is guided by the following principles:
- We aim for continuous improvement with a smoother investment profile, ensuring resources are used efficiently.
- Projects and services are being brought together under digital portfolios with defined service streams, grouping related work to make collaboration and delivery smoother.
- We are adopting a ‘product mindset’ which prioritises creating value for our users and for the University as a whole, by focusing on outcomes. We respond to user needs, market trends and business objectives to continuously improve and innovate.
- We are outcome focused and guided by the strategic visions of the digital portfolios, which are informed, in turn, by the University’s strategic priorities.
- We gather feedback by listening to our users, publish our plans, and make prioritisation decisions transparently, based on resource availability.
- We create enduring and empowered teams with a clear sense of identity and agreed team behaviours and are trusted to make decisions.
- Professional disciplines across the digital portfolios benefit from agreed standards of work and skill development strategies led by communities of practice.
- We develop multi-skilled teams to build resilience and support career development.
- ITIL-based service management frameworks remain the standard for our work.
There are different models of continuous improvement (CI) within the University. In IT and digital, the focus is on user voice, road mapping, and in particular, backlog prioritisation. Teams are adopting different Agile approaches such as Kanban or Scrum, based on their particular needs and characteristics.
Contact us
To find out more about how IT Services and the digital portfolios are improving the way digital services are delivered at Oxford, contact Lucy Taylor, coordinator for the IT Services New Delivery Model Working Group.
Implementation of the new digital delivery model across the University is overseen by the Product Operations Team in the Digital Governance Unit (DGU).
