18F/18f.gsa.gov

---
title: "New playbook details what it's like to work with 18F Delivery"
date: 2015-11-19
layout: post
authors:
- will
tags:
- how we work
- agency work
- transformation services
- acquisition services


excerpt: "If you or your agency have thought about working with 18F but are unsure of how we work with our partners, we have a new set of guidelines to help you out. The 18F Delivery Partnership Playbook is specifically targeted at federal offices interested in working with 18F to build digital services."
description: "If you or your agency have thought about working with 18F but are unsure of how we work with our partners, we have a new set of guidelines to help you out. The 18F Delivery Partnership Playbook is specifically targeted at federal offices interested in working with 18F to build digital services."
---

If you or your agency have thought about working with 18F but are unsure
of how we work with our partners, we have a new set of guidelines to
help you out. The [18F Delivery Partnership Playbook](https://pages.18f.gov/partnership-playbook/) is specifically
targeted at federal offices interested in working with 18F to build
digital services.

The playbook is based both on our project experience to date and common
questions that come up during our business development process. It lays
out the plays and techniques that we’ve found make for a successful
collaboration between us and our partners. We hope that naming our
aspirations can help better align expectations about how we’ll work
together. Many of the principles below build on specific plays in the
[U.S. Digital Services Playbook](https://playbook.cio.gov/), which some
18F staffers assisted in authoring.

The [eight plays in this playbook](https://pages.18f.gov/partnership-playbook/) are:

1.  We build in the open.
2.  We work with an empowered product owner.
3.  We focus on understanding the problem first.
4.  We work in an agile way.
5.  We use user-centered research and design methods.
6.  We may revisit the project at a high level if there is a major change in project goals.
7.  We transfer projects back to your team for ongoing support.
8.  We deploy projects using best practice back-end methods and technology.

Under each point, you’ll see explanatory information, specifics on what
the play means for our shared work, and how to know if you are ready to
execute the play.

As [our work](https://18f.gsa.gov/dashboard)
goes on, we will continue to iterate this playbook and other guides to
memorialize the lessons we learn. If you don’t feel prepared to work in
the ways described, [18F Consulting]({{ site.baseurl }}/consulting/)
may be able to help introduce some of the playbook’s ideas through tools
like
[agile](https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/02/11/a-story-of-an-agile-workshop/)
[workshops](https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/08/31/how-playing-with-legos-taught-executives-agile/).
Please let us know how the playbook can be improved by
[opening an issue](https://github.com/18F/partnership-playbook/issues). And if this
sounds like the way you like to work, get in touch at
[inquiries18f@gsa.gov](mailto:inquiries18f@gsa.gov).