An agile approach to managing a Data and GIS Lab

Presented at the Western Association of Map Librarians (WAML) Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM, Sept. 25-27, 2024At UC San Diego, our Library’s Data & GIS Lab employs between four and six student workers. These students not only serve as the front line to patrons who drop by the lab with geospatial or data analysis questions, they also have them work on Library related projects. We will discuss how we’ve taken Agile principles and applied them to help us manage our Lab and the projects our students work on. While Agile methodologies and principles emerged as a response to challenges and limitations observed in traditional software development and project management practices, we are applying them as a flexible and adaptive approach to managing projects and delivering value to our end users. We leverage weekly standups, a Trello kanban, and allocate time to reflect and make changes to how we operate and can continue to improve as a Lab. Taking these approaches have helped us better manage our patrons' needs as well as our projects.