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Checkpoint meeting

Learn what the Checkpoint meeting is, how to schedule it, how to prepare, and what to expect.

What is a Checkpoint meeting?

A Checkpoint meeting happens after the Research and Discovery, Prototype, and Build and Test phases. It’s designed to ensure

  • Your team’s work meets the Digital Standards
  • Your service is consistent with the rest of the Veteran-facing Services Platform

Scheduling

  • The checkpoints typically last 1.5 hours and are usually scheduled for Mondays or Wednesday mornings.

  • At least a week before the phase ends, give your DSVA contact potential dates and times when your team can meet with us.

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Who attends

  • Your entire team (remote attendance is fine)
  • 1 to 3 DSVA team members

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How to prepare

At the Checkpoint meeting, you’ll talk about your team’s recommended next steps (and your reasons).

The best way to prepare is to review

  • The questions you wanted to answer during this phase
  • The activities your team did to answer those questions
  • What you learned from those activities
  • Any outstanding questions you might have
  • How what you’ve learned has impacted your plans for the next phase

You should also review the Digital Standards so you’re able to talk about which activities met which standards.

We recommend preparing a presentation to guide the conversation. Post this in your team’s Github “Product” folder so other Veteran-facing Services Platform teams can learn from your team’s work.

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What to expect

The purpose of the Checkpoint is to ensure your team has met the Digital Standards and feels confident about moving to the next phase.

We expect your team to come to the meeting with a recommended outcome. Based on the meeting conversation, together we may decide a different outcome.

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Possible outcomes

  • Move on to next phase — The team feels confident they’ve answered the key questions and are ready to move to the next phase.
  • Spend more time in current phase — The team has additional questions that need to be answered before moving to the next phase.
  • Stop the project — The research or testing findings from this phase indicate that the project should be pivoted, paused, or stopped.

    Stopping the project is not a failure.

    Our goal is to understand users and find out what they need. This may mean you need to change plans or take a new direction. Finding this out before building or launching is the best possible outcome.

    Your team should recommend stopping if your findings show

    • There’s no user need for the service you planned to build
    • User needs are already being met by another service — whether government or private-sector
    • Technology or policy constraints mean you won’t be able to build a service that meets the user needs you have found
    • It’s not cost-effective to develop the service

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Getting help

  • If you have any questions about the Checkpoint or how to prepare, ask your DSVA contact.