Agile Trends in Government: Lean and Agile Method Adoption and Delivery in the Public Sector Presented by Arlen Bankston PMI 2014 Symposium

1. Agile Trends in Government
Lean and agile method adoption and delivery in the public sector

2. Meet your Presenter
Arlen Bankston
• Co-Founder of LitheSpeed, LLC
• User experience & product
development background
• 15 years of Agile experience
• Certified Scrum Trainer, Lean Six
Sigma Master Black Belt
• Entrepreneur, trainer and consultant
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3. Agenda
• A Brief Timeline
• Driving Factors
• Restraining Factors
• Case Studies
• What’s Next?
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4. A Brief Timeline

5. Who’s Adopted Agile?
Companies large & small, across industries.
• AFBA
• BLS
• BMC Software
• Boeing
• British Telecom
• Business Week
• Capital One
• CCP Games
• CDC
• Cognizant
• CSC
• DoD
• DTE Energy
• EMC
• EPA
• General Dynamics
• Google
• Halliburton
• JP Morgan Chase
• Key Bank
• Kronos
• Lockheed Martin
• Macquarie Bank
• Marriott
• Microsoft
• National Archives
• National Geographic
• Nationwide
• OPower
• Primavera
• ProRail
• Sapient
• Shell
• Siemens
• Shopzilla
• USAA
• US Intelligence Agencies
• US PTO
• US Veterans Affairs
• Yahoo!
Agile is being used:
• In large and small companies
• Across virtually every industry
• In public and private sectors
• On life- and mission-critical projects
• With collocated and distributed teams
• In internal IT departments, commercial
product companies and consultancies
• On software and non-software projects
Federal Government Drivers:
• FCIO Vivek Kundra’s 25 point program
• DoD CIO’s Agile Acquisition program
• OMB Circular A-130
• FCIO Steve VanRoekel’s Digital
Government Strategy
• Todd Park’s Presidential Innovation
Fellows Program
Agile is Mainstream
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6. Government Agile Adoption is Increasing
“The Government intends to use agile in
information and communications
technology (ICT) procurement and delivery
to reduce the risk of project failure.
[Agile is not] solely a method for improving
software development. It is also a
technique for successful ICT-enabled
business change. “
United Kingdom National Audit Office
(NAO)
Scrum Alliance State of Scrum Report 2013
https://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum/state-of-scrum-report

7. The past decade has seen a
big rise in agile certifications.
Leading certifications:
• Scrum Alliance Certified
ScrumMaster, Product Owner,
Developer & Professional
• PMI Agile Certified Practitioner
• SAFe Program Consultant
• Scrum.org
• IC Agile
Source: The Scrum Alliance
Agile Certification Trends
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8. Driving Factors
for Agile Adoption in the Government

9. 5 Driving Factors
1. Large Failures & Consequences
2. Government Demand
3. Need for Rapid Adaptation
4. Commercial Success
5. Scaled Agile Approaches
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“Agile & Lean are past the tipping point. Waterfall is in decline.”
Gartner 12/09

10. Large Failures & Their Consequences
Project Scope Results
USAF Expeditionary
Combat Support
7 years Canceled after $1.1b investment,
no delivery
USMC Global Combat
Support System
10 years Ongoing, expected 1000% budget
overrun
3,555 projects surveyed
by Standish Group…
Budget >= $10m
6.4% success rate
Budget $750K to $3M – 19% chance of success
Budget >$10M – 2% chance of success
The Standish Group
Big Bang Boom – The Standish Group
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11. Government Demand
“To meet customer requirements on schedule
and within budget, we have built an
integrated agile software design and
development process… with modification to
ensure safety for space operations.”
- NASA Ames, JSC & JPL
“How can we encourage IT professionals to keep
up with contemporary best practices while still
maintaining appropriate oversight for government
purposes?”
- Mark Schwartz, CIO
United States Citizenship & Immigration Services
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12. Need for Rapid Adaptation
Sec. 804. Implementation of
New Acquisition Process for
Information Technology Systems.
…shall be designed to include—
A. early and continual involvement of the user;
B. multiple, rapidly executed increments or releases of
capability;
C. early, successive prototyping to support an
evolutionary approach; and
D. a modular, open-systems approach.
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13. Commercial Success of Agile Methods
Thanks to VersionOne, 2013 State of Agile Development Survey
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14. Observed Improvements from Agile Methods
Thanks to VersionOne, 2013 State of Agile Development Survey
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15. Scaled Agile Approaches
Detailed frameworks for scaling agile are growing
in popularity due to their seeming ease of
adoption.
• Scaled Agile
Framework (SAFe)
• Disciplined Agile
Delivery (DAD)
• Large-Scale
Scrum (LeSS)
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16. Restraining Factors
for Agile Adoption in the Government

17. 5 Restraining Factors
1. Supply Unequal to Demand
2. Discomfort with Iteration
3. A Penchant for Big & Complex
4. Procurement Mismatches
5. Siloed Adoption
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18. Agile Supply & Demand
Many recent government RFPs
have asked for agile expertise.
However, while there is a growing body of
certified professionals, a low percentage of
these have deep lean and agile
experience in complex project
environments, given the relative novelty of
the movement.
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19. Discomfort with Iteration
Are fixed, detailed plans the
best way to address complexity?
• NASA iterated to the moon
• Empire State Building
construction details driven
by daily steel availability
“An effective test is an exercise in humility;
it’s only useful in a culture where desirability is
not confused with likelihood.” - Clay Shirky
http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2013/11/healthcare-gov-and-the-gulf-between-planning-and-reality/19

20. A Penchant for Big & Complex
FBI Sentinel case management system
• 2004: Canceled Virtual Case File
initiative after $170m spent
• 2006: $600m spent, nothing delivered
• 2010: Half done and $100m over budget
• 2012: Delivered via
Scrum, came in under
new$306m budget
http://www.cio.com/article/2392970/agile-development/how-the-fbi-proves-agile-works-for-government-agencies.html
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21. Procurement Mismatches
• A ScrumMaster alone does not make an
Agile team
• Clearances and degree requirements
limit available agile talent
• Engaging multiple vendors
complicates delivery
• Fixed price and scope,
Lowest Bid Technically
Acceptable RFPs
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22. Siloed Adoption
• Agile needs
engagement
• Culture change drives
agile adoptions
• All parties must understand and play the
game collaboratively
• Contract vehicles must support
collaborative behavior
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23. GAO Report Top Challenges
1. Teams had difficulty collaborating closely.
2. Procurement practices may not support Agile projects.
3. Teams had difficulty transitioning to self-directed work.
4. Customers did not trust iterative solutions.
5. Staff had difficulty committing to more timely and frequent input.
6. Teams had difficulty managing iterative requirements.
7. Agencies had trouble committing staff.
8. Compliance reviews were difficult to execute within an iteration time
frame.
9. Timely adoption of new tools was difficult.
10. Federal reporting practices do not align with Agile.
11. Technical environments were difficult to establish and maintain.
12. Traditional artifact reviews do not align with Agile.
13. Agile guidance was not clear.
14. Traditional status tracking does not align with Agile.
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24. Case Studies

25. A Space Agile Implementation
Clear goals and practices:
• Consistent 2 week Sprints
• Testable builds available on
demand (avg. lead time <4 hours)
• All development activities
are performed within the sprint
• <20% Bugs Identified in Hardening Phase
• Cross Functional Feature Teams
• Average Story Size = 2 days
• Definition of Done: Coded, Reviewed, Checked-in, Integrated,
Tested, Meets Acceptance Criteria, No Bugs
• Retrospectives Every 2 Weeks
Thanks to ManTech, Steve Vanaria and Matt Vandergrift25

26. In Process
To Do
Status of Process/
Practice Change
Complete
A Space Goals and Iterative Change Process
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• Decompose Stories into
Smaller Chunks
• Do not allow stories >13 into
Sprints
• Reduce Sprints to 2 weeks
• Never extend/shorten sprints
• Plan sprints based
on velocity
• Prioritize sprint backlog after
sprint demos
Thanks to ManTech, Steve Vanaria and Matt Vandergrift26

27. A Space Results
as measured by defects found in regression testing
Higher Quality
134
40
Spring 2011
Release
Current
Release
70% reduction
in defects
2.9
4.6
7.4
Fall 2010
Release
Spring 2011
Release
Current Release
as measured by feature per month
Faster Delivery
0.42 0.35
1.2
Fall 2010
Release
Spring 2011
Release
Current
Release
240% increase
in productivity
as measured by feature per man month
Higher Productivity
60% increase in speed
Thanks to ManTech, Steve Vanaria and Matt Vandergrift27

28. USCIS Agile Transformation Driving Factors
1. Cost reduction
2. Risk reduction
3. Short cycle time
4. Improved quality
5. Improved security
“Agile vs waterfall isn’t the
point. We just need
something that works.”
Mark Schwartz, CIO,
Citizenship & Immigration
Services
Thanks to Mark Schwartz, USCIS CIO28

29. USCIS Agile Transformations
The Old Way
Big upfront requirements & design
Success means following a plan
Costly, heavyweight process
Encouragements to game system
Gantt Chart
The New Way
High transparency
Focus on quality and cycle time
Cumulative Flow Chart
Aim for business value, not complianc
Validate process, value, people, culture
Thanks to Mark Schwartz, USCIS CIO29

30. USCIS PaP Program
USCIS OIT Processes and Practices (PaP)
is facilitating enterprise agile adoption through
support such as coaching and training.
“We want to be a model of a high performing team
for USCIS. Through situationally relevant
approaches, we want to exemplify transparency,
bring diverse viewpoints, and benefit from healthy
conflict towards a common objective of sustainable
agility to support USCIS mission needs.”
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Josh Seikel, USCIS OIT

31. Todd Park & the Lean Startup
Former federal CTO Todd Park
applied Lean Startup and agile
methods to rapidly deliver targeted
solutions such as:
• Healthcare.gov (no, not that one)
• Innovation Pathway 2.0
• Open Data Initiatives
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32. What’s Next?

33. Guidance from the OMB – The TechFAR
“The TechFAR consists of a handbook, which
discusses relevant FAR authorities and includes
practice tips, sample language, and a compilation
of FAR provisions that are relevant to Agile
software development.”
Digital Services
Playbook
https://github.com/WhiteHouse/playbook/blob/gh-pages/_includes/techfar-online.md
http://playbook.cio.gov/33

34. 18F
18F is a high-performance, agile
technology team under the GSA
working to help various agencies create
better digital solutions.
It currently consists of:
• Presidential Innovation Fellows Program
• A digital delivery team
https://18f.gsa.gov/34

35. A Peek Into the Future…
Underway:
• Presidential Innovation Fellows
program Brings audacious consultants to
the White House for brief “tours of duty”
• Embedding government workers with tech
companies is the focus of another recent
program
Maybe later:
• Allowing government agencies to evaluate and
hire job candidates directly
• A GSA department focused on big public
websites35

36. Guidance from the GAO
1. Start with agile guidance and an agile
adoption strategy
2. Enhance migration to agile concepts
using agile terms and examples
3. Continuously improve agile adoption at
project and organization levels
4. Look to identify and address impediments at the
organization and project levels
5. Get stakeholder/customer feedback often
6. Empower small, cross-functional teams
7. Include requirements related to security and progress monitoring in your
queue of unfinished work
8. Gain trust by showing value at the end of each iteration
9. Use tools and metrics to track progress
10. Track progress daily and openly
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37. Guidance from the UK’s
1. Governance should mirror the philosophy of Agile
methods – only do a task if it brings value to the
business and does not introduce delays.
2. Agile delivery teams should decide on the empirical
performance metrics they will use and self-monitor.
3. Senior management, external assessors, business
users and the ICT team should be partners in quality,
and this collaborative approach is an essential change
in mindset.
4. External assessment or reviews of Agile delivery should
focus on the teams’ behaviours and not just
processes and documentation.
http://www.nao.org.uk/report/governance-for-agile-delivery-4/
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38. Agile in Government References
• 25 Point Plan - Vivek Kundra
• Contracting Guidance to Support Modular
Development - OMB
• Effective Practices and Federal
Challenges in Applying Agile Methods –
GAO
• Obama’s Trauma Team - Time
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39. Contact LitheSpeed for Further Information
Arlen Bankston
Arlen.Bankston@lithespeed.co
m
www.lithespeed.com
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