Sluggish Economy Pushes US Government toward Agile Development
Government agencies have long been accused, and rightfully so, of taking forever to get anything done, especially when budgets, contracts, and major overhauls are involved.
With governments from local to federal levels facing “unprecedented budget problems,” agile development is being adopted slowly but surely—even at the Department of Defense.
Computerworld pointed out in a recent story that while government agencies spend “about $80 billion a year on IT,” it’s not just the money that is harming government software projects.
Kris van Riper, managing director at CEB, a member-based advisory firm, goes into why the government is finally ready for a change. van Riper says, "Planning out multiyear projects where you don't see the deliverables for extended time periods in a traditional waterfall method really isn't going to work."
Another reason for the shift to agile, and one that the US government has actually been participating in for a number of years now, is the government’s willingness to embrace collaboration and even open source software. Whether collaborating closely with customers to ensure software satisfaction or the DOD’s recent use of GitHub, the willingness of government agencies to start down the road to agile is a promising sign for the future.
In July 2012, the US Government Accountability Office completed a lengthy report that detailed ten agile-based practices that were tried by five different government agencies. Some of those practices included:
- Obtaining stakeholder/customer feeback frequently
- Empowering small, crossfunctional teams
- Tracking progress daily and visibly
- Continuing to improve agile adoption at both the project and organizational level
Of course, no one simply “becomes” agile, especially on their first attempt, and the GAO report (which can be downloaded here) points out fourteen “challenges” that were experienced by the agencies. Those challenges were not surprising, as they’re occasionally experienced even by those who have been practicing agile for years. The challenges mentioned:
- Teams had difficulty managing iterative requirements
- Federal reporting practices did not align with agile
- Teams had difficulty collaborating closely
- Agile guidance was not clear
The United States obviously isn’t the only country facing economic difficulties nor is it the only country giving agile a try. The United Kingdom has invested 100 million pounds in a “digital framework” to “formally push agile into the centre of IT government departments."
Agile has proven time and time again to work on projects of all sizes. Succeeding in the bureaucracies of governments may be the methodology’s biggest challenge yet.
