Slides from my talk at Agile DC 2016, about ways to break down highly valuable and highly complex problems. Especially when you're trying to transform legacy systems and can't wipe everything out and start from scratch.

1. From complexity to clarity in one week
with Enterprise Design Sprints
Lisa Schlecht
Recharted Territory, LLC
Navigating complex systems, simply
lisa_schlecht@rechartedterritory.com

2. 2
…sometimes we get, I think, in the scientific
community, the tech community, the entrepreneurial
community, the sense of we just have to blow up the
system, or create this parallel society and culture
because government is inherently wrecked.
No, it's not inherently wrecked; it's just government
has to care for, for example, veterans who come
home.
…And that's hard and it's messy, and we're building
up legacy systems that we can't just blow up.
— President Barack Obama
2

3. 3
Agile in a start-up vs. an enterprise

4. 4
22+ million
customers
Variety of third
party B2B
relationships
Department of Veterans AffairsCustomers
Congress
White House
Agencies
(ex. Department
of Defense &
Department of
Labor)
Government
Partners
Self-Service Portals
Mission to serve
Lifetime of benefits &
services to offer
Aggregate customer
data
Public & private
partnerships
Paper-based business
processes
Organizational
dynamics
Data quality & sharing
Transitioning from
legacy systems
Opportunities
Challenges
Value
Complexity &
Challenges
Improve customer satisfaction | Reduce
backlog and wait times | Modernize
Goals

5. 5
Difficulty reconciling modern
experiences and legacy systems
Long product design cycle
Less than ideal response from
users and stakeholders
Stack of presentations and
white papers with no plans to execute
Sound familiar?
Valuable problems ignored in
favor of low-hanging fruit
Multiple stakeholders, business lines, and
solution partners not on the same page
No single completely
informed decision maker
No focus beyond the latest fire
Issues

6. 6
Sometimes if you want to see a change for
the better, you have to take things into
your own hands.
— Clint Eastwood
6

7. 7
Take a systems view
Identify your target
Work backwards from the vision
Take the first step
Tackling complexity
Scale your product and processes
Complexity
Clarity
Execution
7

8. 8
Design
Sprints
Human-
Centered
Design
Systems
Engineering
Agile
Inspired by other techniques

9. 9
Target Outputs
• Minimum viable
product prototype
• Vision prototype
• Roadmap
• Validated assumptions
• Action items
Additional Outputs
• List of customers,
stakeholders, processes, and
systems impacted
• User and business needs
• Success criteria
• Concepts
• As-is and to-be
• Customer journeys
• Business processes
• System diagrams
Prepare
Run through the
Enterprise Design
Sprint Activities
Execute &
Coordinate
Helpful Inputs
• User research
• Business process
• System analysis
• Industry trends
• Strategic vision and goals

10. 10
As-Is High-Level
To-Be
Detailed
To-Be
Prototyping Reviews
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Prepare
Run through the
Enterprise Design
Sprint Activities
Execute &
Coordinate

11. 11
• Sprint goals
• User needs
• Business needs
• Success criteria
• As-is customer journey
• As-is business process
• As-is technical systems
DAY 1
As-is
The Typical Employer Hiring Process
SmallBusinessEmployersLargeCompanyEmployers
By: Lisa Schlecht (SRA)
Identify Resource
Needs
Define Job
Requirements
Post Job
Receive/Review
Resumes
Coordinate
Commitments/
Incentives with
Gov’t
Interview Manage Data Track Activity
Make Offers/
Rejections
Onboard New Hire
Identify Resource
Needs
Define Job
Requirements
Post Job
Receive/Review
Resumes
Coordinate
Commitments/
Incentives with
Gov’t
Interview Manage Data Track Activity
Make Offers/
Rejections
Onboard New Hire
Active Recruitment
Assess Available
Population

12. 12
• Idea generation
• Idea categorization
• Idea rating
• Minimum viable product
(MVP) concept
• Vision concept
• To-be customer
journey(s)
• To-be business
process(es)
• To-be technical systems
DAY 2
High level to-be

13. 13
• Storyboarding
• Detailed process
modeling
• Detailed technical
modeling
DAY 3
Detailed to-be

14. 14
• Prototyping
• Business model
playbook
• Roadmapping
DAY 4
Prototyping
Phase IV:
“Career Paths and
Training”
Phase I:
MVP “Employment
Marketplace”
Phase II:
“Improved Employer
and Job Seeker Searches”
Phase III:
“Improved Skill
Matching”
EmployerJobSeekerSupportSystem
Search resumes
Post jobs
Search job seeker skills/
characteristics (drill down
from aggregate data)
Improve
description of skills/
characteristics required
for position
Reverse
skills translation
Search job seekers
based on potential
Search for training
incentives
Search jobs
Build resume
Translate military
skills
Search for employers based
on hiring commitments,
Veteran owned companies
(drill down from aggregate
data)
Existing government
resources
Coaching to prepare for
employer contact
Search employers
based on skills
required to work there
Search for Veteran
mentors at the
company
Veterans who were
hired return as
mentors
Search jobs and
employers based on
career path
Search for training/
educational
opportunties
Government financial
incentives to offset
training costs
Crowdsource
education/training
opportunities
Tracking job
seeker progress
Connectoffline
Indicateinterest
Inviteto
interview

15. 15
• User reviews
• Business stakeholder
reviews
• Technical partner
reviews
• Executive reviews
• Retrospective
DAY 5
Reviews

16. 16
Prepare
Run through the
Enterprise Design
Sprint Activities
Execute &
Coordinate
• De-brief
• Decide what to do with the MVP
• Set up systems for success
• Scale your impact

17. 17
Prepare
Run through the
Enterprise Design
Sprint Activities
Execute &
Coordinate
As-Is
• User needs
• Business needs
• Success criteria
• As-is customer
journey
• As-is business
process
• As-is technical
systems
High-Level To-Be Detailed To-Be Prototyping Reviews
• Idea generation
• Idea
organization
• Idea rating
• To-be customer
journey
• To-be business
process
• To-be technical
systems
• Storyboarding
• Detailed
process
modeling
• Detailed
technical
modeling
• User reviews
• Business
stakeholder
reviews
• Technical
partner reviews
• Executive
reviews
• Prototyping
• Business model
playbook
• Roadmapping
Check out www.rechartedterritory.com for more details, including tips and worksheets.