Presented Singapore Scrum Gathering July 2017

1. A Journey through Agile in
the Government

2. Richard Cheng - @RichardKCheng
• Agile trainer & coach
• CST, CSP, CSM, CSPO, PMP, PMI-ACP, SAFe SPC,
Certified Less Practitioner, CAL 1, Certified
Enterprise Scrum Trainer
• Founder & executive committee member of
Agile Delivery for Agencies, Programs, and
Teams (ADAPT)
• Experience in government and commercial
Agile transformations

3. I’m going to talk about…
 Bringing Agile to Government
 Scaling
 Contracts
 Culture
 The Future

4. 2007 – Motley Fool

6. Team 34

7. 2009 – Office of
Personnel Management

9. "After failing three times to modernize the federal
retirement system with the big bang approach,
the Office of Personnel Management is taking a new
tack that focuses on incremental changes*.”
*http://www.federalnewsradio.com/86/1937813/OPM-Director-John-Berry-promises-big-changes-for-hiring-
retention-retirement

12. Agile Manifesto
Individuals and interactions over Process and tools
Working software over Comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over Contract negotiation
Responding to change over Following a plan
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by
doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have
come to value:
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value
the items on the left more.
http://agilemanifesto.org/

13. Focus
Openness
Respect
Courage
Commitment

14. Scrum Values
Focus
Openness
Respect
Courage
Commitment

15. Identify the Value
Previous efforts tried to do a lot:

16. Identify the Value

18. Scrum Overview
Product Vision
Roadmap
Day
Sprint…
…
…
Plan
Day
Day
Daily Scrum
Review
Retro
Sprint
Plan
Review
Retro
Idea
Initiation Release
Plan
Release Release
Plan
Plan
Time

20. Quality Engineering
Do This First
1. Version
Control
2. Build
Automation
3. Automated
Unit Testing
4. Continuous
Integration
Next Do This
5. Static Code
Analysis
6. Dependency
Management
Then Do This
7. Automated
Integration
Testing
8. Automated
Acceptance
Testing
9. Deployment
Automation

22. Mr. Kenneth Zawodney in statements before Congress*:
How Agile has helped:
“..Modernize our IT infrastructure incrementally, employing a cost effective and
efficient modular approach to transition away from paper and into the modern
era…”
Results:
• “…Establishing the capability of gathering electronic data..”
• “…In 2012, we launched the Data Viewer…”
• “..11 agencies are in a pilot for the Data Viewer..”
• “..Continue to deploy the Data Viewer to all agencies within the Federal
government…”
*http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Mr.-ZAWODNY-Testimony.pdf

24. Agile Adoption
Retirement
Systems
Service
Credit
Services
Online

25. Support Team
Endeavor
Core
Galactica
BI/Reports
Odyssey
Data WH
Infinity
Onboarding
Serenity
Core
• Managers
• Customer
Comms
• DBAs
• Sys Admins
• 508 Lead
• Security
• Test
Coordinato
r
• PO
• SM
• Archite
ct
• Devs
• BAs
• PO
• SM
• Architect
• Admin
• Devs
• BAs
• PO
• SM
• Architect
• ETL
• SQL
Expert
• Devs
• BAs
• PO
• SM
• Architect
• Devs
• BAs
• PO
• SM
• Architect
• Devs
• BAs
Super Product Owner

26. Large Scale Scrum (LeSS)

27. Scaled Agile Framework™
Big Picture

30. Agile and Federal Contracts
Agile Projects
Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3 …..
BPA / IDIQ
Task Order 1 Task Order 2 Task Order 3 …..

31. Acquisition /
Procurement
• Contracting professionals:
o Work early and often with the business
o Training and coaching
• Request for Proposals:
o State desired outcome, not statements of work
o Smaller, shorter contracts
o Past experiences based on results, not knowledge
• Governance
o Shift away from approval before start to acceptance when
complete
o Govern outcomes and milestones, not work and sequencing

35. Fixed Date / Fixed Scope
• Outcomes of Fixed Date / Fixed Scope projects:
o Waterfall
1. Delivered _____ and working ________
2. “Delivered” _____ … with ______
3. Cannot deliver on time, ______
o Scrum
1. Delivered _____ and working ________
2. The _____ items are _______ by the requested
date and working _______
• Be cautious of sacrificing quality to meet dates

36. Fixed Date / Fixed Scope
• Outcomes of Fixed Date / Fixed Scope projects:
o Waterfall
1. Delivered on time and working as expected
2. “Delivered” on time … with issues
3. Cannot deliver on time, need to extend
o Scrum
1. Delivered on time and working as expected
2. The highest valued stories are delivered by the
requested date and working as expected
• Do not sacrifice quality to meet dates

37. Missed Deadline?
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Work Remaining
Project Due Date

40. 2011 – ADAPT

45. Right about here

46. Agile in Government

47. The Future

48. The Future

49. Contact Information
Richard K Cheng
richard.cheng@excella.com
703-967-8620
http://www.excella.com
Twitter: @RichardKCheng