This document discusses how government organizations can achieve success using Agile methods. It notes that 78% of businesses feel requirements are out of sync with projects and only 20% of application features are used. Agile values individuals, working software, customer collaboration and responding to change over processes, documentation, contract negotiation and following a plan. The document outlines challenges governments face with bureaucracy, policies and complexity and suggests decomplicating processes and applying the "pants principle" of simple team-driven processes. It proposes adapting the "Iron Triangle" to prioritize epics and executing projects in small slices using a Scrum-based Earned Value Management approach.

1. Chasing Windmills?
Getting Agile Success
in Government
Paul M. Boos

3. Which do we see?

4. Why should we care?

5. Value

6. Speed

8. Why
doesn’t
the Gov’t
use Agile?

11. Ahhh…
Software Engineeing
What’s your Success Rate?

12. 78% feel biz reqmts out of sync with project reqmts
75% of Software Projects: DOOMED from Start
≅55% of projects have clear biz objectives
Source: 2011 Geneca Survey

13. % Application Features Used
7%
13%
Rarely/Never
Occasionally
16% Often
64% Always Only 20%!!
Source: 2002 Standish Report

15. Business Software is a Craft

16. It takes skill…
…and

17. Creativity

19. So…
Certainly SOMEONE has
created a better way

20. Yep, some really,
really, really
Smart People
gathered in Snowbird, Utah
and created the …

21. Manifesto for Agile Software
Development
We are uncovering better ways of developing software
by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes
and tools Working software over comprehensive
documentation Customer collaboration over
contract negotiation Responding to change over
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we

22. Where does Agile fit?
>
Understanding Waterfall
Of Problem
Agile or
Agile
Agile
and
<
< Understanding
>
Of Solution

23. Challenges

24. Bureaucracy?

25. Gov’t Organizations
Tend to be here! (almost by sheer size)
This model courtesy of Jurgen Appelo; please visit his blog at http://noop.nl

26. Policy?

27. Brings Order?

28. Gov’t Policies
Tend to be here! (in theory)
This model courtesy of Jurgen Appelo; please visit his blog at http://noop.nl

29. Complexity or
Complication?

30. Teams
Tend to be here! (in reality)
This model courtesy of Jurgen Appelo; please visit his blog at http://noop.nl

31. Complicated + Complex
Overrides Ordered + Simple
+ =
Process Team Result

32. 1
2
Best Case
3
…
n Worse Case

33. We don’t take time
to read (or write)
our policies…

34. We let others tell us
what the policies
mean…

35. What about…

36. Systems Development Life-Cycle (SDLC)
Simplify
Simple Process = Easy Auditing
Focus on Delivering Business Value
Align Milestones w/Releasable Software

38. Top Down Support
Agile Success
Grass Roots Motivation

39. Strive to decomplicate…
Help teams operate as simple and ordered as possible.
This model courtesy of Jurgen Appelo; please visit his blog at http://noop.nl

40. Perfection is achieved, not when
there is nothing more to add, but
when there is nothing
left to take away.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

41. Apply the pants principle…
Simple process adopted by the
team doing the work.
+
Process Team

42. “…reducing costs requires a
better way to organize work, not
better cost information.”
-H. Thomas Johnson
(paraphrased)

43. Hesitate Δing
for 1 problem

44. Enterprise Architecture

45. Graft and Prune EA Components

46. The Iron Triangle Agilified

47. An Approach for
Executing Projects w/Agility
Scope Prioritized Epics Scope
Epic 1
Epic 2
Epic 3
Estimate
Work to…
Epic 4
Epic 5
…
Budget Schedule > Budget Schedule
Budget/Schedule + Mgmt Reserve

48. Execute on
small slices!

49. Classic EVM
Deploy
$
Develop
01001101
11101000
10010010
Design
Analyze

52. Scrum Process
Release Plan
Release

53. Scrum-based EVM
$
Release

56. Manifesto for Agile Software
Development
We are uncovering better ways of developing software
by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value: those
Reward
building the
Individuals and interactionsproduct in
over processes
and tools Working software over comprehensive
working
documentation Customer collaboration over
together over
contract negotiation Responding to change
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we

57. Manifesto for Agile Software
Development
We are uncovering better ways of developing software
by doing it and helping others do it.
Reward risk-taking/innovation;
Through this work we have come to value:
penalize only non-contained
Individuals and interactions over processes
failures
and tools Working software over comprehensive
documentation Customer collaboration over
contract negotiation Responding to change over
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we

58. Manifesto for Agile Software
Development
We are uncovering better ways of developing software
by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Reward product meeting needs
Individuals and interactions over processes
over on-time/on-schedule comprehensive
and tools Working software over
documentation Customer collaboration over
contract negotiation Responding to change over
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we

59. Manifesto for Agile Software
Development
We are uncovering better ways of developing software
by doing it and helping others do it.
Reward working product to value:
Through this work we have come
Individuals and interactions over processes
and tools Working software over comprehensive
documentation Customer collaboration over
contract negotiation Responding to change over
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we

60. Set a vision…
and

63. There’s nothing
to fear.

64. http://coactivate.org/projects/agile-influencers-of-dc
Paul Boos
@paul_boos
paul.boos@santeon.com