The document discusses recommendations from a taskforce on improving government IT projects, which often experience large failures and costs. It recommends adopting an agile approach to projects through modular development, user focus, and iterative testing. The government ICT strategy has partially adopted the recommendations, including establishing agile pilot projects and centers of excellence to help implement more efficient and responsive digital services.

1. System Error: Fixing the Flaws in Government IT
Presentation to Agile on the Beach
Jerrett Myers
September 15th 2011

2. Government ICT is traditionally seen as a risk to be
managed rather than an opportunity to be exploited
Current situation
• £16 billion a year spent on government IT
• Large scale failures notorious
• Huge challenges remain
Potential is huge
• Opening up government and increasing transparency
• Delivering more efficient public services
• Significant cost savings and faster delivery

3. System Error: Research Approach
Taskforce
-8 key members
-Drawn from government & private CIOs;
senior civil servants & leading thinkers
Piloting a project Interviews
- Home Office in partnership with Met - Whitehall, suppliers, SMEs
- Provided real-time input & evidence - Journalists, leading thinkers
Survey of Government CIOs Workshops
- On ‘tight-loose’ balance - Agile in government
- Agile enterprise wide

4. The challenge facing government IT
IT is evolving
• Fast paced industry
• Constantly changing the world in unpredictable ways
Government inertia
• Slow procurement process – 77 weeks; project delays
• Requirements obsolete; high cost of change
• Over customisation; low user focus
Policies are complex
• Relationship between IT and policy has changed
• No longer simply converting paper process to electronic ones
• IT now asked to address complex and ‘wicked’ problems

5. Key recommendations
Shared system wide approach to simplifying IT
• Commoditisation
Platform • Coordination
• Common standards
• Modularity
• Iterative development
Agile
• Responsiveness to change
• Putting users at the core

6. The Result
How was System Error received?
System Error recommendations Government ICT Strategy
Stronger CIO Partially adopted
Platform approach Adopted
New governance structure Adopted
Trial agile projects Adopted
Agile centres of excellence Adopted
Review project approval processes Partially adopted
Review future supply contracts Partially adopted

7. Government ICT Strategy: Agile components
Identify a pilot project within each department to prove
and embed the agile approach March 2012
Identify and agree the common technology components
that are needed to underpin agile development March 2012
Establish an approach and capabilities for agile delivery in
government which can be replicated across departments March 2012
Create a ‘virtual’ centre of excellence across government
and the private sector which can enable fast start-up and March 2013
mobilisation for agile projects
Government will apply agile methods to ICT procurement
Government Skunkworks to develop agile solutions

8. Moving forward: Key challenges for
implementing agile in government
Culture Skills Governance Commercial

9. Key questions for the Institute: Governance
and accountability
Who is responsible for each element of the ICT Strategy?
Is there a clear success criteria they are responsible for?
How are they being held to account for achieving the criteria?
To review Strategic Implementation Plan (October)