Transforming government from the inside out: Public sector IT leaders share their stories
Find agile government news, case studies, videos, training, and more at www.agilegovleaders.org.
A panel of federal and local government IT leaders recently gathered to discuss the ups and downs of transforming government at AGL Live, an online community discussion hosted by Agile Government Leadership. Coming from the front lines of change-making at agencies from Santa Clara to D.C., the panelists shared their recommendations for creatively responding to the obstacles that can impede government transformation.
Getting to the heart of agile
Agile approaches have gained recognition as being integral to improving public sector IT and service delivery, but the varying definitions and rituals associated with agile can distract an organization from applying it effectively. The panel was asked how agencies can get beyond the buzzword of agile and start using it in ways that will deliver clear benefits.
Rob Klopp, who led IT modernization efforts at the Social Security Administration and is currently overseeing the start-up of a Digital Services team for California’s Medicaid Management Information Systems (CA-MMIS), says the key is to focus on the most basic intentions of agile.
“Agile is an interesting combination of ideas that has grown out of a long period of time, and it’s really the philosophy behind these ideas that’s important,” said Klopp. “My experience is that a lot of people get hung up on the ritual of agile and miss the philosophy that underlies it.”
Mike Palmer, who leads a team of acquisition strategists at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Digital Service, says that embracing this underlying philosophy within government requires a cultural shift.
“Taking risks, being innovative, failing fast — these are things that federal staff are not motivated to do,” said Palmer. “There are different approaches that are being taken in government to tackle this, both short-term and long-term.”
Palmer says his agency has had success with finding “amazing partners” to “hold the hand of federal programs” and advocate for change. DHS has also seen success with contract competitions to attract vendors that bring an innovative culture to the agency.
“But it all comes back to people,” says Palmer, “And finding ways to motivate them to change. Typically, federal staff want to do amazing things that create better outcomes for their programs — so it’s not a function of folks not wanting to do it, it’s a matter of providing motivational factors to help them along that journey.”
Moving from “command and control” to servant leadership
A fundamental tenet of transformation in an agency is the willingness of leaders to trust their teams, allowing people to manage themselves and learn from their mistakes. Ann Dunkin, who moved mountains in modernization as CIO at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prior to her current role as CIO at the County of Santa Clara, has demonstrated this at both the federal and local level.
Dunkin says C-level executives have a responsibility to get out of the way and show their teams that there is organizational support for transformation.
“Just as ‘command and control’ starts at the top, so does ‘servant leadership’ . . . What we really want to do is give people the autonomy to go out and do the work, make mistakes, and learn from them — while knowing that we’re there to support them. And the only way to do that is to demonstrate that you’re doing it. You find people in the organization who are willing to take a chance, and then you back them.”
Mike Palmer agrees, citing the DHS Procurement Innovation Lab as a place where taking risks and learning from failure are encouraged.
“You won’t get hammered over the head,” he says. “And the leadership will protect you with everything they’ve got — they’ve shown that. It has really paid off in terms of the acquisition community being willing to do some unusual, cool things that they wouldn’t have done a year or two ago, which really benefits the program offices that want to get innovative products and services to support their different mission areas. And it benefits industry being able to break through as well.”
Finding the “real” Product Owner
The Product Owner — the person who represents the user community and decides what features become part of the final product — is an integral part of an agile process. Rob Klopp points out that agencies doing agile are often challenged to pinpoint who should be in this role, mistakenly assigning it to people within the agency such as IT business analysts.
“That’s not a Product Owner,” says Klopp. “Your Product Owner needs to be the real end user . . . If you’re a commercial company, the Product Owner would be your customer, not somebody in Marketing.”
Ann Dunkin points out that the real users of a product or service often are not themselves employed by the government. She describes how the EPA took a creative approach to getting real user feedback for the eManifest Program.
“The real customers — the real Product Owners — were the waste haulers and waste producers,” said Dunkin. “We couldn’t bring them to the table as defined Product Owners, but we also didn’t want the stakeholders to be [the only ones in that role], so we created an advisory committee and sent people out to talk to them, which fundamentally changed the direction of the product. Sometimes you have to get creative . . . making sure you have someone on your team who may not be the literal Product Owner, but can represent the voice of the product on a day-to-day basis.”
Mike Palmer mentions the need for Product Owner training and guidance in government.
“There really isn’t a lot of training within the federal government to teach people how to be Product Owners,” said Palmer. “It’s a cultural shift that’s starting to happen, and I think folks are realizing we need better Product Owners, but we also need to tell them how to do it.”
Palmer says there has been an uptick in government solicitations for agile coaching services — DHS just issued one, and Klopp says the State of California is doing the same.
Preparing contracting officers to buy innovative IT
The contracting office is often the place where modern IT is blocked from making its way into government programs. Panelists were asked how public sector acquisition can be made more friendly to IT innovation.
Brent Maravilla, an acquisition strategist with the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), says the first step is to re-think traditional contracting processes — which are the same for all government purchases, from pencils to tanks — and instead mirror the successful acquisition strategies for modern tech in the private sector.
“We should be be building and buying software the same way that it’s done in the commercial space, as much as humanly possible, while still staying within federal and state regulations,” said Maravilla. “In the federal space there’s actually a lot of leeway; you just need to start thinking creatively.”
Maravilla says USDS developed a training program — Digital IT Acquisition Professional (DITAP) — to help feds learn about modern technology trends like agile, DevOps, cloud, and user centered design.
“Specifically, they learn how to buy it,” said Maravilla. “They learn how to develop acquisition strategies around it, look for the right vendors, identify the right vendor pool, and break down barriers to entry for vendors who are already out there building great products — but who don’t want to do business with the government because it’s extremely difficult and costly.”
Maravilla says USDS is partnering with industry firms and other federal agencies, working to get as many contracting officers as possible through the DITAP program, with the goal of training several thousand IT professionals over the next few years.
The discussion on government transformation showed the progress made in recent years. From the formation of innovative training programs to the interviewing of proxy Product Owners in the field, leaders demonstrate their determination to keep working for the organizational and cultural changes that bring better outcomes to government services.
About AGL:
Agile Government Leadership is a group of public and private sector professionals working to transform government by building community and awareness around modern innovative practices such as agile, DevOps, and human centered design. Join us: www.agilegovleaders.org
