Innovation in Government — Interview with Dirk Wegener of ITZBund
Dirk Wegener has been with ITZBund, the IT service provider for the German federal government, for 17 years. In his role as a software architect, he supports the development of e-government projects such as the federal user account Nutzerkonto Bund. In 2018, he supported the Tech4Germany initiative as a mentor.
You’ve been working in government for 17 years now, first in Customs, then at the Federal Information Technology Center (ITZBund). What do you like about the projects and your work?
The topic of IT and digitalization is just fantastic and it’s fun to work in such a dynamic environment. The technical implementation of IT projects is very exciting and challenging. The projects I am involved in offer added value for the entire federal administration, as well as directly for the citizens themselves. That’s what attracts me — when a project has such a large scale and you can achieve a real impact with it.
Have the projects and their scope changed during your time at the ITZBund?
Yes, I’ve noticed that over the years the significance of IT as well as the value and extent of the projects have increased significantly. The digitalization of industry and administration continues to move into the public spotlight and is also being discussed much more in the media. For me, this is an indication that IT projects are highly relevant.
This year you were involved as a mentor for Tech4Germany. What was one of the most important things you got out of the project?
For me, the fellowship confirmed that IT teams should be more interdisciplinary. In my role as a mentor, it was especially exciting to observe how people from different disciplines interacted with each other and worked on projects together. Through this type of teamwork, we could view the project requirements from different perspectives and choose different approaches for project implementation.
I think it’s much more promising if a project team works in an interdisciplinary manner, where skills beyond just software development are present. Other skills and competencies (e.g. in the field of user experience) also determine whether an IT solution will produce practical benefits in the future and offer users actual value. For me, this interdisciplinary project approach is therefore an important criterion for the success of IT projects.
How would you compare your day-to-day work with that of your time at Tech4Germany?
In government, we currently still have a severe separation in most software projects between the consulting to create documentation about requirements and the development to actually create the software.
Often these are two more or less separate projects with only a few points of intersection. What I took away from our fellowship project was the approach that we first construct a prototype and then check if we’re developing things in the right direction. As I see it, this allows us to create a stronger link between requirements and implementation.
These regular checks as to whether we are on the right track are, in my opinion, one of the most important issues. At ITZBund, we are very interested in using agile methods in the execution of our projects, especially due to our past experiences. We’re currently gathering experience here and developing more in this direction towards agile project work.
What does the development process in government look like?
Usually, the first step is to write down the requirements that come from the specialist side, such as the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) or a coordinating body, on the basis of requirement engineering specifications. Each requirement must be formulated in such a way that it is consistent, unambiguous and atomic. In addition to these functional requirements, we also deal with requirements from areas such as information security, data protection, and accessibility, among others. As soon as this documentation is ready, the technical implementation begins.
Where do you see problems with this approach?
Often we are faced with the challenge of formulating the requirements linguistically in such a way that they can be understood and implemented one-to-one. Even just in this process, problems can arise that lead to delays in implementation later in the project.
If, one day, the head of the ITZBund were to say, “From now on, we will work in the ITZBund completely user-centered, agile and iterative,” would that be feasible?
Such an approach is only partially feasible and effective. On the one hand, as an IT service provider for the federal government, we want to provide fresh momentum for digitalization with new and innovative solutions. To this end, we’re already working on new project management methods. We intensively examine the applicability of new methods in practice and apply them where we think they suit the requirements of our customers and the framework conditions.
On the other hand, such agile working methods are not suitable for all IT projects. In addition to the application of new methods, the “classic” methods and procedures also retain their relevance. For example, V-Modell XT is still used for planning and implementing IT system development projects. In addition, we are constantly developing this model further and adapting it to changing conditions (e.g. from the standpoint of information security). The V-Modell XT already incorporates elements of agile and incremental working methods.
In my opinion, we cannot say that in the future we will only use agile and user-centric methods for IT projects. Rather, we have to consider all project criteria, such as customer requirements, functionality, and aspects of information security and data protection, to decide which method is suitable for which project.
From your point of view, what would have to be changed in order for an agile way of working to be possible?
In many projects we already work with agile project management methods. For example, when developing new software solutions, we use elements of agile working methods.
However, we will not be able to use all the possibilities the agile approach offers us in all projects. For each project, we have to weigh up what the customer wants and how we can optimally shape the collaboration. Many different factors often play a role, so an agile way of working isn’t goal-oriented and sensible for all IT projects.
In your opinion, why do government projects often take longer than citizens expect, compared to the private sector?
Good question. I think there are several aspects to this. For one thing, we work in an environment in which requirements change very quickly as a result of political circumstances — even during the course of the project itself. Often there’s a retrograde calculation of project objectives based on political target dates. If requirements change or new ones are added during the course of the project, this often leads to a project being delayed or rescheduled.
The BMI has recently launched a version of the beta.bund portal this year. Do you think there will be a change of perspective in politics as well?
At the very least, it’s my hope that this will be the case and that other ministries will also adapt this approach. At the same time, I’m convinced that there will be a paradigm shift and that in five years’ time we will be in a different position. Over the last two years in particular, we have noticed that we need to make some changes to the way we work. This is driven firstly by new technology, which we’re dependent on to support, manage, and further develop so many specialized systems, and also by clients who demand ever faster innovation cycles.
How do you think you’ll be positioned in five years compared to today?
It’s difficult to say, given the dynamic and fast-moving environment in which we operate. I do think that the complexity and diversity of the projects will increase.
Due to the pressure to always complete projects within shorter time intervals, we’ll be more agile in handling more projects. I also think we need to move more towards domain-driven design and use this toolset more.
Additionally, I see more development in the standardization of IT solutions and services. In five years’ time, I think we will have added new IT solutions to and expanded our existing portfolio of standardized applications that can be easily integrated into existing IT landscapes/platforms.
How do you think you can best work alongside your customers to serve their needs?
Through intensive dialogue and exchange. It’s the only way we can understand the requirements of our customers and lead projects to long-term success.
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Originally published in German at medium.com on March 4, 2019.
