Page 12 - FCW, Nov/Dec 2017

Commentary|BY VENKATAPATHI “PV” PUVVADA
Applying agile to complex programs
VENKATAPATHI “PV” PUVVADA is president
of Unisys U.S. Federal.
Federal agencies are embracing agile development, but new ways of thinking are needed to make it work at government scale
In the past few years, government agencies have recognized the need to embrace agile development methods, which enable teams
to deliver software releases in a matter of a few weeks to ful ll rapidly evolving mission needs. Federal organizations and their external partners have brought in new skills and capabilities to help agencies better understand how to adopt lightweight agile frameworks and methods in the government, where scale, complexity and a unique regulatory environment require special consideration.
However, we have a long way
to go, as evidenced by a recent survey in which federal IT leaders were asked to grade their agencies’ agile development efforts. About 60 percent of respondents gave themselves a C or lower for adopting agile, streamlining their systems’ development processes, and aligning IT management and governance.
It’s not surprising that there
were few As and Bs because agile development is relatively new. It gained prominence in 2001 with
the publication of “Manifesto for Agile Software Development” by
17 pioneers in the eld. Only in the past several years have many of the popular agile frameworks, tools and practices become available to suit the needs of large organizations.
Scaling agile development methods and practices for high- risk and complex modernization initiatives is a signi cant challenge.
However, I have outlined three practices and techniques that can help address the challenges of scaling agile development.
• Enable cultural evolution.
Agile is as much about culture
and core values as it is about principles and practices. Therefore, agency leaders must champion
a lean/agile mindset throughout the organization and improve awareness of how agile processes
Agency leaders must improve awareness of how agile processes work across all functions of the organization.
work across all functions — IT, programs, acquisition, business line/mission owners and end users. For example, program owners typically worry that if they do not address all their requirements in the rst release, they might not get them any time soon. So leaders must establish credibility and let them know that they will get all the features they need in increments every few weeks.
• Combine emergent design with intentional architecture. Agile development uses the principle of emergent design, where the best architectures, requirements and
designs emerge from self-organizing teams and the design evolves hand- in-hand with business functionality. However, that approach is not suf cient for managing large-
scale government programs. Development teams need some intentional architecture — a set of purposeful, planned architectural guidelines that enhance solution design, performance and usability — to provide the guidance needed to ensure that the whole system is t for its purpose.
• Adopt agile governance.
It becomes critical to establish
a governance framework that enables delivery via agile methods while honoring the government’s duciary, security and privacy responsibilities; improving time
to market; and accomplishing the mission outcomes. That governance process must provide the ability for senior government leaders and their industry partners to understand
and manage the risks associated with large-scale modernization. That big-picture view should be simple and at the same time show all aspects of the process. There should be a particular focus on infrastructure readiness, user authentication, data migration, internal/external interfaces, user acceptance, user training, a security authorization process and end-to- end performance testing.
Ultimately, the key to success is ensuring that all agile development efforts align to help agencies achieve mission objectives. n
10 November/December 2017 FCW.COM