Page 54 - FCW, May/June 2018

FCWPerspectives
The road to modernization
The drive for IT transformation is reaching far beyond technology into every aspect of agency operations
IT modernization is expected to transform activities as diverse as cybersecurity, citizen services and data analytics. So it’s not surprising that agency IT teams are being pulled in a dozen different directions.
On March 13, FCW gathered a group of federal leaders to discuss how the conversation about modernization is changing and whether they are making progress on their goals. Participants said the technology challenges can be daunting, but as is often the case in government, they pale in comparison to the cultural changes involved. Nevertheless, the executives expressed optimism and excitement about the capabilities that modernization can bring.
The discussion was on the record but not for individual attribution, and the quotes have been edited for length and clarity. Here’s what the group had to say.
Hitting the reset button
Participants said the Trump admin- istration’s push for IT modernization and the Modernizing Government Technology Act are already encourag- ing agencies to rethink their approach to more than just technology.
“It’s a great opportunity to have the top cover from the administration and the funding, hopefully, to get this done,” one executive said. “But I see another opportunity in my organiza- tion to change some things. I’m look- ing at a culture shift and a kind of mind shift on how we do business. I want to be more adaptable, have more agility and be able to focus on cyber and data, and the only way to do those activities effectively is to change the skill set in-house and have a new strat- egy for managing data because I’m looking at things like deep learning and artificial intelligence.”
Other participants said they, too, are taking advantage of the oppor- tunity to consider some dramatic changes. “Our agency had eight CIOs in10years—andayearandahalf without a CIO,” one executive said. “It was constant turmoil. Staffing, hiring, rewarding, contracts — every- thing was broken. So we decided to blow it all up and start over. And we tell everybody to steal from anybody
who’s done this already. Let’s not rein- vent it if you don’t have to.”
Another participant expressed envy at being able to hit the reset button rather than having to find a way to modernize existing systems. “We need to get to the next big idea, whether it’s moving into agile methodology or being able to introduce a technology and an architecture that can be flex- ible enough to accommodate things that you can’t anticipate today. So the question I would ask is: How do you value that incremental improve- ment that would make it worthy of an investment, and how do convince your teams that failure is positive, not negative?”
Another executive shared his strat- egy for dealing with a risk-averse leader. “I look for top cover when I have conversations regarding things like IT modernization because I need him to know that when I speak to him, it’s not a recommendation from his IT guys, but it’s something that the federal government is looking at, and he may not have an opportunity to go against it.”
Many participants said reorganiza- tion is a key component of moderniza- tion, and they are making changes in ways subtle and overt.
“We had an agency of pure CIOs,”
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