Agile Trend Highlight Culture Challenges Continue

IN THE NEWS

More Flexible Modernization Funding Ahead

What happened: In May 2021, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and General Services Administration (GSA) announced a more flexible repayment process for agencies that tap into the $1 billion Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). • TMF has provided incremental funding for federal IT and cybersecurity modernization projects since 2017. Agencies were once expected to pay loans back in full. • Congress provided a boost to the fund as part of the March 2021 COVID-19 relief package. “We plan to use these resources to enable the federal government to better respond to SolarWinds, the COVID-19 crisis and support the economic recovery,” said Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) Clare Martorana in a press release.

Federal agencies will now be able to pay back TMF loans in the following ways: • Full repayment: for projects that yield direct financial savings that can be used to fully repay TMF. • Partial repayment: for projects with strong positive impact and that will yield some financial savings, but where the proposing agency doesn’t expect to reach full cost recovery. • Minimal repayment: for projects aimed at tackling the most urgent IT issues facing government, including critical cybersecurity improvements and initiatives that help agencies meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic but are unlikely to create direct cost savings.

Why it matters: The flexibility has removed a major barrier for federal agencies that need to be agile and modernize critical systems that won’t necessarily meet high cost-savings requirements.

“It is more aggressive — to meet the urgent technology needs of the federal government today, as well as more ambitious — to anticipate the demands of tomorrow,” said GSA Acting Administrator Katy Kale.

Culture Challenges Continue

Organizational culture continues to be the most common challenge around Agile adoption, the 14th Annual State of Agile Report found. Challenges experienced when adopting and scaling Agile

48%

General organizational resistance to change

46%

Not enough leadership participation

45%

Inconsistent processes & practices across teams

44%

Organizational culture at odds with Agile values

43%

Inadequate management support and sponsorship

Many of the challenges the federal government faces are linked to culture as well, such as teams having difficulty with close collaboration and customers not trusting iterative solutions, according to GAO.

To create and encourage a culture that supports Agile, answer the questions below.

Does your organization’s culture support Agile methods? ☐ Sponsorship for Agile development cascades throughout the organization. • Have senior stakeholders openly and explicitly supported the use of Agile processes? • Have Agile champions been established? » Agile champions may or may not be senior stakeholders, but they should have the respect of Agile adopters and senior leaders alike. Their role is to help protect early Agile programs from derailment by those who do not understand the new methods or are skeptical of change.

☐ Sponsors understand Agile development. • Do senior stakeholders and Agile champions understand Agile? » Although the roles and responsibilities in a traditional process are well-documented, in an Agile environment they are more flexible and may not be understood as easily. This is why sponsors and champions need to differentiate between traditional and Agile roles, cadences and processes.

☐ A climate of trust is being built. • Are there opportunities for members to become familiar working across organizational boundaries? » Shared experiences build a climate of trust in which all parties feel respected and accepted. That helps the team achieve its fullest potential. • Are all team members easily accessible for collaboration? • Are there transparent communication practices? » For example, make all artifacts that contribute to the development of the system broadly accessible to everyone associated with a program, including oversight boards.

☐ Rewards are aligned to Agile development methods. • Are incentives and rewards focused on the team, not just individuals? » If organizational rewards are not structured to promote team performance, then competitiveness or a lack of respect among team members might increase. In an Agile environment, establish incentives to focus on team success, in addition to traditional individual incentives.

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