Lean Organization18F, a lean startup inside the federal government

Hillary HartleyDeputy Executive Director, 18F@hillary

What is 18F?A very brief history…

18F will transform how the U.S. Government builds and buys digital services.

Be the change.lead by example

instruction

hands-on assistance

18F will transform how the U.S. Government builds and buys digital services...

18F will transform how the U.S. Government builds and buys digital services...

Think like a designer.human-centered approach

user needs drive all decisions

18F will transform how the U.S. Government builds and buys digital services...

Data-driven.analytics to support user needs

measure everything

API-first

18F will transform how the U.S. Government builds and buys digital services...

Agile practices.build, measure, repeat

quick feedback loops

“fail small”

18F will transform how the U.S. Government builds and buys digital services...

Open by default.working in the open

open source

transparency & evangelism

Into the belly of the beast…

“Hacking Bureaucracy”

“Hacking Bureaucracy"Find innovators inside government who have solved similar problemsEngage stakeholders early and oftenSet up a minimum viable product to get started quicklyGive real users the process/solution from the beginningLearn with each moment and iterate our approach

“Hacking Bureaucracy"Find innovators inside government who have solved similar problemsEngage stakeholders early and oftenSet up a minimum viable product to get started quicklyGive real users the process/solution from the beginningLearn with each moment and iterate our approachAlways stay aligned with the rules of the bureaucracyFormalize the process/solution for reuse

Garren GivensDirector, Presidential Innovation Fellows@InnovFellows

Lean Organizational Design@innovfellows https://pif.gov

@InnovFellows2015 Lean Startup Conference

@InnovFellows2015 Lean Startup Conference

@InnovFellows2015 Lean Startup Conference

@InnovFellows2015 Lean Startup Conference

@InnovFellows2015 Lean Startup Conference

@InnovFellows2015 Lean Startup Conference

Apply to serve with the country’s top innovators today:pif.gov

Follow us:@innovfellows

Jennifer Tress18F, Talent Director@jdtress

Acquiring Talent at 18FApplying lean principles to government hiring

Call To Action: Grow...and fast

Challenges● Demand for services > pace of hiring● Small, distributed team dedicated to Talent

acquisition against a huge queue ● Processes and tools● Innovating and hacking while complying● Absorbing other functions to meet the needs of

the team● Start up culture conflicts with bureaucracy

We were being agile, but we weren’t being agile.

15 foundersMarch 2014

70 staffJanuary 2015

150 staffOctober 2015

230 staffSeptember 2016

What we build

● Problem statements via user stories

● Documentation of our assumptions

● Hypotheses

● MVPs to validate

How we build it

● User research

● Collaborative, highly visible work systems

● Prioritization with a focus on shipping

● Holding retros to continuously improve

The resolutionProductize Talent & apply lean/agile philosophies

Started out simple...

Example product:Communications - 18F Offer Letter

User Story: As a candidate I want a written 18F congratulatory letter that is informative, engaging and motivating

Hypothesis: If we have an exciting congratulatory letter, we will have a lower drop-out or decline rate and candidates will be more engaged throughout the process

Metrics:● Acceptance rate after receiving

18F congratulatory letter● Engagement of candidate after

letter (time it takes for candidate to respond to letter. Amount of content or expression of attitude communication)

...and moved to more complex problems

The results

Openness and inclusivity

Time to

fill o

penings

Questions fro

m employees

Adoption

Noah Kunin18F, Infrastructure Director@noahkunin

Bureaucracy Hacking Our Way to the Cloud

Let's ship it!

Or not.

This isn't rocket science.

Is the launch checklist working?

The U.S. Government's Digital

Launch Checklist

Records ManagementPrivacy ActRecords SchedulePaperwork Reduction ActSection 508 and Accessibility StandardsFederal Acquisition RegulationAnti-deficiency ActEconomy ActE-Government ActComputer Matching ActNational Cyber Protection SystemGuidance for Agency Use of Third-Party Websites and ApplicationsSocial Media and Web-Based Interactive TechnologiesOffice of Management Budget Circular A-130 Appendix 3Federal Information Security and Management ActFederal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 199Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 200Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2Special Publication 800-37Special Publication 800-53 Revision 4Special Publication 800-60 Volume 1Special Publication 800-60 Volume 2

Special Publication 800-18Special Publication 800-95Special Publication 800-133Special Publication 800-137Special Publication 800-171Trusted Internet Connection 2.0 Reference ArchitectureEINSTEIN ComplianceFedRAMPOMB Guidance on third party websites and applicationsOMB Memo M-14-04OMB Memo M-15-01

Pages in total:4006

My friend, you can clearly see the intention of FIPS 140-2 Annex A was to deprecate SHA-1 on the lunar new year...

How long is this going to take?

6 - 14 months to ship

Speed is the new security.

What's next?

More alerts

"Game day" planning

Visualize the data

Nick Brethauer18F, UX Designer@nbrethauer

Lean UX for Organizational Growth

How to build 18F in a lean way?

We believe that making it easy for anyone at 18F to engage with and self-organize around initiatives to build the organization’s practices and culture

Will result in more and better-organized initiatives and sustainable growth.

We’ll know we’re on the right track when we see organic propagation of development and design practices, increased knowledge sharing around the organization, it becomes easier for new working groups to start up, and easier for new hires to jump in and work on these initiatives

We believe that making it simple for anyone on staff to structure their work on organizational challenges in a lean way will result in more engagement, better solutions, and ultimately a better organization.

Lean UX componentsresearch and discoveryproblem framingunderstanding and prioritizing target usersdefining desired outcomesmapping assumptionscreating hypothesesexperimenting

Our UX designers can do this, but what

about everyone else?

1) Accessible lean UX framework 2) Minimize operational overhead

challenges:

sprint = one quarter

user research wg outcomes1) Project teams can easily and successfully recruit users

2) 18F product teams are able to successfully anticipate, understand, and deal with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)

3) By the time they start working with us, our clients are aligned with our expectations, and are ready to participate fully in a user-centered design process

documentation wg outcomes1) Improve the onboarding process so that new folks get up to speed faster, and know where to find the information they need

2) Make it easy for individuals and teams to share knowledge across the organization

3) Make it easy for staff to understand the state of projects and teams across the organization

a few 18F working groupsDocumentationAgileAgile designFront-endDev/back-end

Project managementUser researchDiversityValuesVisual design

And many others…

Benefits1. Simplicity makes it easy to start and structure a

group2. Self-documenting nature makes it easy for others to see

what a group is working toward and why3. Bureaucracy hack: making it easier to do, lowers barriers to

participating = greater participation = more engagement & buy-in to the culture & practices

4. The approach reflects and reinforces our organizational values: lean, experimentation, outcomes and impact first

5. Encourages bottom up growth, which lets people work on the organization in the areas they are passionate about. People buy into what they’ve helped build

Benefits1. Simplicity makes it easy to start and structure a group2. Self-documenting nature makes it easy for others to

see what a group is working toward and why3. Bureaucracy hack: making it easier to do, lowers barriers to

participating = greater participation = more engagement & buy-in to the culture & practices

4. The approach reflects and reinforces our organizational values: lean, experimentation, outcomes and impact first

5. Encourages bottom up growth, which lets people work on the organization in the areas they are passionate about. People buy into what they’ve helped build

Benefits1. Simplicity makes it easy to start and structure a group2. Self-documenting nature makes it easy for others to see

what a group is working toward and why3. Bureaucracy hack: making it easier to do, lowers

barriers to participating = greater participation = more engagement & buy-in to the culture & practices

4. The approach reflects and reinforces our organizational values: lean, experimentation, outcomes and impact first

5. Encourages bottom up growth, which lets people work on the organization in the areas they are passionate about. People buy into what they’ve helped build

Benefits1. Simplicity makes it easy to start and structure a group2. Self-documenting nature makes it easy for others to see

what a group is working toward and why3. Bureaucracy hack: making it easier to do, lowers barriers to

participating = greater participation = more engagement & buy-in to the culture & practices

4. The approach reflects and reinforces our organizational values: lean, experimentation, outcomes and impact first

5. Encourages bottom up growth, which lets people work on the organization in the areas they are passionate about. People buy into what they’ve helped build

Benefits1. Simplicity makes it easy to start and structure a group2. Self-documenting nature makes it easy for others to see

what a group is working toward and why3. Bureaucracy hack: making it easier to do, lowers barriers to

participating = greater participation = more engagement & buy-in to the culture & practices

4. The approach reflects and reinforces our organizational values: lean, experimentation, outcomes and impact first

5. Encourages bottom up growth, which lets people work on the organization in the areas they are passionate about. People buy into what they’ve helped build

Thank you! Questions?@18F https://18f.gov