Adopting Agile in the U.S. Department of Defense

Adopting and implementing new Agile practices within the DoD

The DoD is developing a comprehensive new process to acquire and deliver IT capabilities. Central to this new process is Agile

testing.

DoD cannot hope to achieve state of the art information capabilities using the traditional DoD acquisition process. New

approaches require new principles, such as:

Speed and Agility Incremental Testing

Rationalized Requirements Flexible/Tailored Acquisitions

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Introduction to Defense Acquisition Management

“The primary objective of Defense acquisition isto acquire quality products that satisfy userneeds with measurable improvements tomission capability and operational support, in atimely manner, and at a fair and reasonableprice.” 1

Agile methods fully support the primary objective of Defense acquisition. Customer value, timeliness, and investor satisfaction are all major Agile values.

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Agile and the U.S. Department of Defense

What is Agile?

A highly-collaborative,incremental and iterative newapproach to testing.

Agile involves:

• Early and regular delivery of tasks • Focus on team communications• Centered around close interaction

with the users

What role will Agile play in the DoD?

The use of Agile will help improveefficiencies in DoD's acquisition ofIT products and services.

Agile provides the DoD with:

• Quick-reaction capability• Effective methodology for many

Web applications• Source of potential innovation for

Defense needs

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Motivation for Changing to Agile

The two biggest reasons we have seen within DoD for moving to

Agile are:

1. a burning platform: If we do not change our current practices to improve outcomes, programs are likely to be cancelled

2. urgency of delivery: An operational need that cannot wait for traditional delivery times is mission-critical enough to warrant a different acquisition approach

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Moving to Agile

Other common themes that characterize the motivation for change are:

– a sense of true accomplishment when they deliver what they know the end user needed

– a short time span for seeing the differences their work made to their end users

– encouraging (often laudatory) user feedback that clearly communicated the value of their approach

– consistent ability to meet or exceed user expectations

– previous inability to deliver value within agreed time spans and costs

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An Agile culture runs counter to the traditional DoD acquisition culture in many ways, from

oversight and team structure to end-user interaction throughout testing.

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Agile vs. Traditional DoD Culture

Organizational Structure

Agile DoD Traditional DoDFlexible and adaptive structures

Formal structures that are difficult to change

Self-organizing teams

Hierarchal, command-and-control based teams

Collocated teams or strong communication mechanisms when teams are distributed

Integrated product teams that have formal responsibilities

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Agile vs. Traditional DoD Culture

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Reward System

Agile DoD Traditional DoDTeam is focus of reward systems

Individual is focus of the reward system

Sometimes team itself recognizes individuals

Agile vs. Traditional DoD CultureCommunications & Decision Making

Agile DoD Traditional DoDDaily stand-up meetings Top-down communication structures dominate

Frequent retrospectives to improve practices External regulations, policies and procedures drive the focus of work

Information radiators to communicate critical project information

Indirect communications, like documented activities and processes, dominate over face-to-face dialogue

Evocative documents to feed conversation Traditional, representational documents used by the PMO throughout the life cycle to oversee the progress of the tester

“Just enough” documentation, highly dependent on product context

PMO oversight tools focused on demonstrating compliance vs. achieving insight into progress

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Agile vs. Traditional DoD Culture

Staffing Model

Agile DoD Traditional DoDCross-functional teams including all roles across the life cycle throughout the lifespan of the project

Uses traditional life-cycle model with separate teams

Includes an Agile advocate or coach who explicitly attends to the team’s process

Different roles are active at different defined points in the life cycle and are not substantively involved except at those times

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Leadership Style

Agile DoD Traditional DoDFacilitative leadership

Leader as keeper of vision

Leader as champion and team advocate

Leader as primary source of authority to act

Summary

The new acquisition process includes:• Early and continual involvement of the user• Multiple, rapidly executed increments or

releases of capability• Successive prototyping to support an

evolutionary approach• And modular, open-systems

These attributes generally describe Agile testing; which is collaborative, iterative, and more spiral in nature. Agile aligns well with the new DoD IT acquisition process, offering a viable alternative to traditional processes.

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