Let’s talk about how to reduce government IT cycle times (mission need to deployed capability). As the Lean principle urges, we need to “optimize the whole.” The “whole” in this case goes well beyond system development. We can implement Continuous Delivery practices but if we don’t address the other parts of the value chain, our impact will be tiny. And we’re shooting for a big impact, right?
To go from mission need to deployed capability, here are some of the steps we may need to pass through: gathering requirements into a monolithic “program,” documenting the program and its plan, satisfying oversight bodies, securing funding, executing one or more procurements (typically for development services, hardware, and software), onboarding contractors, developing and testing the product, having it retested by independent verification and validation (IV&V) partners, configuring production hardware and networks, receiving an Authority to Operate (ATO – verification that it is secure enough to release), passing it through a change control board, and deploying the system.
I’ve probably missed a few things here. But a few things should be clear. First, the “value add” development part is tiny compared to the whole (both in time and cost). Second, there are many opportunities for leaning out the process, even if we still need to execute each of these steps. Third – and most subtly – there are real “business” needs, in the government context, driving each of these steps. We really do need to ensure that the system meets FISMA security requirements. We really do need to secure funding through an appropriations process. And so on.
So the question for me is: how can we meet these “business needs” of the government through the leanest possible process?
Government IT 