Agile Business Change Blog Thoughts on Agile Strategic Business Change and Agile Delivery

I've been thinking about the way Government is approaching the challenge of adopting a more Agile approach to IT.

The current Government ICT Strategy includes the follow specific targets:

• Pilot projects in all Government departments (6-12 months)
• Establishing a capability and approach to Agile (6-12 months)
• Identify core technology to underpin Agile (6-12 months)
• Centre of Excellence for fast start-up of Agile projects (1-2 years) 
• Review procurement to support Agility from suppliers

I can't help but think that the pilot project approach in all departments will spread awareness, but will struggle to embed Agile thinking across Government in the long term.

To embed the Agile philosophy into an organisation the size of Government is going to require a significant shift in mindset that is only going to be possible by bringing in experts from the private sector who can assist in driving forward projects, coach staff, set up Governance and work with suppliers to change their approach to Government work.

Looking for pilot projects is an approach that may result in marginalising the Agile approach to specific types of projects. This will allow Agile to be used to break the process rather than be the process.  This has recently been discussed by James Yoxall in a keynote speech at the Agile Business Conference this year explaining why Agile often ends up at the edges.

Maybe taking an entire Government department and evaluating how that department could apply an Agile context to the way it does all aspects of IT would provide a better case study for how to adopt Agile within Government departments without the risk of leaving Agile at the edges?

So, back to the title of this blog, should we be using the chisel or the axe to break up the Government iceberg?