AgileTHIS

In its September meeting, the DC chapter of Agile Project Leadership Network hosted a presentation called “IT Acquisition Centered on Agile Processes”. It’s a rather boring name for what was a really exhilerating talk about Agile momentum in the most waterfall of worlds: defense procurement.

The presenter was Don Johnson, who works for the office CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense. In his presentation, he cited a number of points that reveal a growing consensus within the military that old ways of procurement are becoming less effective. He started by noting the key regulatory standard for procurement, DODD 5000.1, was originally developed in 1977 and has remained mostly unchanged since then.

But that was just the beginning:

• In a speech last year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates called procurement processes “baroque”.
• Army CIO LTG Jeff Sorenson has said, “how we can make it better…Policy. Acquiring IT not like tanks.”
• In 1970, IT accounted for approx 20% of weapon system functionality, by 2000 it accounted for as much as 80%, and today it is reported IT can deliver 90% or more of functionality.
• IT Systems are growing in complexity. The FA-18 runs on 10 million lines of code, but the more recent Joint Strike Fighter has 20 million. Also consider the handheld grenade launcher uses smart projectiles guided by 2,000 lines of code.
• Even the Government’s oversight agency (GAO) has itself said, “As you know, the way in which DOD has historically acquired information technology (IT) systems has been cited as a root cause of these systems failing to deliver promised capabilities and benefits on time and within budget…”

Don explained that today’s procurement involves “long cycle-time driven by processes developed to counter a cold war adversary in an industrial age society”. Defense departments utilize a “big bang approach equally applied to it and major hardware acquisitions”. This becomes especially complicated when you consider that software is increasingly at the heart of the largest hard weapon systems.

Well, eventually the momentum became so great in 2008, Congress responded to these concerns by mandating a Defense Science Board (DSB) to study current policies and procedures. At the end of their analysis, they recommended a new IT iterative, incremental approach to project acquisition and execution. The DRB’s recommendations have been so compelling, they were invited this past May/June to testify to Congress about their strategy. Congress has responded and drafted an unprecedented nod. Next year’s Defense appropriations bill will authorize Gates to “designate up to 10 IT programs annually to be included in a demonstration of an alternate acquisition process for rapidly acquiring IT capabilities” (2010 NDAA, Section 804). In normal English, that means the United States is working on a law to reform procurement from the cold-war big-bang approach to an iterative incremental approach.

It’s one thing to pass a law, but it’s quite another to have it mean something. How often have we heard about the laws that have no effect? To that end, the DRB has crafted an implementation strategy that consists of policy documents describing how to do it, and picking the right pilot projects to start with. Furthermore, the DSB has a relationship with the council of Federal CIOs, allowing the new procurement approach to be socialized among officials from all parts of the entire United States government.

By the end of the evening, the room was full of energy. Several of the chapter’s previous Agile Government presenters were on hand to lend their support for Don’s work. Stay tuned. There is certainly more to come.