October 29, 2020

TCG Contributes to ACT-IAC’s Recommendations for Government Leaders

New White Paper Outlines an Agile First Strategy

For the fourth time, the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) convened several working groups during a presidential election cycle. As part of this effort to identify key issues for government leaders, TCG’s Michael Drescher contributed to a white paper titled, “Accelerating Agility In Government,” that provides actionable strategies on how government can quickly adapt to the pace of change and deliver customer-focused services to better serve citizens. All of the working groups make recommendations for the administration to adopt over the next four years.

The proposed “Agile First” strategy in this white paper indicates more than just the software development methodology and its processes and ceremonies. While the strategy includes recommendations for the iterative delivery that are increasingly common in the federal sector, the Agile First strategy also recommends greater use of human-centered design principles, leveraging new AI technologies, and, building on the Federal Data Strategy, better and automated integration of data with systems and processes. The strategy is built on several principles including establishing and tracking metrics for success, rewarding innovation, and interacting with program beneficiaries.

Recommendations include: 

  1. Catalog the programs and services of the agency to create a comprehensive reference of all products and services they provide.
  2. Develop an initiative to change culture among Federal managers and enhance managerial accountability for progress in agency utility.
  3. Reduce bureaucracy and break up silos by organizing multidisciplinary teams committed to delivering value to the customer instead of adding/maintaining existing legacy systems and processes.
  4. Commit to agility at the organizational level, but start small and embrace failure and learning.
  5. Adopt commercial approaches to modernizing information technology and digital transformation.

Along with the technical and organizational challenges that such an initiative would address, the strategy also emphasizes shifting the culture in federal agencies to foster innovation. This is one of many white papers that provide recommendations to the upcoming administration. The full suite can be found on ACT-IAC’s website.

About TCG

TCG (https://stage.tcg.com) aims to improve the world around us, in big and little ways, every day, for our staff, clients, and community. TCG provides the federal government with positively distinct IT and management advisory services in Agile development, federal shared services, budget formulation and execution, and health science analytics that help government programs and America succeed.

About ACT-IAC

The American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) is a nonprofit educational organization established to accelerate government mission outcomes through collaboration, leadership, and education.