Policy & Practice | Fall 2023

A Call to Action Our government institutions have evolved into colossal vats of brine, experiencing a steady decline in pH levels, perpetuating a cycle that rapidly transforms cucumbers into pickles. In her recently released book, Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better , Jennifer Pahlka provides a vivid account of the impact of this brine. Her poignant tales of failure and inspiring stories of success should resonate deeply with anyone who genuinely cares about the future of our country. Pahlka puts forth two crucial recommendations aimed at govern ment leaders and decision makers: 1. Embrace a paradigm shift in poli cymaking by including the voices of implementation practitioners in decision making. 2. Develop internal digital capabilities within the government and bring forth user-centered design practices. We wholeheartedly endorse these suggestions. However, considering the Prescott Pickle Principle, we recognize these proposals may yield marginal results, akin to placing a few cucumbers into a vat of brine and expecting them to transform the behavior of deeply entrenched pickles within. While we hope Pahlka’s impassioned call for change ignites a movement among influential figures within our govern ment, we cannot ignore the power of the brine and seek brine-free alternatives. Foundational Principles for Success To unlock the potential of the cucumber water hypothesis, we advocate for the adoption of eight foun dational principles, crafted based on IT delivery practitioner experience in government environments:

churning out concrete boats on a massive scale. Through interviews with numerous states endeavoring to modernize enterprise systems, we discovered states identify with one or more of the following situations: 1. Perpetual planning: Caught in a never-ending cycle of planning without progress. 2.Outright failure: Attempted and failed a system implementation project. 3.Failure to achieve outcomes: Completed costly system-delivery projects without yielding commen surate outcomes. States consistently identify pro curement and the subsequent rigid contracts as a primary root cause, significantly impacting the ability to achieve effective IT delivery. Within the government’s brine, we observe two problematic beliefs under pinning our current procurement mindset, contributing to its inherent shortcomings: 1. Overreliance on inadequate expertise: The belief that individ uals lacking in-depth knowledge of existing systems and new technology can define solutions that will lead to desired outcomes. 2.Illusion of predictability: The belief that we can accurately predict the future within a complex and emergent environment. Additionally, our procurement staff must confront very real fears: fear of failure, fear of litigation, and fear of punishment for violating complex pro curement procedures. Consequently, we experience excessive lead times and expend large amounts of time and energy before collecting empirical data. Government leaders have acknowl edged traditional, requirements-laden contracts lead to a surplus of concrete resting at the bottom of the ocean, often bearing little resemblance to actual boats. However, we observe agencies continuing to approach this problem using the very same thinking that created it: more process, more checkboxes, and more oversight. Unfortunately, the agile movement has inadvertently exacerbated the problem, often leading to contracts

1. Prioritize SAFETY: Establish psychological safety and foster an environment in which team members feel secure to voice ideas, concerns, and challenges. 2.Lead with VISION: Inspire by com municating a compelling and clear vision of a better future, empowering team members to align their decisions and actions with the shared vision. 3.Focus on OUTCOMES: Define success in terms of desired outcomes rather than solutions, allowing flex ibility and creativity to achieve the intended results. 4.Do LESS: Identify the smallest, com prehensive end-to-end experiment to validate outcome improvement for a solution hypothesis. 5. Do it SOONER: Minimize the lead time from solution hypothesis to value delivery. 6.Do it BETTER: Effectively deliver the desired outcomes, striving for quality, safety, and repeatability in the process. 7. Do it TOGETHER: Work collab oratively, actively involving all stakeholders with a role in shaping the solution hypothesis, including end users. 8.LEARN and Repeat: Foster a culture of learning and improvement, extracting insights from each experi ment and leveraging those lessons to enhance future outcome-driven iterations. Concrete Boats An organization’s culture heavily impacts the first three principles: Safety, Vision, and Outcomes. Pahlka recounts a compelling story that exemplifies this influence within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She describes her con versation with an IT manager she calls Kevin who declares, “If the business wants us to build a concrete boat, we’ll build a concrete boat.” The rationale: because then IT can’t be blamed for the result. Kevin is pickled. This anecdote reveals the detrimental effects of a culture without personal safety, a clear vision, or a focus on outcomes. The Procurement Dilemma These brine challenges create significant issues for government pro curement, fostering an environment

Kevin Sutherland is a System Integration Delivery Consultant working to improve govern ment outcomes.

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Policy & Practice Fall 2023