Policy & Practice October 2017

said their IT functions fail to hire. Tapping into Agile experience through flexible models—namely, by engaging coaches or consultants—is one way to bridge the gap. Yet, just 6 percent of

Here are some of our key findings about what is holding states back—and how to overcome the obstacles: 1. More of what you want, less of what you don’t. Most state CIOs and IT executives agreed that using Agile supports increased customer engagement and business ownership (74 percent), improved customer satisfaction (71 percent), improved quality (68 percent), improved transparency (65 percent), greater flexibility (59 percent), and less risk (50 percent). At the same time, Agile helps prevent some of the most pernicious chal- lenges: wasted money from ineffective IT projects (70 percent), large IT project failures (66 percent), delayed implementation (60 percent), programs that do not meet business needs (58 percent) and programs that do not meet needs (43 percent). Regardless of development meth- odology, it’s always wise to evaluate business processes before automating them. Accenture and NASCIO asked states that implement Agile and tackle process analysis or re-engineering before project kickoff how they 2. “Processing” improvements.

approach those initiatives. Business process mapping (78 percent), LEAN process (49 percent), process re-engi- neering (46 percent), design thinking (24 percent) and Kaizen (24 percent) emerged as most popular. As human services agencies seek to innovate, human-centered design (also called design thinking or service design) may be an ideal place to start. These techniques help in challenging existing business processes and in bringing powerful user perspectives to the table. 3. All or nothing? Not necessarily. More than half of respondents (53 percent) told us they frequently blend Agile with other implementation meth- odologies. What’s more, 87 percent agreed that success with Agile comes from starting with discrete projects and then building up. Interestingly, the study found that there is no consistent leadership force driving Agile. When we asked who is spearheading Agile in state govern- ment, answers ran the gamut—from “no single person” (24 percent) to appli- cation development lead (23 percent), CIO (11 percent) and agency-level head of IT (9 percent). The most cited answer was “all others” (33 percent). Agile can’t thrive as a “cottage industry” within the IT department. It requires leadership from the top of the many agencies whose hands are ulti- mately in the mix, including rethinking how the organization operates. The era of leaving “tech stuff” to the IT department is over. Rather, new and innovative partnerships must be built and cultivated at every turn, with a focus on creativity and risk taking. Finding the right solution for the right challenge is critical when attempting to better serve the clients in whose names these systems are built. 4. Skills: In short supply. Fifty-eight percent indicated that less than one-fifth of their state IT work- force is highly skilled in Agile. Nine percent admitted that their IT work- force has no skills in Agile. Yet, building skills isn’t as simple as recruiting new talent. Forty-seven percent said their IT functions struggle to recruit and hire, but eventually fill, positions; 6 percent

respondents are doing so. 5. Culture clash.

Among the most-cited cultural chal- lenges: embracing change (57 percent), extent of business involvement (36 percent), business and IT being able to work together (32 percent), sharing project ownership (30 percent) and collaboration across functions (30 percent). As one human services IT leader noted, “Constraints for Agile adoption are cultural and procurement. Change of process adoption is easier for newer staff than staff that have been engrained in linear processes.” 6. Easy? No. Worthwhile? Absolutely. Respondents pointed to two other organizational barriers: lack of training or knowledge in how to use Agile (75 percent) and procurement not being set up for Agile projects (70 percent). The most common tech- nical barriers were legacy solutions (77 percent), integration with other systems (58 percent), and not having DevOps to support Agile (53 percent). Just 47 percent of respondents believe Agile is just as easy to implement in government as in the private sector. Even so, the vast majority believe Agile is effective for state government (98 percent) and does a better job of engaging the customer (96 percent). “Agile is the best software devel- opment methodology we’ve found,” commented another human services IT executive, who explained Agile enables learning from failure and the ability to implement new requirements based on real-world interactions. The executive explained that, in the end, with Agile “we’ve not had a project fail.” As agencies transform to meet the 21st-century challenges of serving children and families, the goal is greater than simply avoiding failure. We know the needs of clients and ben- eficiaries are dynamic. Human services IT should be, too. And Agile is a proven method for delivering more value, more quickly.

Rafael López is the Managing

Director, Health and Public Services, at Accenture, North America.

Doug Robinson is the Executive Director of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.

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