Agile Gov Playbook: Dissecting the New White House TechFAR Handbook

The White House recently created a new U.S Digital Services group to deliver “customer-focused government through smarter IT.”

As part of this announcement the Office of Management and Budget released the “Digital Services Playbook” and an accompanying “TechFAR Handbook for Procuring Digital Services Using Agile Processes” to make it easier for agencies to procure and implement agile.

In this presentation given at Agile DC 2014, we review the history of Agile procurement, the relevant Digital Services Playbook "plays," the TechFAR handbook objectives, key components and recommendations for getting agile adopted in your agency.

Transcript

1. “I want us to ask ourselves every day, how are we using technology to make a real difference in people’s lives.” President Barack Obama
2. Agile  Gov  Playbook   Dissecting  the  New     White  House     TechFAR  Handbook Aaron  Pava   @pava
3. AARON PAVA @ CIVICACTIONS @ PAVA
7. March  2009 Vivek  Kundra   First  US  CIO
8. April  2009 Aneesh  Chopra   First  US  CTO
9. March  2010 President  Obama  signs  the   Affordable  Care  Act  into  law.  
10. July  2010 Healthcare.gov  launches!  
11. November  2010 OMB  announces     structural  changes  to     agency  IT  management  and   acquisition
12. November  2010 80  Billion  worth  of  IT
13. November  2010 80  Billion  worth  of  IT   (Annually)
14. November  2010 “…budgets  and  acquisitions   should  better  align  with  the   rapid  technology  cycle"
15. December  2010 25  Point  Implementation  Plan   to  Reform  Federal  Information   Technology  Management
16. “Evidence shows that modular development leads to increased success and reduced risk.” 25 Point Implementation Plan
17. April  2011 Executive  Order  13571   Streamlining  Service  Delivery   and  Improving  Customer   Service  
18. July  2011 Executive  Order  13576   Delivering  an  Efficient,  Effective,   and  Accountable  Government  
19. May  2012 Building  a  21st  Century     Digital  Government    12-­‐month  Roadmap  
20. August  2013
21. Image Credit: Forbes
22. March  2014  GSA  launches  18F  to     simplify  the  government's   digital  services  
23. August 2014
24. August  2014 Obama  launches  the   U.S.  Digital  Service
25. “Too often, the lack of guidance encouraging agency use of innovative contracting practices results in narrow and overly rigid interpretations of federal acquisition rules that complicate the government's ability to adopt smarter ways of acquiring high-quality digital services.” Todd Park, Steve VanRoekel & Beth Cobert
26. Digital Services Playbook
27. Digital Services Playbook
28. TechFAR
29. TechFAR & & Digital Services Playbook
30. 13  Plays 1. Understand  what  people  need   2. Address  the  whole  experience,  from  start  to  finish   3. Make  it  simple  and  intuitive   4. Build  the  service  using  agile  and  iterative  practices   5. Structure  budgets  and  contracts  to  support  delivery   6. Assign  one  leader  and  hold  that  person  accountable   7. Bring  in  experienced  teams   8. Choose  a  modern  technology  stack   9. Deploy  in  a  flexible  hosting  environment   10. Automate  testing  and  deployments   11. Manage  security  and  privacy  through  reusable  processes     12. Use  data  to  drive  decisions   13. Default  to  open
31. Playbook  &  TechFAR Yes,  the  White  House  is  now   explicitly  authorizing  the     use  of  Agile!
32. Play  4:  Agile Build  the  service  using     agile  and  iterative  practices
33. ❖ Ship  a  functioning  MVP   ❖ Run  usability  tests  frequently   ❖ Close  communication;  daily  stand-­‐ups   ❖ Keep  delivery  teams  small  and  focused   ❖ Release  features  and  improvements  
 multiple  times  each  month   ❖ Create  a  prioritized  feature  backlog Play  4:  Agile
34. Play  5 Structure     budgets  and  contracts     to  support  delivery
35. ❖ Budget  research,  discovery,  &  prototyping   ❖ Contract  requests  frequent  deliverables   ❖ Contract  allows  delivery  team  flexibility  to   adjust  feature  prioritization  as  project  evolves   ❖ Create  a  prioritized  feature  backlog Play  5:  Contracts
36. “Following agile methodologies is a proven best practice for building digital services, and will increase our ability to build services that effectively meet user needs.” Digital Services Playbook
37. ❖ IDIQ   ❖ Fixed-­‐price  model     ❖ Time-­‐and-­‐materials  (T&M)   ❖ Labor-­‐Hour Types  of  Agile  Contracts
38. Requirements Agile  software  development     can  meet  the  requirements     of    FAR  15.203  by     identifying  a  Product  Vision
39. Product  Vision ❖ For  (target  customer)   ❖ Who  (statement  of  the  need  or  opportunity)     ❖ The  (product  name)  is  a  (product  category)     ❖ That  (key  benefit,  compelling  reason  to  buy)   ❖ Unlike  (primary  competitive  alternative)   ❖ Our  product  (statement  of  primary   differentiation)
40. ❖ Use  presentations  as  part  of  the  technical   evaluation     ❖ Integrate  agile  into  the  technical  factors  in  the   RFQ     ❖ Request  Agile  software  development-­‐specific   information  from  offerers     ❖ Evaluate  demonstrated  experience  with  agile   Tips  for  Agile  Solicitation
41. “We've reviewed and fully support the materials in the Digital Services Playbook and TechFAR, it will assist all IT service acquisition stakeholders, notably program managers and contracting professionals as the documents address both procurement and implementation.” Mark Naggar, Procurement Advisor DHHS
42. “Bottom line: federal CIOs should follow the playbook. These 13 digital plays focusing on customer experience, leadership, DevOps and data analytics provide a solid foundation for addressing the challenges of delivering digital services.” Forrester Research
43. Reference  Links ! U.S.  Digital  Services  Playbook   https://playbook.cio.gov   ! TechFAR  Handbook   https://playbook.cio.gov/techfar/   ! 25  Point  Implementation  Plan  to  Reform  Federal  IT  Management     https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/digital-­‐strategy/25-­‐ point-­‐implementation-­‐plan-­‐to-­‐reform-­‐federal-­‐it.pdf   ! ! Digital  Government:  Building  a  21st  Century  Platform  to     Better  Serve  the  American  People   http://www.whitehouse.gov/digitalgov  
44. civicactions.com Aaron Pava @ pava @ civicactions