Agile as the Next Government Revolution

Governments have applied agile selectively, but now they should bring it to scale.

Governments’ operating models have been underperforming. Agile, a methodology and mind-set that first surfaced in software engineering, offers solutions. In agile organizations, cross-functional teams energize themselves for short, feedback-based work sprints.

Agile’s “minimum viable product” methodology involves developing products and services just enough for the first customers to understand them and provide feedback. The feedback shapes the next round of testing and development, and so on. Multiple teams can work simultaneously on each iteration, in contrast to the sequential handoffs that characterize the common “waterfall approach” to developing and delivering government services and programs.

Agile transformations require challenging, multidimensional organizational change.

Governments have typically applied agile thinking in tech...