New Report Points to an Agile Future in the UK
A new study by the Institute for Government criticises late, expensive delivery of government IT projects and could pave the way for SMEs in public sector tenders
Posted by Killian McAleese, 4th March 2011
Early signs suggest that the UK government is set to give its backing to the findings of System Error, a report by the Institute for Government think tank on tackling delays and inefficiencies in government deployment of IT systems.
The report's key recommendations concern optimising government efficiencies of scale and interoperability while facilitating rapid front line response and innovation.
“Getting the best out of government IT is extremely challenging,” according to the report's authors.
“Despite costing approximately £16bn per year, government IT seems locked in a vicious circle: struggling to get the basics right and falling further and further behind the fast-paced and exciting technological environment that citizens interact with daily.”
Agile Methodologies
Rather than lay out large integrated projects whose smooth delivery can be hampered by inefficiencies in constituent parts, and whose deployment often lags behind broader IT developments, the report essentially recommends that government should break projects into smaller components which can then be tendered for and delivered individually.
Key to this process is a shift in thinking away from 'projects' and towards the concept of a 'platform'.
This more agile model could see results and implementation more quickly and stay apace more easily with developments in the industry. The perennial risk of a lack of coherence and communication across government departments could be addressed by efforts to improve coordination of infrastructure and common support functions.
Common standards and best practices could also be developed in pursuit of the more complex issue of engendering an environment in which vendors support each other's information structures.
The underlying agile methodology suggested, of splitting a large project into smaller deliverables, is not unique to this case. Similarly agile processes such as Scrum, used by Mountain Goat software, for example, are already old news.
Opportunities for SMEs and Open Source Vendors
The implications of the report are far reaching for small and medium businesses. While at present only large IT consultancy companies like Accenture have the resources to tender for and deliver large government IT projects, the field could now be open for a variety of smaller enterprises.
Andrew Sykes, CEO of Open Plus, comments on the implications of the report: “There is a link between agile methodologies and the fact that they offer ways to disaggregate projects into smaller, more readily deliverable chunks. These smaller, more manageable projects will lend themselves to delivery by SMEs.”
This suggestion is strengthened by the fact that part of the government's efforts to make savings on IT projects has already involved a review of over 300 contracts
Furthermore, the implementation of the report could see a significant increase in government adoption of open-source systems.
Questions remain as to how easily the report's findings will be implemented and whether current government bureaucracy will allow the smooth running of a system which, for example, will involve multiple tenders where a smaller number would have existed in the present system.
Government's ability to share IT infrastructure efficiently and reduce duplication across departments could also present challenges to the proposal.
Government CIO Joe Harley welcomed the report: “we are always looking for ways to improve and this report has a number of very useful recommendations for us to consider as we formulate our ICT Strategy.”
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