An Excursion into Government Legacy IT Systems - III

3.     Action Plan

3.1     OAI Project – “Government Systems 21 (GS-21)”

OAI will be the GS-21 Program Management Office (PMO). It is recommended that OAI start small – as the office gains confidence and direction, resources can be added. In the spirit of “eating one’s own dogfood,” the GS-21 PMO IT should use GS-21 to build GS-21.

Like any business, OAI will need a mission statement, quality policy, and charter. These are left as an exercise to the PMO to assure full ownership.

We again stipulate that, rather than seek off-the-shelf commercial products to meet government IT needs, OAI will follow a course of action that puts it in the position of smart buyer for the agencies. We further stipulate that the smart-buyer role will take on the look of general contractor, where OAI will use in-house and contractor resources to perform its functions.

3.2     Conduct workshops, open forums, and industry days

Several advantages accrue from stakeholders knowing what is going on, but a sense of being on the inside, rather than on the outside looking in, is one of the most important. We recommend that OAI invite leadership from various federal government agencies to describe their systems as part of initial GS-21 planning. Workshops should be open, goal-directed by the IPT, and well-advertised by OAI. Customers, potential (SETA) contractors, and vendors should be invited to participate. IPT representatives should be asked to describe the status of architecture and UI standards planning and workshop attendees should be asked for critical comment.

Rapid responses which show that agency input is central to OAI planning will help assure early adopters that GS-21 will benefit their agencies. Early adopters should be invited to join the OAI IPT.

3.3     Gather Requirements from agency managers and system users (customers)

OAI will gather and manage GS-21 requirements. This must be an open process and must be done carefully to assure coverage, allow for extensibility, and avoid requirements “creep” (the constant addition of new requirements which prevent goals from ever being reached). OAI will follow these guidelines:

·         Generate requirements in conjunction with early adopter agencies;

·         Benefit from accumulated agency-user wisdom;

·         Avoid pre-conceived, imposed solutions;

·         Avoid crony capitalism (arbitrary restrictions to the benefit of one company);

·         Consider all input to overcome internal agency resistance.

3.4     Market the Approach

As the GS-21 proceeds, marketing to agency heads, agency users, and the public must continue. This marketing must center on benefits already achieved and those planned, so that it conveys the progress of the effort. For OAI, inclusion is the key to getting the wind at their backs; marketing based on progress is the key to keeping it there. The IPT must be central to the marketing and should include the following:

·         Requirements management and refinement;

·         Progress as confirmed by Alpha and Beta testing;

·         Cost sharing with agencies - once cost savings begin to appear;

·         Experience sharing (among agencies).

3.5     Development

GS-21 development will ideally start small and grow as a dynamic, new company would. This will allow OAI to make sound technical decisions and to build the confidence, consensus, and momentum necessary to success. In the world of system development, motion is not the same as progress; it takes time to build working relationships and trust such that stakeholders are pulling in the same direction.