The TBM Movement in Government – Friend or Foe to Agile Adoption?

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Governments have historically struggled to gain transparency and accountability for investments in Information Technology (IT). In the U.S., initiatives such as the IT Dashboard and FITARA have had mixed success, driving the present administration to turn to the Technology Business Management (TBM) framework as the latest move to “improve the consistency, granularity, and quality of Federal IT spending information.” The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are actively working with industry and agency early adopters of this model to develop a playbook of best practices as part of the goal of government-wide adoption of TBM in all U.S. federal agencies by 2022.

At the same time, government adoption of Agile and DevOps practices continues to accelerate. Interest in models like the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) has grown in part due to the guidance it provides for lean portfolio management practices essential for managing the development of technology-centric mission-critical capabilities. Concepts such as aligning IT spending to value streams, dedicated teams-of-teams, Lean Startup practices for rapid prototyping before committing to full development, and more are already changing how government enterprises think about how their technology dollars are spent.

This session will explore how the major movements of Lean-Agile, DevOps, and TBM investment management intersect. How do they synergize, and where are the potential friction points? How can agencies use SAFe to accelerate TBM adoption in a way that harmonizes the two? Examples from pioneering implementations of TBM in U.S. federal agencies will be used to illustrate early lessons learned.

Topics to be covered include:

Federal IT Spending and TBM
– The problem to be solved
– How TBM intersects with FITARA
– Rollout strategy and timing

Overview of TBM
– What is TBM?
– The TBM taxonomy
– TBM Council recommendations for Federal adoption

Overview of SAFe
– Core competencies of the Lean Enterprise
– SAFe adoption in government

Lean-Agile, DevOps and TBM
– Synergies
– Friction points and challenges

Leveraging SAFe for TBM in Government
– Position for value
– Core disciplines
– Continuous improvement
– SAFe and the Four TBM Value Conversations
– Lessons learned from early adopters of TBM in government