Steve Mayner - Agile Transformation in the Federal Government, Third Time's the Charm

Steve Mayner puts it well when he says that "just about everything in the federal government is very big". He discusses his work with implementing SAFe with the government as an Agile Practice Director. Scaling, understandably, was an issue. This was their third attempt to transform from a traditional mainframe to a modern architecture. After two failures and $3.2 billion spent with zero value, the third initiative, with a $436 million cap and three years to complete, finally succeeded--in large part due to the changes in their approach. Since failure was not an option, they had to be more open minded about their options, including looking into Agile and SAFe. Possibly most pivotal to their success was the close collaboration between two very senior leaders (one from business, one from IT): they were at every meeting, engaged, listening, providing guidance and listening to impediments that needed to be resolved at a higher level. They provided an environment conducive to change. SolutionsIQ's Howard Johnson hosts at SAFe Summit 2016 in Denver, Colorado. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe! Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook