2020 was a year fraught with events that laid bare many weaknesses and inequalities in our societal models. This includes structural racism, gender and income inequality, unemployment, and a digital divide – some because of the pandemic, others exasperated by it. Achieving a level playing field...
There is a broad awareness that the federal IT portfolios—and our thinking about how to manage them—is changing. In most federal institutions, mission and business systems of record are laden with technical debt. The cost of servicing that debt constrains the opportunity to redirect budget...
Like many other previously inviolable principles in the world of federal information technology (IT), the conventional wisdom surrounding how application development projects can and should be managed is being upended. Increased adoption of Agile processes and other innovations related to geographically distributed collaboration have rendered the...
In our previous blog post we provided an overview of a digital services delivery model we refer to as the Continuous Value Office (CVO). A CVO is a next-generation approach to providing consistent, standardized delivery of as-a-service offerings. In this blog, we dive deeper into...
About a decade ago, I finally crossed the line towards becoming what I would call “an acceptably competent home cook.” What pushed me over the line was that I began to see patterns in the various dishes I prepared (pan sauces being a good example)...
Earlier this year our CEO, Amy Wright, wrote about how the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is helping the federal government solve its toughest application service delivery challenges by scaling Agile within their organizations. The benefits of SAFe include greater alignment around customer needs, transparency across...
Federal agency leaders seek to incorporate emerging technology to optimize mission services. Indeed, the Deloitte Center for Government estimates that around 1.2 billion hours can potentially be freed up through automation in the U.S. federal government. Those hours can be used to focus more directly...
Federal IT is being disrupted. Driven by regulation, budget constraints, and the need to deliver more value-driven capabilities, agencies are seeking to optimize their current technology services, improve IT operations, and replace legacy technologies. This year, Gartner posits that government IT will need to adopt fresh,...
The notion of government as a rigid institution bound to legacy software development practices is no longer as tethered to reality as it was a few years ago. Increasingly, federal agencies are adopting Agile and DevOps methodologies to develop applications and deliver products and services faster...
COVID-19 is changing how we work. In a matter of weeks, millions of employers have rolled out mandatory work from home orders – and it’s realistic to assume that this new normal will be around for some time. As we reflect on this intense period of...
The past 12 months have been significant for Macro Solutions, a company that I founded nearly 20 years ago with my brother, who now serves as our COO. Contract awards, industry awards, and new services demonstrate how we’ve evolved to become a formidable mid-tier government...
The ability to make decisions quickly and effectively is critical for DevOps. Common missteps in the decision-making process include the failure to factor the “Cost of Delay” and “Loss Aversion Bias.” Cost of Delay is a way of communicating the impact of time on the outcomes...
Good managers understand the value of change. Better managers understand that change can take time and is best applied in small, consumable chunks. An organization’s survival depends upon its ability to respond to environmental changes appropriately and efficiently. Those that are too late to see...