Federal CIO Tony Scott has said cultural resistance is a challenge that hinders the advancement of agile information technology practices in the federal government, Fedscoop reported Tuesday.
Scott told a Partnership for Public Service event audience agencies still use the waterfall model for software development even as the General Service Administration’s 18F group and other agencies seek to implement agile IT initiatives, Billy Mitchell writes.
Scott said the government must establish the “right context and conditions†to achieve success with agile IT development, according to the report.
Adoption of agile practices does not suggest agencies totally discard processes gained through conventional methods like waterfall, he noted.
“Some of the best agile projects I’ve been associated with are ones that borrowed liberally from all the good known practices in waterfall — we just didn’t do waterfall,” Scott said.
