Team Six - Timing is everything! 18F and The CIO Playbook.

Most of us at Agile Six have experience delivering software to government programs.   Federal employees are some of the most genuine and purpose-driven people with whom I have ever worked. It is particularly meaningful for me to have empowered social workers in the family advocacy programs at VHA, AFMOA or MEDCOM.  These are people that have dedicated their careers in service of Veterans and Military Families. While some of these wonderful people are certainly more tech savvy than I am, the bulk of them don't have enough time to follow all tech trends.  This is why we are particularly excited about some of the trends in federal technology buying.  This is why we started our own firm.

The folks at GSA have assembled a group of very intelligent people over at "18F".  This is a "digital services agency" seeded by 11 former Presidential Innovation Fellows and pushing smart concepts such as Lean Start Up methods, Agile,  Open Source software, and Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The group is a direct result of the healthcare.gov fiasco.  It is self-funded on a cost improvement model which makes it somewhat like a commercial enterprise.  We recently had the privilege of competing for their Agile Services BPA RFP (our fingers are still crossed), which was much more about coding skill than writing prowess.  Together with one of our favorite partners Three Wire Systems, we built and deployed three functional applications in 36 hours!  And it was FUN!

A very similar ethos is also present over at the White House in what is known as the US Digital Service.  This team is led by former "Googler" Mickey Dickerson who was largely credited for cleaning up the aforementioned healthcare.gov situation.  Dickerson and his team are also a breath of fresh air in DC.


USDS provides consultation services to federal agencies on information technology. It seeks to improve and simplify digital service, and to improve federal websites. They have published a document which I believe to be incredibly insightful, simple and technically profound.  Perhaps you think this is a lot to say about a government publication? I suggest you check it out - playbook.cio.gov



In future posts I plan to discuss some of the ideas documented in the playbook.   For now let me say that these new buyers have the potential to create impactful change in DC.  Social workers in the trenches at VHA, AFMOA and MEDCOM deserve nothing less than "more for less".  I believe this kind of government will improve the lives of our Heroes and those who serve them.  Here at Agile Six we are "all-in" with 18F and USDS!


- Robert  -  (robert.rasmussen@agile6.com)


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