
About ten years ago I decided I wanted to learn how to play the guitar. I took lessons when I was 12, but quit long before I was able to play much more than some common riffs. I am the type of person that when I decide I want to do something I go all in. So I researched guitars and within a week I bought a Fender CD-60. I remember the smell of the guitar and the feel of it the first time I picked it up, I was elated. I also quickly remember how frustrating it was. I quickly realized that this beautiful instrument was not going to sing on its own, but I was determined. I set aside time every day to practice and watched hours of YouTube lessons. Pretty soon I could play common riffs again and some basic scales. I was ready to start tackling songs, or so I thought. Nothing sounded right, my rhythm was off, switching chords seemed impossible, my fingertips were raw, and it was anything but fun. I was ready to hang it up accepting that I was not “born to play guitar” when I heard my son through the door singing along with the song I was butchering for the 800th time. When I stopped he said, “Wow Dad you are getting really good.”
It was at that moment that I looked back and realized I wasn’t just banging fuzzy chords or running through basic scales, I was actually playing music (all be it at probably a 3rd-grade level). You see I was so focused on the difficulty of the new challenge I was undertaking that I hadn’t given myself credit for the challenges I had already overcome. Now I still wouldn’t call myself a guitarist, and I won't play in front of other people, but it has become my sanctuary, where I can clear my mind and relax, learn new things, and appreciate the steps toward the top of the mountain. It is a constant reminder that life is about the journey, not the destination.
I have been involved in culture change and agile adoption in the Government for almost two decades. In every engagement, whether I was a government employee or coaching an agency I hear the same thing, “It is so hard, I don’t think we will ever get there.”
When I hear that I am reminded of my own struggles both in driving agile adoption and learning a new skill. It always feels like you are stuck in the mud and that you are wasting your energy. It feels like it would be easier to quit or stick with the status quo. Change in the government is especially difficult. Decades of bureaucracy and risk aversion are systemic.
Fear of the unknown and failure are incredibly high, such that almost everyone in the government is empowered to say no, but only very few are empowered to say “yes”. But the truth is agile adoption has come an incredibly long way. When I first started experimenting with acquisition models to acquire agile services I was told it couldn’t be done. When I spoke on the subject at conferences I was looked at with suspicion and doubt. Now it is almost universally accepted as not only possible but the right thing to do. Even the GOA has written multiple reports on the benefits and the Hill continues to pass legislation to push agencies toward modernizing software development and delivery.
So is it easy? Absolutely not, it is every bit as difficult as it ever was. In every agency engagement, I see the same frustration I felt when I was doing it myself. However, I also see pockets of innovation appearing all over the government. I see entire organizations established to drive agile adoption, and I see it working. When I hear, “It is so hard, I don’t think we will ever get there,” I ask the person to tell me where they were on this journey a year ago, six months ago, and what happened this week. Invariably, I learn that they have come incredibly far, that there are now policies in place that support them, they have awarded at least a version of agile contracts, and that leadership is supporting them to do more. That is a major accomplishment and it deserves to be celebrated. Implementing agile at an agency is much like agile development itself. It will never be done, there is no such thing as perfect. Success is delivering, learning, and improving!
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