More rules for IT radicals

Dean Mitchell/Getty Images

John Low updates his 2017 essay "Rules for IT radicals" to take on the challenges of digital transformation at scale.

In 2017, I published an article in FCW titled: "Rules for IT Radicals: A Pragmatic Guide to Realistically Disrupting the Federal IT Space." The premise of the rules was that digital transformation was needed to radically improve services to citizens – and that IT practitioners should help drive this disruption.   

Now, almost five years later, the rules for IT radicals are still as relevant as ever, including leveraging platform technologies, applying design thinking and focusing on advanced data and analytics.  

But much has changed.  We are now living in a time of unprecedented disruption brought on by the pandemic, cybersecurity breaches such as SolarWinds, dramatic changes in cultural and workforce expectations and rapidly advancing technologies.  

And while these changes have accelerated some IT modernization efforts, most agencies are not achieving digital transformation at scale.  With that in mind, here are additional rules for IT radicals updated for 2022.

1. Focus on value creation

The value of digital transformation can be defined in multiple ways:  better cybersecurity, better analytics and decision-making, the ability to leverage emerging technologies to provide whole new transformational services, less manual work and therefore more time to spend on strategic activities, more responsiveness to customer needs, and increased flexibility and agility. 

Demonstrating how digital transformation creates value requires IT practitioners to have a deep understanding of mission areas as well as outstanding customer engagement skills. As one federal CIO said recently "We don't want to be an [IT] organization that works on technology, we want to be an organization that works on the mission. The more we give away the technology work to the cloud providers, the more all of our staff can work on the mission." 

IT radicals are those that understand the mission, help mission counterparts to define value, conduct trade-off analyses that weigh value gained against costs, and provide accelerators to realize that value sooner. Time and again we see that when agencies can articulate a compelling case for new value resulting from digital transformation, their ability to find funding is significantly improved.

2. Drive cloud optimization and rationalization 

Despite years of Cloud First and Cloud Smart initiatives, most agencies are not maximizing the value of cloud computing. The most radical actions to take right now are to establish enterprise cloud contracts to counteract cloud sprawl and stovepiped approaches, take full advantage of the investments Cloud Service Providers are making in innovative cloud solutions, and develop a data-driven, portfolio-based approach to application migration and modernization that moves well beyond rehosting for many systems. 

The profound changes in transformational customer services that are realized through advanced analytics, AI, and edge computing require a more comprehensive, committed, and concerted approach to cloud. IT radicals need to lead the way to more fully leveraging cloud capabilities and connect the dots across application modernization initiatives.

3. Adopt agile everywhere

Five years ago agile systems development adoption was well underway across the federal government and was clearly within the realm of IT practitioners. The COVID-19 response demonstrated the importance of bringing agile principles to all aspects of IT management. Actions to be taken include streamlining IT governance and decision-making operations; working with procurement officials to develop fast track procurement options; and automating IT functions such as configuration and testing, backup and recovery, and on-going maintenance support. When the pandemic hit, federal CIOs demonstrated the ability to act quickly in a crisis.  IT radicals seek ways to institutionalize that agility. 

4. Proactively manage complexity

Many agencies are overwhelmed by the managerial and technical complexity required to scale digital transformation efforts.  One of the most important actions an IT radical can take is to help an agency establish a target digital architecture, including a defined set of core technologies and providers. This should be a prerequisite to almost any other digital transformation effort.  Organizations should then apply automated, continuous value approaches to solution delivery that enable greater volume of activity with fewer defects. They should also upgrade their vendor management and technology evaluation and insertion capabilities to systematically guide the evolution of their target architecture.

Five years ago, I urged fellow IT radicals to disrupt the status quo to bring about needed change.  But we are now living in a time of unprecedented disruption brought on by external forces. Instead of being disruptors, successful IT radicals today are the ones who can harness the inherent disruption in the environment to drive the speed and scale of digital transformation.  

That takes know-how and calm, confident, competent leadership. It means having a strategic vision and being able to articulate the value of embracing enterprise solutions. And it means building the coaching, collaboration, and consensus-building skills necessary to capitalize on this moment in time.

John Low is an independent consultant in Washington, D.C.  

NEXT STORY: The Ukrainian War Could Usher in Quantum Arms Race

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.