Re: [Gov2.0Australia] Digest for gov20canberra@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 1 Topic

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Pia Waugh

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Aug 24, 2012, 5:06:34 PM8/24/12
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Hi all,

On Sat, Aug 25, 2012 at 5:29 AM, <gov20c...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Group: http://groups.google.com/group/gov20canberra/topics

    Dylan Jay <dja...@gmail.com> Aug 24 04:49PM +1000  

    On 24/08/2012, at 2:27 PM, Rory Ford wrote:
     
    > complete waste of money and time.”
     
    > I'm also interested in learning more about any Australian government
    > examples in applying a lean startup approach.
     
    As much as we can we (pretaweb.com) try to work in this style with our
    clients (mainly state government agencies). However the tender process
    tends to work against us as it generally requires a fixed price and
    requirements set in stone. Even given this we've done some of our
    bigger jobs by breaking down the work into iterations and setting the
    expectation that what would be delivered in an iteration (2 weeks)
    would be determined at the beginning of each iteration rather than set
    in stone based on the original tender. This is more like SCRUM rather
    than the pure LEAN approaching you're referring to.
    It's sad but I think the only way government departments can take a
    more experimental approach is only by using internal resources due to
    limitations in the tender process and unfortunately that limits the
    quality of the resources they can draw on.

Can I suggest you guys have a coffee with Don Easter, the Federal Gov's IT Supplier Advocate. It is his job to look at how Gov procures from IT SMEs and to try to make it easier so they can tap into SME potential better. I believe he has done a bunch of work reviewing tendering and other procurement processes and would, I'm sure, be interested in any specific recommendations about how procurement policy could be changed. 

I'd be interested too once I start my new job :)
 
    It's nice to see it happening in other governments however. Another
    example is https://www.gov.uk/ (turning out to be quiet expensive for
    them it seems). It would be great to see a recognition in government
    that a lean approach can greatly reduce costs and increase the
    likelihood of success.
Sounds good. There are also a lot of cultural changes in how gov organisations see tech, tech people, tech projects, and indeed the broader culture of risk aversion that also will need to evolve to see the kind of approach you are suggesting. Not that we should wait till then, but there are people in gov who want to innovate, so seek them out :)

Cheers,
Pia

chieftech

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Aug 25, 2012, 1:58:46 AM8/25/12
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The team who are behind the agile alpha and now beta approach to developing uk.gov occasionally share their experiences on the UK's Government Digital Service blog here http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/category/single-government-domain/

Pia - I've talked to the IT Supplier Advocate previously (in a past role in a regional ICT cluster) and I got the impression that it wasn't really their scope to address the procurement process itself.

However, it might be worth talking to someone like Matthew Hodgson (from Zen Ex Machina) about his experiences of agile project management in government.

James

Tim Little

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Aug 26, 2012, 5:35:10 AM8/26/12
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I would suggest checking in with Jane Treadwell - the new CEO of the Centre for Excellence in Public Sector Design... There might be some synergies with what she is doing...

Tim Little

On 26/08/2012, at 5:20 AM, gov20c...@googlegroups.com wrote:


     
    > more experimental approach is only by using internal resources due to
    > limitations in the tender process and unfortunately that limits the
    > quality of the resources they can draw on.
     
    Can I suggest you guys have a coffee with Don Easter, the Federal Gov's IT
    Supplier Advocate. It is his job to look at how Gov procures from IT SMEs
    and to try to make it easier so they can tap into SME potential better. I
    believe he has done a bunch of work reviewing tendering and other
    procurement processes and would, I'm sure, be interested in any specific
    recommendations about how procurement policy could be changed.
     
    I'd be interested too once I start my new job :)
     
     
    > that a lean approach can greatly reduce costs and increase the
    > likelihood of success.
     
    > Sounds good. There are also a lot of cultural changes in how gov
    organisations see tech, tech people, tech projects, and indeed the broader
    culture of risk aversion that also will need to evolve to see the kind of
    approach you are suggesting. Not that we should wait till then, but there
    are people in gov who want to innovate, so seek them out :)
     
    Cheers,
    Pia

     



      The team who are behind the agile alpha and now beta approach to developing
      uk.gov occasionally share their experiences on the UK's Government Digital
      Service blog
      here http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/category/single-government-domain/
       
      Pia - I've talked to the IT Supplier Advocate previously (in a past role in
      a regional ICT cluster) and I got the impression that it wasn't really
      their scope to address the procurement process itself.
       
      However, it might be worth talking to someone like Matthew Hodgson (from
      Zen Ex Machina) about his experiences of agile project management in
      government.
       
      James
       
      On Saturday, 25 August 2012 07:06:34 UTC+10, Pia Waugh wrote:

       

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