OmegaRanzInterview with ACT President and IAC Chair: Success Factors for Programs that Leverage ITJanuary 13, 2015

Recently, The Modern Network had a chance to chat with two esteemed leaders in the IT space about an organizational initiative that can guide governments ability to effectively manage IT programs, as well as provide a framework for successful public/private partnerships. Rick Holgate is CIO of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and serves as President of the American Council for Technology (ACT). Dan Chenok is Executive Director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government, and serves as the Chair of the Industry Advisory Council (IAC).ACT was established in 1979 by government executives seeking a national forum where they could collaborate with their government peers on issues pertaining to the acquisition, management and use of information technologies. In 1989 ACT established the IAC to provide an objective, ethical and vendor-neutral forum where government could collaborate with industry and seek industry-wide advice on key issues. ACT-IAC provides an objective, ethical and trusted forum where government and industry executives exchange information and collaborate on how to improve government through the efficient and innovative use of technology. ACT-IAC has been described as a model of how government and industry can work together.ACT-IAC recently published a framework, titled Key Success Factors for Major Programs that Leverage IT: 7-S for Success that seeks to broaden the focus from IT oversight to overall program management, and offers seven factors government agencies can leverage to ensure program success. We asked Mr. Holgate and Mr. Chenok if they could provide some insight into the work of the two organizations they serve, as well as some other questions about broader IT initiatives and trends.Here is what they had to say:TMN:Who are the members of the ACT-IACgovernment CIOs or private sector organizations/individuals? And how do ACT and IAC work together for their ACT-IAC partnership?Rick Holgate: ACT started in 1979 as a meta organization, which was a reflection of where Federal government was in IT in 1979. With regional councils across the country, ACT brought together government stakeholders to discuss best practices, challenges, etc. Today, approximately 4,000 government employees are members of ACT. ACT members are not just government CIOs but also acquisition professionals and program managers, as well as HR and finance employees. ACTs mission is improving government through leveraging IT, so its not about IT per se, but rather about improving government overall where technology is used.Dan Chenok:IAC has a different membership model than ACT, with organizational rather than individual members. There are currently about 450 organizational members of IAC, which encompasses around 7,000 individuals.TMN:How did you get involved in ACT-IAC leadership? Why is the organization important to you?Dan Chenok: I was first involved with ACT-IAC when I was the senior career executive at OMB for IT policy and budget, a function that has generally moved into what is now the Federal CIOs office. I sought out ACT-IAC for advice because I appreciated being able to communicate with industry and government colleagues directly via the ACT-IAC platforms. The organization helped me do my job at OMB and also allowed industry to deliver messages to OMB. When I left the government in 2003, I was asked to run for the executive committee and became increasingly interested in ACT-IAC. Industry exec s increasingly see the joint organization as a great way to promote effective practices and to learn about better ways to work together with government agencies.Holgate: I had been involved with ACT for six or seven years when I joined a shared interest group between government and industry. I was impressed with the collaborative focus and problem-solving nature of the government advisory panel and the group members. I also came to recognize the level of confidence government has in ACT-IAC and have been impressed with their integrity and success. I was asked to join the executive committee, then was nominated to my current position as President.TMN:What inspired ACT-IAC to create the Key Success Factors for Major Programs that Leverage IT: 7-S for Success framework?Rick Holgate: The Framework was created in response to the Federal CIO following the launch of healthcare.gov, asking us to offer potential solutions to some of the issues experienced with that project. That project was a high-profile learning opportunity, and 7-S was ACT-IACs reflection on what could have been done differently to increase the likelihood of success.Dan Chenok: I testified in front of Congress about the Framework this year, and the Framework was one of the inputs that the administration leveraged in their newly-created digital playbook, with several the seven factors mirrored in the Playbook.TMN:In each of your opinions, what are the top challenges that federal CIOs face today?Rick Holgate: I think its adopting and adapting to the agile way of delivering services and capabilities. The shift to agile is a big change culturally, skillset-wise and tool-wise. The path to agile will be incremental, with increasing efforts to move in that direction, but accelerating speed is an inexorable pressure in the federal government. There have been a number of Federal ACT-IAC conferences lately about how to expedite this move towards agility. Another challenge I see is finding efficiencies and delivering more efficiently commodity services as core structures within agencies. Alternative providers (such as commercial cloud services) and shared services are pushing the envelope culturally and acquisition-wise.Dan Chenok: Id add cybersecurity. If central elements of an organization or activities of the C-suite are impacted by a cyber incident, CIOs must address those incidents. They must be active, operational, and respond continuously to cyber, which is a challenge with regard to maintaining leadins-edge skillset and processes. Just this week congress passed update to S.2521 Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, which along with other recently passed cyber legislation will help government work with industry to act in the face of complex issues of cyber compliance, and their ever-evolving nature.TMN:What challenges can the success framework help IT leaders overcome?Dan Chenok: One of the central issues in major programs where IT is a central element, as was illustrated by healthcare.gov, is the interconnection of organizations in delivery of services. For many projects, the government works with multiple agencies and contractors, and would benefit from a shared governance framework. They would benefit form a shared goal and a common set of rewards, but processes vary between agencies and among organizations. In order to be successful in technology projects, government should set up a framework at the beginning of the program so the organizations can work together around common objectives. Doing so would eliminate confusion like individual contractors performing well against their own goals but then once the project is delivered to the client as a whole, integration across systems not working.Agile acquisition is another area where the framework can help. The framework talks about implementing agile and establishing an acquisition structure that supports it. The way acquisition has traditionally worked does not support agile, so trying to implement agile software development utilizing the existing acquisition process has led to misalignment in outcomes. Agile software development encourages learning from failures and learning fast, then improving upon those areas in the future using lessons learned from the experienceTMN:Does ACT-IAC have any other resources that youd like to highlight to our readers?Rick Holgate:Any full-time government employee can join ACT for free. ACT provides value to government employees from all functions, agencies and levels of government. One benefit of particular value is Shared Interest Groups. The Acquisition Management Shared Interest Group is one that is of particular value to IT personnel or anyone involved in IT projects. The Planning and Architecture Shared Interest Group is another. It develops and shares insights for the integration of planning and information technology disciplines to encourage government to harness innovative technologies that deliver better services to citizens for less cost what weve termed Smart Lean Government. One area of primary focus for that group is implementing digital government and shared services strategies to provide a seamless customer experience based on life events.TMN:In each of your professional lives outside of ACT-IAC, what would you say is your top IT priority for 2015?Rick Holgate: Id say the shift to agile development and programming. This is something well be pushing at ATF. Specific projects will be getting ATF.gov to be more agile and responsive, and also making forms for customers in regulated industries easier to access.Dan Chenok: My group in IBM is essentially a management think tank that supports government in delivering management improvements. Items on our research agenda for 2015 including making performance management more effective and addressing risk management. Weve got a wide array of activities going on in various work groups tackling large-scale issues.