The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued an updated Agile Assessment Guide that features numerous best practices to assess the adoption and use of Agile processes in Federal agencies.
It is an update of GAO’s previous Agile Assessment Guide, which the watchdog agency first published in September 2020. The latest guide’s best practices focus on Agile adoption, execution, and control.
Agile is a software development approach which emphasizes early and continuous software delivery, ensuring quality software and customer satisfaction. This approach can reduce the risks of funding a program that produces outdated technology.
GAO said the Federal government annually spends over $100 billion on IT, but agencies face challenges in developing, implementing, and maintaining their IT investments.
Agile software development is one way to ensure incremental development of IT investments – something that is outlined as a requirement in the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA).
GAO’s guide was developed by Agile experts, and it looks to aid Federal agencies, departments, and auditors in assessing an organization’s use of Agile methods or their readiness to adopt Agile methods.
“The best practices in this guide are presented as high-level concepts of software development, contracting, and program management that highlight aspects of Agile development throughout a program’s life cycle, and address key risks to an organization, program, or team without prescriptive how to’ steps,” the guide says. “Many other publications address how to apply best practices in using an incremental approach to software development.”
The 322-page guide has best practices scattered throughout, but some of them include:
- Ensure staff are appropriately trained in Agile methods;
- Test and validate the system as it is being developed, using continuous integration and automated testing in the build process;
- Elicit and prioritize requirements;
- Tailor acquisition plans and contracts to align with Agile practices; and
- Identify key metrics based on the program’s Agile framework.
“The guide identifies some of the risks to Agile adoption faced by organizations, programs, or teams and provides Agile adoption, execution, and control best practices,” GAO said. “This guide is not meant to encompass all aspects of software development or program management.”
