GAO Releases Best Practices Guide for Agile Software Development

One of GAO’s responsibilities is to assess federal agencies’ management of information technology, which equates to over $90 billion in spending each year. Due to continued challenges, cost and schedule overruns, and general inefficiencies, GAO placed federal IT management and acquisition on its High Risk List.  

Agile is an incremental software development approach promoted by OMB that can reduce the risks in the IT development and implementation process. Provisions of FITARA legislation require CIOs at covered agencies to certify that certain IT investments are adequately implementing incremental development. OMB’s related guidance requires agencies to use incremental development approaches that would deliver enhanced or new functionality to users at least every six months.

The Agile Assessment Guide discusses best practices for agile adoption, execution, and program monitoring and control across the federal government. GAO developed the guide for federal auditors to use as they assess the extent to which an agency has adopted and implemented agile methods. The guide will also be useful to organizations with established agile policies and protocols to evaluate their existing approach to agile software development. The best practices will also serve organizations in the midst of adopting agile software development practices to help inform their transition.

GAO states that the best practices presented in the guide are not given as a comprehensive “how to” manual, but are presented as high-level concepts of software development, contracting, and program management. The 268-page document covers the following topic areas with specific case studies throughout:

• Agile Adoption Challenges in the Federal Government and Actions Taken in Response
• Agile Adoption Best Practices
• Overview of Agile Execution and Controls
• Requirements Development and Management in Agile
• Agile and the Federal Contracting Process
• Agile and Program Monitoring and Control
• Agile Metrics

GAO developed the guide with the assistance of IT and program management specialists and organization executives across the government, private industry, and academia. GAO plans to update the document periodically based on user comments and feedback.