Weekly Links 2024-06-28
A taste of what I’ve been reading this week…
- Thoughts on Agile from the DOD
- “Detecting Agile BS”
- https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/09/2002049591/-1/-1/0/DIB_DETECTING_AGILE_BS_2018.10.05.PDF
- This guide, developed by the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Board, aims to help program executives and acquisition professionals identify whether software development projects are truly using agile methodologies or simply paying lip service to the approach. To determine agility, the guide suggests looking for key signs such as user engagement, continuous feedback, and automation of processes, and asks a series of questions to detect “agile-scrum-fall” - waterfall or spiral development in disguise. Ultimately, the guide emphasizes the importance of a DevSecOps culture and encourages teams to adopt an iterative approach that prioritizes competence over process and minimizes time from program launch to deployment of working software.
- The DOD Ten Commandments
- “Ten Commandments of Software”
- https://media.defense.gov/2018/Apr/22/2001906836/-1/-1/0/DEFENSEINNOVATIONBOARD_TEN_COMMANDMENTS_OF_SOFTWARE_2018.04.20.PDF
- The Defense Innovation Board presents 10 commandments for developing and maintaining software in the Department of Defense (DoD). These commandments emphasize the importance of source code availability, software modification capabilities, modern operating systems, data encryption, and machine learning. Additionally, the board recommends establishing computer science as a core competency within the DoD, adopting commercial process and software, and implementing continuous hardware refreshes to stay ahead of adversaries in the rapidly changing software-centric combat environment.
- I particularly like #7 - “Every DoD system that includes software should have a local team of DoD software experts who are capable of modifying or extending the software through source code or API access.”
- What strikes me is that if the DOD can darw these same conclusions and give this guidance, there is no reason other large and medium governments and enterprises can’t do the same.