Can Government Be Agile?

“The United States has been beset with significant social, cultural, and technological changes for decades,” said G. Edward DeSeve. “The public sector has been perceived to be slow to adapt to these changes and is often in a reactive mode, not a proactive one. Against this backdrop, trust in the federal government has been declining sharply. It is critical that we develop a reform agenda to make governments at all levels more agile in the face of rapid change. Success will require a new mindset in government and new organizational models, but the agile government can be a new tide that lifts governmental ships around the world.”

Agile Regulation: Gateway to the Future (2022)

The National Academy of Public Administration, the Project Management Institute (PMI), and the Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust embarked on an effort to address federal regulation, which many view as the least agile area of public administration and policy. This paper presents an Agile Regulatory Framework that we believe can help federal agencies meet public needs in an increasingly fast-paced and dynamic environment. This framework is offered in the spirit of a deep and abiding belief in the public sector’s importance and the need for regulation. This report provides:

• An Agile Regulatory Framework with nine tenets across four key categories;
• A detailed description of each tenet and specific practices that federal agencies could consider adopting; and
• Examples of agencies operating in an agile way.

Building an Agile Federal Government (2020)

The Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust and the Project Management Institute cosponsored an Academy white paper that explored the issues associated with agile government and recommended ways that the federal government can become more agile. The study considered such issues as:

• How agile differs from current management practices;
• When agile approaches are appropriate and when they are not;
• How agile should be promoted by central management entities; and
• What implementation actions should be undertaken by federal departments and agencies.