Is Agile necessary for an IT department inside a governmental ministry?

"Scrum (n): A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value." -- the Scrum Guide

Complexity arises in situations where either requirements are not fully clear (e.g., not fully known, understood or unambiguously agreed upon) and/or solutions to meet these requirements are not fully certain (e.g., technologies or their combination may not exist yet or are not fully known or understood).

Do you think complexity might occur inside a governmental department and its IT projects? Do you think there is a need to address complex problems?

"Scrum has been used to develop software, hardware, embedded software, networks of interacting function, autonomous vehicles, schools, government, marketing, managing the operation of organizations and almost everything we use in our daily lives, as individuals and societies." -- the Scrum Guide

Scrum has proven to be useful in many areas, including government. 

"The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from work of the Development Team. How this is done may vary widely across organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals." -- the Scrum Guide

What value means varies widely from organization to organization. Do you think a governmental department expects to yield value (e.g. a project outcome being worth more than its cost) from their IT projects?

There is a lot of factors to consider, and it is not a simple yes / no answer. I like this case study from FBI and developing Sentinel, long story short:



- After 9/11 FBI needed new system that fits in 21st-century, it was called VCF and cost taxpayers $170 million, only to be cancelled and not finished.



- That costly mistake forced FBI to lunch new, "better" project - Sentinel. With new bigger and more expensive plan ($451 million) - what could go wrong? Contractor, Lockheed Martin, started project in 2005 with due date in 2009. When we are in 2010, Sentinel was "finished" only in 50% and burn $405 million of initial budget. An independent analysis estimated it would take another six to eight years to finish the project, and the taxpayers would have to throw in at least another $350 million.



- And there is a time, where Agile mindset and Scrum comes into play.

“It wasn’t that these weren’t smart people. It wasn’t that the Bureau didn’t have the right personnel in place, or even the right technology. It wasn’t about a work ethic or the right supply of competitive juices.” Instead, “It was because of the way people were working. The way most people work. The way we all think work has to be done, because that’s the way we were taught to do.”  ~ Jeff Sutherland

FBI CIO Chief Chad Fulgham hired Jeff Johnson, a Scrum expert, to fix the Lockheed Martin mess. In short, he planed to move development in-house, drastically reduce number of employees working with Sentinel project and he forecast that they:

"can complete Sentinel with the approximately $20 million remaining in the Sentinel budget and within 12 months of beginning this new approach."

In fact, it took Johnson’s team 18 months to complete the project of Sentinel. In July of 2012, Sentinel was turned on. 

Source: link

So, "is Agile mainly for people of business that develop for outer customers?"



I doubt, I believe that everybody can be Agile, regardless of business involved, or not, into initiative. Agile is a certain mindset, it is not a silver bullet, and requires a lot of hard work and commitment along the way.