Build Faster Ways to Fix Things

4 ways the government can solve challenges today

The need for businesses to evolve in the public sector seems obvious as companies must continually transform to stay ahead of the competition. But why does “government innovation” feel like an oxymoron?

It certainly shouldn't—and it's well past time for federal agencies to move beyond the idea of innovation and embrace integration. After all, the future belongs to those who can combine the best of what technology already exists with forward-thinking, rapid processes.

How can that be done? Below Monkton explores four methodologies. Whether used singularly or combined, these approaches can help the government fix problems faster.

1. An Agile Approach

We all know that song about chasing waterfalls, and it often feels as if the government has been stuck in a misty downstream for far too long. An agile approach can reshape how the government works and plans—and can ultimately facilitate faster problem solving.

In software development, the decades-old waterfall method is a linear system of working that requires a team to complete each project phase before moving to the next. The desired end results, expectations, and deliverables at each stage are established at the project’s onset. A waterfall approach is structurally rigid and, contrary to its name, not fluid. As a result, it’s a much more siloed form of project management with less collaboration. More often than not, these projects can take years to complete. During that time, technology can significantly change—or even become obsolete.

Organizational agility

Agile methodology was developed as a response to the rigidity of the waterfall structure.

As an iterative approach, agile project management and software development enable teams to deliver value to their customers faster, with fewer headaches. Iteration allows for risk taking, experimentation, and real-time collaboration rather than remaining siloed. An agile approach‚ in stark comparison to the waterfall approach—considers that needs change.

Case in point: In 2020, United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) turned to Monkton to solve the immediate need of delivering a solution for their forward-deployed soldiers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Monkton delivered a life-saving system that analyzed data on hospital capacity and birth rates. Through organizational agility and collaborative partnerships, we were able to deliver rapid capabilities—even in an environment that was changing daily.

DevSecOps, Continuous Integration, and Continuous Delivery (“CI/CD”) are table stakes for the modern secure development of software. Monkton leveraged this agile approach, along with an advanced toolset in line with DoD DevSecOps Reference Architecture to achieve rapid results for General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, United States Northern Command.

By adopting more rapid, agile procurement processes, such as engaging in co-creation with industry partners, government agencies can more quickly test and adopt new technologies at the speed their missions require.

2. Collaborative Partnerships

Through collaborative partnerships, government agencies can access new technologies, expertise, and perspectives. They can also more quickly bring new ideas and innovations to market.

Take the U.S. Air Force (USAF), for example. As the leader in aerial power, the USAF boasts 39 unique types of aircraft, along with multiple airframe alternatives. It’s easy to understand why each airframe is custom made to carry out a mission effectively. Yet, the Air Force does not manufacture or develop aircraft. Instead, USAF collaborates with companies whose expertise is to develop aircraft that support each mission objective. These crucial collaborative partnerships allow all parties involved to stay in their lane of expertise and not waste a second on anything other than the mission’s objective.

In the case of aircraft, collaboration among intended end users—those flying the planes, maintainers of the aircraft, and external partners—is crucial at the onset of every project.

BRICE: Mobile success at the point of repair

USAF Headquarters Air Force A4 needed to embrace and leverage digital technology at the Edge, where work is done. Maintainers needed to increase time on task and spend less time “hand-jamming,” or manually documenting. Implementing already familiar tools, like iPads, would allow users to reduce errors and on-the-job training.

By collaborating with the end users at the project’s onset, Monkton was able to solve the challenges of maintainers by addressing their concerns on day one. Through an iterative and agile approach, Monkton delivered BRICE, an iOS mobile ap p that enables maintainers to efficiently view and capture maintenance data at the point of use.

Successful collaboration supported the delivery of a solution that:

Produced a 60% improvement in data documentation
ROI of $8,500 per user, per year
Saved users 1-3 hours per day in documentation
Recognized in the Senate 2020 NDAA

3. Flexible Regulatory Frameworks

Regulations can be a barrier to innovation, particularly if they are overly prescriptive or slow to adapt to new technologies. Cloud Architecture and Implementation is a design pattern that focuses on the concept that “code is code.” Code should be easily able to compile and run in a variety of environments. However, not every cloud environment has the same services or integrates them similarly. Being cloud agnostic, or running code with a singular cloud service provider (“CSP”), does not allow for mission flexibility.

For the government to fix things fast, the focus should be on developing solutions leveraging native CSP technologies. If properly architected and designed, the government doesn’t have to be tied forever to a CSP, breaking the cycle of legacy systems and frameworks.

FaaS and PaaS

Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Functions as a Service (FaaS) provide capabilities customers need today, so the focus can remain on getting solutions to the Edge when needed.

Cloud providers like Amazon, Google, and Azure fully manage these services. By not having to manage services, the focus can remain on building the best solutions—not worrying about managing infrastructure. This methodology means one can define infrastructure as auditable code, consisting of managed components in the cloud.

PaaS and FaaS are entirely different from the traditional deployment of cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure as a Service (“IaaS”). Previously, organizations had to manage patches and servers while ensuring that infrastructure hadn’t been compromised. With FaaS and PaaS, most of this is offloaded to the Cloud Service Provider. By leveraging PaaS and FaaS, problems can also be solved in months—not years—with highly scalable, inexpensive, easily maintainable, and mission-solving needs.

4. Informed Decision Making

Government agencies rely on data to make informed decisions about policies, programs, and services. Through Edge-based capabilities that provide real-time data, information can be analyzed from various sources to identify trends, patterns, and areas of need to develop evidence-based policies and strategies.

Monkton’s Approach: Cloud Based Edge Capable

Going faster requires doing less. Monkton has accomplished this by leveraging Amazon Web Services GovCloud (“AWS GovCloud”) Platform as a Service (“PaaS”) and Functions as a Service (“FaaS”). PaaS enables us to define, in code, the infrastructure where the cloud-based solution lives. FaaS enables us to simply hand AWS GovCloud compiled code, and Amazon runs it for us, with minimal management interaction.

By combining FaaS and PaaS, organizations can realize mission capabilities today that, properly architected, can run anywhere—most critically, disconnected on the Edge missions.

Leveraging Docker, Kubernetes, and Amazon Elastic Container services—with the idea that “code is code”—allows Monkton to develop solutions to solve critical and immediate needs. Proper architecture of these solutions, built using PaaS and FaaS, also means they run seamlessly, wherever the user may be. Monkton understands not everything can run back in the Data Center and builds all its PaaS and FaaS technology to be able to deliver at the Edge.

Maintain Operational Capabilities

Edge Computing takes informed decision-making one step further. It offers solutions that can run in degraded and austere environments while maintaining operational availability when adversaries may deny comms. Every project at Monkton starts out by defining compliance requirements and asking, “How will this run on the Edge (if it needs to)?”

Edge Computing, along with Cloud Based Edge Capable (CBEC) solutions, helps identify problems before they occur so missions can live and thrive. This is possible because Edge-based solutions can maintain the same operational capabilities out in the field as they could central computing locations. When time is of the essence, Edge solutions can be a powerful asset:

Maintain access and analyze critical data even when in environments with limited or unreliable network connectivity
Edge Computing enables faster response times and real-time data analysis to help you make quick decisions
Data is processed and stored locally with Edge Computing, so sensitive data is more secure and less vulnerable to attacks

With no need to rely on a central cloud, Edge Computing brings computation and data storage exactly where it's needed. Beyond improved real-time decision-making, Edge Computing can help to increase operational efficiency and enhance overall security—so you can act faster when it matters most.

Given the learnings from the Ukraine/Russia war, our customers are starting to review the size of command posts due to the high threat of and vulnerability from attack services. Monkton's Edge Computing platform can deliver full mesh distributed command posts rather than a single “fat and ponderous” command post.

The Bottom Line: Move Faster by Doing Less

To evolve and fix things faster, government agencies need to focus on adopting capabilities relevant to mission success.

Agile methodologies equip the government with new ways to test and embrace technologies to make changes, today.
Flexibility with cloud service providers means always having options when developing solutions to solve immediate needs.
Access to real-time data enables faster and more informed decisions and informed decision making has never been more accessible than it is now with Edge Computing.
Collaborative partnerships allow for all parties involved to stay in their lane of expertise and not waste a second on anything other than bringing the desired functionality to life faster.

All of this is made possible by having the right team in place, and allowing them access to tools they trust—their own mobile devices.

By adopting these strategies, government agencies can more quickly identify and adopt new technologies and approaches to better serve their citizens.