| | DEC 2018 -9E ERGYTech Reviewfunctions to return business value quickly. A strong relationship between the business partner and IT expert always returns the best results­so we work hard to foster these relationships. We continue to evaluate our IT and operations investment prioritization and project management disciplines to ensure we are applying "just enough" structure and governance to accelerate the `demand to delivery' value stream, manage well and maintain quality results. Further, an emphasis on reducing technology complexity­from the data center to the desktop­makes technology more accessible. Finally, we continually evaluate our investment priorities to ensure we're funding technology enablers that reduce operating costs or drive competitive differentiation.Proficiency in AgileThe agile (or even DevOps) development and deployment models are well understood but not necessarily easy to execute consistently. We are working to improve our proficiency in agile as we've found our business partners are far more satisfied with this development approach. One challenge with agile is to ensure each project is built within the guidelines of an overall software architecture. Agile has some built-in mechanisms to address this requirement, such as "refactoring" or additional sprints to address "technical debt". Another obstacle can be lack of understanding or experience with agile with IT or business partners. If agile is not executed well, or if the desire for faster outcomes compromises the foundational disciplines of information technology (e.g., cybersecurity, information management, technology lifecycle management, etc.), organizations will be hindered by a more complex and costly technology ecosystem in the long run.Evolution of `mode 2'Well, we do still measure our teams on project deadlines... certain fundamentals always apply... As discussed above, agile development is one technique. While agile development is not inherently faster, the constant engagement of the business partner removes their anxiety over the likely success of the final deliverables that sometimes creeps into traditional, months-long waterfall projects. The use of scrum techniques and frequent reviews of backlogs have ensured that the most important work is getting done first. Additionally, the application of lean management techniques for continuous improvement and problem solving has encouraged our `front line' to identify and resolve any bottlenecks and issues. We have also adopted Gartner's `mode 2' approach to facilitate piloting emerging technologies­from hardware provisioning measured in minutes, not weeks, to application component iterations delivered in days, not months. Successful `mode 2' execution relies on standard platform configurations­so we are working with our business partners to define a limited set. The next step in the evolution of `mode 2,' is to enable our `citizen developers' within a controlled set of technologies and data sets. Finally, we are implementing tools to automate the development, testing and deployment of software. These tools are radically accelerating implementation timeframes while improving the quality of our work products. The combination of machine learning and robotic process automation has the promise of a `step function' improvement in lower-level task automation
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