a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty

The FBI Sentinel project was textbook waterfall

TL;DR; The FBI’s Sentinel project failed after years and massive spending using a traditional waterfall approach, delivering nothing. Switching to a small, focused Agile team produced a working product in a year at a fraction of the cost. Consider adopting iterative methods to avoid wasted time and resources and deliver real value sooner.

Published on
1 minute read
Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/iXdW5l5qVvR
Subscribe

The FBI’s Sentinel project was textbook waterfall. Big budget. Big bang. Zero value delivered after four years and hundreds of millions spent.

The solution? Throw it out. Build a basement Scrum Studio. Hand-pick 40 people. Give them space to work iteratively.

Within a year: $30 million. Working product.

Agile didn’t just save the project, it exposed the insanity of pretending waterfall ever worked at this scale.

If you’re still defending your 18-month Gantt chart, ask yourself: what would your stakeholders say after four years and nothing in production?

That’s not control. That’s negligence.

Also published on: LinkedIn
Smart Classifications

Each classification [Concepts, Categories, & Tags] was assigned using AI-powered semantic analysis and scored across relevance, depth, and alignment. Final decisions? Still human. Always traceable. Hover to see how it applies.

Subscribe

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Illumina Logo

Illumina

Microsoft Logo

Microsoft

Xceptor - Process and Data Automation Logo

Xceptor - Process and Data Automation

Alignment Healthcare Logo

Alignment Healthcare

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd. Logo

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.

CR2

Freadom Logo

Freadom

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company) Logo

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)

Boxit Document Solutions

Lockheed Martin Logo

Lockheed Martin

ProgramUtvikling Logo

ProgramUtvikling

Slaughter and May Logo

Slaughter and May

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG) Logo

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)

Jack Links Logo

Jack Links

NIT A/S

Schlumberger Logo

Schlumberger

Qualco Logo

Qualco

Ericson Logo

Ericson

Ghana Police Service Logo

Ghana Police Service

Royal Air Force Logo

Royal Air Force

Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

Washington Department of Transport Logo

Washington Department of Transport

Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo

Washington Department of Enterprise Services

Nottingham County Council Logo

Nottingham County Council

Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd Logo

Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd

Lockheed Martin Logo

Lockheed Martin

Deliotte Logo

Deliotte

New Signature Logo

New Signature

Jack Links Logo

Jack Links

Teleplan Logo

Teleplan