US DoD Shift from Waterfall to Agile
Explores the US Department of Defence’s shift from traditional waterfall delivery to lean-agile methods, highlighting new procurement rules and the …
TL;DR; Even large, regulated, and traditionally slow organizations like the DOD and FBI have successfully adopted iterative delivery, showing that excuses for not embracing agile are unfounded. Agile helps reduce risk, increase flexibility, and deliver value incrementally, which is especially important in regulated industries. Development managers should challenge resistance and prioritize agile practices to improve outcomes regardless of organizational constraints.

Too many organisations hide behind excuses:
“We can’t do that here.”
“We’re not a software company.”
“We’re regulated.”
The DOD and FBI are proof that excuse is dead. You can be large, slow, and bureaucratic, and still move to iterative delivery.
Agile is not about being cool or trendy. It’s about reducing risk, increasing optionality, and delivering real value incrementally.
Regulated industries aren’t excluded from agility. They’re the ones that need it most.
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.
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.
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.

Boeing
Boxit Document Solutions

YearUp.org

Lockheed Martin

ProgramUtvikling
NIT A/S

Bistech

ALS Life Sciences

Trayport

Brandes Investment Partners L.P.

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)

Sage

Microsoft

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)

Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd

Philips

Big Data for Humans

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

Ghana Police Service

Nottingham County Council

Royal Air Force

New Hampshire Supreme Court

Washington Department of Transport
CR2

Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd

Teleplan

Schlumberger

Philips

Bistech