Extern styrning och internt stöd : Agil transformation i offentlig förvaltning

Sammanfattning: Public sector IT projects are often reported as being total disasters; going over budget and beyond their time frame for a poor quality final product. However, IT failures are not unique for the public sector. As a response to poor IT development, many organisations are now transforming to agile. Grounded in the Agile Manifesto, the agile approach is a collective, iterative and user-centric approach to both IT and business development. Despite a myriad of studies focusing on agile transformation, few have focused specifically on the unique challenges facing public sector organisations. This study therefore takes a multi disciplinary approach to agile transformation in Swedish public organisations. Using interviews with agile coaches and other people central to the transformation process from both public and private organisations, I compare the obstacles between the sectors. At large, public and private organisations face similar problems during transformation. However, private organisations seem better at dealing with challenges related to lack of competence and staff involvement. Furthermore, lack of competition is identified as a cause for the public sectors’ slow transformation. An identified solution would be for public organisations to instead focus on their overall mission and underlying values in order to succeed with agile.