Government Agility with Kevin Sutherland

Government Agility with Kevin Sutherland

From Badass Agile by Fuse Chamber, Inc

March 16, 2026 · 45 min

About this episode

Kevin Sutherland discusses the unique challenges of implementing agile methods in large-scale government environments.

Meet Kevin Sutherland of SI Delivery Consulting Kevin Sutherland is doing bold things to bring agile methods to large-scale government. He went from early days with Accenture, through first-hand experience with waterfall and the pitfalls of massive system delivery, to founding his own company focused on state-level innovation. Kevin isn’t just theorizing about agile transformation, he’s in the trenches, dealing with resistance, bureaucratic inertia, and public stakeholder pushback. Kevin discusses what makes public sector agile so distinct and challenging. What are the unique obstacles in government (political incentives, captive user bases, absence of commercial profit motives) that make scaling agile so complex? Regulation, oversight, legacy systems, and decades of policy layering are persistent blockers that most commercial agilists rarely encounter. Many true agile practitioners just avoid or walk away from government environments, choosing not to engage because the culture or ecosystem isn’t receptive. You’ll hear what Kevin is actually testing and using in a time when agile has become a dirty word in many orgs, and how he finds ways to deliver value without strictly…

People in this episode

Guest: Kevin Sutherland

Topics covered

  • government agility
  • agile transformation
  • public sector challenges
  • bureaucratic inertia
  • incremental approach

Keywords

  • agile methods
  • government
  • transformation
  • bureaucracy
  • public sector

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SI Delivery Consulting, Accenture

Places: Minnesota

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