While managing IT starts with metrics measurement, it goes beyond simply gathering the data. The key to success is to have metrics in place that translate performance data into actionable insights that will drive change and service improvements.

Following a traditional ‘project management approach’ for IT Service Management (ITSM) projects works well in many organizations, but the results can be suboptimal if project benefits can't wait until the end of the effort or when requirements frequently change.  Instead, following an ‘Agile project approach’ can reduce the impacts of these and other conditions not typically addressed by traditional project approaches.

Traditional approaches for measuring performance focus on a classic model of identifying and collecting metrics and reporting them through summary reports or dashboards to management. Improvements are then measured as changes in these metrics. While this approach is better than failing to identify any performance measures, it typically falls significantly short in terms of measuring progress. In some cases, little thought and refinement went into which metrics are meaningful as well as what to do with the information collected. Dashboards may look cool, but often fail to convey meaningful insight.

Another important element driving the value of external services firms is how they define their own purpose. Many public sector contracting organizations define themselves not by the value they add, but by their ability to simply capture revenue from the federal competitive contracting process. They view the market not as a challenging environment requiring top shelf talent to solve some of the most complex problems in the world, but as an ATM machine requiring no more than the right code to extract money. These organizations exploit the government's natural and inherent acquisition and related weaknesses for their own gain, providing services and personnel which offer little or no value.

In any organization, there are many types of groups, ranging in formality, size, and duration. At one end of the continuum, there are ad hoc groups that may assemble over a single lunch to address a very limited issue, such as how to fix a software bug. At the other end of the continuum are formal organizational components such as a division branch, with a formal structure and activities designed to endure indefinitely.

One of the biggest values external consultants offer is a fresh perspective. With a hopefully better understanding of the broader possibilities based on experience with many other organizations and efforts, consultants often see the gaps and opportunities between the requirements an organization, program, or project is attempting to address and the mechanisms it's employing to do so.

A common selling point for many consultancies and contractors are in fact their unique or specialized methodologies and tools. What one often finds under closer inspection of these methods however, is that the vast majority of them are fairly similar to a handful of almost universally common approaches. One firm’s specialized methods for example, as published on their website under different service areas, are actually all the same approach with only a handful of words changed and the color scheme altered within each one.

A common mechanism for identifying opportunities for improvement within public sector organizations is the use of benchmarking. Usually performed by external firms, benchmarking involves selecting a number of areas of an organization for examination and comparing their practices, approaches, and outcomes to one or more similar organizations.

Another important concept for managing within the structure of working groups is placing limits on the time spent on any given topic and assigning due dates to action items. This concept, known as time-boxing, can act as a significant accelerator for efforts, especially those with open-ended objectives. The best efforts possess a macro level time-box for the complete effort. Within that time-box, smaller segments of activity are also time-boxed to help ensure they are accomplished within the overall timeframe of the larger effort.

New individuals represent a significant opportunity and mechanism for taking ground quickly. Whether joining an organization, a working group, or an effort in any capacity, new individuals typically enjoy the unique benefit of being personally unencumbered by politics and history. 

New individuals possess a personal window where they can take ground quickly. Like running into the ocean, these individuals can move fairly quickly at first, as if on wet sand or in a few inches of water. However, as they wade deeper into an organization or effort, their speed slows as the water level rises around their waist. And after a period of time, they're simply treading water to keep their heads above water, merely keeping pace with the operational and compliance requirements of their role. Unencumbered by history, politics, and personalities these individuals possess a good, but diminishing opportunity to make progress.