Recoding America: A Lean Government Enterprise

Prodacity 2025 started with a "Recoding America: A Lean Government Enterprise" session block and tackled one of the biggest challenges in government technology: modernizing federal agencies at scale while increasing speed, security, and interoperability. Across three powerful talks from Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, Barry O’Reilly, and Bess Dopkeen, there was one clear message: government must move beyond outdated processes and adopt lean, digital-first approaches to stay ahead of adversaries and meet mission demands.

This session highlighted four critical themes government leaders and federal contractors must embrace to drive real change.

1. Government Needs Digital Transformation at Scale

From Industrial Bureaucracy to Agile Enterprise

For too long, government has been an industrial-era machine, built for slow, predictable efficiency rather than rapid adaptation. But as Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant pointed out, the modern battlefield is digital, and yesterday’s acquisition models won’t outpace today’s threats.

The old way of working, where projects take years, with massive up-front investments and rigid execution plans, doesn’t align with today’s reality. We no longer have the luxury of long-standing programs that fail to produce outcomes. Instead, we need agile, iterative development cycles where software and systems continuously evolve based on real-world feedback.

Barry O’Reilly’s call for unlearning outdated practices is critical to implementing a new way. When he and his team introduced the idea of continuous delivery, releasing software multiple times, daily, executives dismissed it as impossible. They were stuck in the belief that software updates had to be rare, slow, and meticulously planned.  While Industry has successfully made this transition, government agencies still struggle.

“If you’re not constantly innovating your behavior to adapt to the market you’re in, you’re going to be disrupted.” – Barry O’Reilly​

As Barry emphasized, transformation isn’t just about learning new skills. More importantly, it’s also about unlearning the old ways that hold us back. Government agencies must stop relying on outdated frameworks, rigid processes, and hierarchical decision-making models that reward compliance over innovation.

2. Cybersecurity & National Security Risks Are Increasing

The Cost of Delay Is Measured in More Than Dollars

The threat landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace. China is no longer a future threat; it’s a threat today. As Lt. Gen. Garrant explained, adversaries are developing counter-space capabilities, launching more than 1000 satellites, and infiltrating government and contractor networks.

In addition, Bess Dopkeen highlighted a critical flaw in our defense infrastructure: military systems don’t talk to each other. In a joint warfighting environment, information must flow seamlessly between Services, yet legacy systems operate in isolated silos. The result? The government spends billions developing software that doesn’t integrate when it matters most.

The result isn’t just a software problem, it’s a war-fighting problem. Our adversaries aren’t burdened by bureaucratic procurement cycles or compliance-heavy IT governance. They move fast, experiment, and iterate on cyber and space-based capabilities at a pace the U.S. government struggles to match.

Barry O’Reilly’s insights are particularly relevant here. He highlighted how organizations that fail to unlearn old habits put themselves at risk of disruption. Just as companies like Blockbuster and Kodak clung to outdated business models, government agencies that resist digital modernization risk being outmaneuvered by more agile adversaries.

The solution isn’t just adding more security controls or increasing budgets.  Government must rethink how it builds security into every aspect of software and system design. That means integrating cybersecurity into the development process as DevSecOps, rather than treating it as a compliance checklist at the end of a project.

“Disruption doesn’t happen to companies. It happens to individuals who cling to outdated mindsets.” – Barry O’Reilly

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3. Data & AI Are Driving Decision-Making

Speed, Not Size, Wins the Digital Arms Race

Historically, government measured IT success by scale: the biggest contracts, largest teams, and the most servers. But in today’s digital era, speed beats size. AI-driven automation, machine learning, and real-time analytics are strategic advantages.

Both Garrant and Dopkeen emphasized that military operations need faster, more automated decision-making. For example, the Joint Fires Network is pioneering real-time kill-chain closure, reducing the time it takes to analyze threats and respond.

Barry O’Reilly provided a powerful Industry example of this shift: Apple Pay. Despite serving billions of users, the team responsible for maintaining Apple Pay is 35 engineers. Meanwhile, many government IT projects have thousands of people but fail to deliver meaningful impact. The difference? Apple Pay is built on lean, highly automated systems, while government IT projects are often burdened by unnecessary complexity.

“Imagine being able to release software hundreds of times a day. They thought we were mad. Now, if you’re not doing it, you’re falling behind.” – Barry O’Reilly​

If Apple Pay can operate globally with 35 engineers, why does it take hundreds or thousands of people for government IT systems? The answer isn’t that government work is inherently more complex. Instead, the government has layered unnecessary processes and approvals on top of outdated technology stacks.

AI and automation offer a way ahead; by embedding AI into operations, government agencies can make faster, data-driven decisions and eliminate manual bottlenecks. The challenge is not just adopting AI, but unlearning the outdated processes that prevent AI from being effective.

4. Public-Private Partnerships Are Critical

Leveraging Commercial Innovation for National Defense

The government cannot innovate alone. The rapid evolution of commercial technology, including small satellites, AI-driven cybersecurity, and DevSecOps pipelines, has outpaced the federal acquisition system. The key is to modernize government and integrate with commercial innovation.

Lt. Gen. Garrant made this clear:

“Time and again, our partnerships with commercial industry pay off in dividends.”​

Barry O’Reilly’s talk reinforced this point: the most successful organizations are open to learning from outside their traditional domains. The Roman Empire, for example, thrived for centuries because it adopted the best ideas from every culture it conquered, rather than insisting on doing things “the Roman way.”

The same applies to the government. Instead of relying solely on large, traditional defense contractors, agencies must embrace non-traditional vendors, startups, and open-source communities.

Dopkeen’s work on breaking procurement barriers is equally critical. Small businesses and startups often struggle to work with the government because of complex, slow-moving acquisition processes andthis needs to change.

“When you stop learning, you start losing.” – Barry O’Reilly​

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TLDR;  What This Means for Federal Agencies & Contractors 

The federal government is at an inflection point. The era of slow-moving government IT is over. To succeed, agencies and contractors must:

• Adopt continuous delivery models—Build, Ship, Learn, Repeat.
• Embed cybersecurity into development—Security is a feature, not a compliance box.
• Prioritize automation and AI—Manual processes slow everything down.
• Break down silos and increase interoperability—Make government IT seamless.
• Leverage commercial technology, culture, and processes.

We can either be the disruptor or the disrupted. The agencies, leaders, and contractors who embrace lean, digital, and secure approaches will define the future of national security and governance.

Let’s get to work.

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About This Blog Series

This blog is part of a series distilling insights from three talks at Prodacity 2025: the Recoding America: A Lean Government Enterprise session block. Speakers included Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, Bess Dopkeen, and Barry O’Reilly.