Speed to Mission – The New Way of Doing Business at DHS
A ‘big bang’ approach to homeland security projects – where projects take multiple years, have huge scope, cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and are prone to failure – are a thing of the past. While achieving mission results sometimes does take years, homeland security agencies recognize that a strong future vision, achieved through multiple, incremental projects are lower risk, more cost effective, and drive measurable change more quickly.
We see the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) doing smaller, more focused projects on cross-agency information sharing. We see DHS components standing up new enterprise-wide analytics capabilities, using agile approaches to develop new systems, and undertaking mission-specific projects to combat human trafficking and mitigate flood risk.
With the challenges of large projects in mind and a keen eye on new ways to address stagnant budgets, Arc Aspicio strategically recognizes that achieving success requires 1) proven methods, 2) innovation tools, and 3) project accelerators to achieve mission results. For ongoing projects that need ‘new life’ or for new projects that tackle emerging mission challenges.
We call our approach Speed to Mission. It includes building blocks of repeatable processes, templates, tools, and innovation techniques that yield results more quickly than traditional methods used by large, expensive consulting firms and systems integrators.
Speed to Mission starts with a focus on Mission First, including in depth knowledge about the mission, strategy, and goals of a homeland security organization. Who are the key clients and stakeholders and what is most important? How do you make tradeoffs across stakeholders with conflicting demands?
Speed to Mission includes several elements that allow projects to achieve measurable results quickly:
- Strategic Mission Focus
- Prioritize Work Based on Client Goals
- Execute Using Repeatable Methods, Accelerators, and Tools
- Effectively Manage Schedule, Budget, Quality, and Risk
- Demonstrate Measurable Results
“Fast” is the new black. Clients demand innovation and want results yesterday. Our solution is to apply our methods and accelerators that we built over the course of more than 60 projects with DHS. We collaborate with clients, inject our Innovation Tools (I-TOOLS), bring homeland-experienced people with a passion for the mission, and focus on mission success. It’s the way we know to earn trust with each of our clients.
About Arc Aspicio
Arc Aspicio is a management, strategy, and technology consulting firm that takes a mission-oriented approach to complex client challenges. Focused on innovation, Arc Aspicio provides services in strategy, design, human capital, operations, analytics and visualization, technology and information sharing. The company is known for a strong, collaborative culture that values gratitude, provides leadership opportunities, and explores the future. Our teams take a human-centered approach to working with clients and are flexible and responsive within dynamic Government client environments where missions evolve and new priorities arise sometimes even daily. We thrive on these situations and promote continuous improvement and new ideas. And, #welovedogs! Follow us on Twitter @arcaspicio or learn more at www.arcaspicio.com.
