With the right contractual guardrails, engineers can expand their skillsets, continue to challenge themselves as they integrate new technologies, and more quickly see the impact of their work in production. Engaging Talent in New Ways Once technical talent is hired, organizations must keep them energized over time. Common levers such as compensation and career development paths help improve retention, but it is additionally important to consider the engineering experience and technology culture. For example, many critical federal systems are built over multiple years. Technical talent may spend a large part of their career on a single system to scope, design, operationalize, and then maintain it. Phased design approaches can help keep talent engaged across multiyear projects and use modern development practices to: • Segment the domain architecture into smaller services and applications, sequencing the launch of business processes • Allow engineers to more rapidly test their work in a production environment, as microservices and applications • Enhance the technology stack by allowing architects to harness the newest development technologies for different services over the course of a multiyear project How agencies specify contracts will also impact the technology stack. There can be valid cases for technology lock-in when developing certain mission applications. However, where possible, contracts can be written in a flexible way, allowing technical architects to select the best capabilities for an evolving technology stack. With the right contractual guardrails and incentives, engineers can expand their skill sets, continue to challenge themselves as they integrate new technologies, and more quickly see the impact of their work in production. 16 Defining Roles for the Future Standard engineering projects include a scope for roles such as Scrum Masters and solution architects. But delivering successful projects today requires an evaluation of new roles, both within government and for its technology partners. Specifically, senior roles in product management and engineering are key to accelerating large-scale delivery projects. Product managers help track the vision and end state of an IT system and define an integrated roadmap for how to get there. With a deep understanding of strategy, planning, prioritization, and customer needs, product managers provide leadership and discipline to digital transformation, coordinating all aspects of development. They ensure the team delivers solutions that align with customers’ needs and that meet expectations for user access and functionality. By contrast, when siloed business- and feature-focused teams lead program delivery, projects suffer from communication gaps and lack of agility, the focus turns to outputs, not outcomes. As a result, requirements, development, and testing happen in isolation. The chief engineer is also crucial to project success. The chief engineer oversees all individual technical leads and is accountable for the success of software delivery projects as well as the broader roadmap for IT implementations. The chief engineer makes final technology-related decisions for a cascade of stakeholders, including the chief software engineer, chief data engineer, and chief security engineer.