Client
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
USCIS
Market / Industry
Federal Government - Immigration Services
Offerings
Lean-Agile Transformation, DevOps Transformation, Agile Governance
Challenge
As USCIS modernized its technology landscape, the agency sought to accelerate software delivery while improving quality, collaboration, and responsiveness to changing mission needs. Traditional development and operations practices created lengthy release cycles, organizational silos, and limited visibility into the flow of work.
USCIS identified several strategic objectives:
- Accelerate software delivery through Lean, Agile, and DevOps practices
- Improve collaboration between development, operations, and business stakeholders
- Replace activity-based management with value-driven delivery
- Strengthen governance while empowering delivery teams
- Reduce deployment risk and improve release predictability
To accomplish these goals, USCIS required an experienced transformation partner capable of implementing both organizational and technical changes across multiple portfolios.
Solution
LitheSpeed partnered with USCIS leadership to deliver an enterprise Lean-Agile-DevOps transformation that modernized governance, delivery practices, and organizational culture.
Enterprise Lean-Agile-DevOps Transformation
Through hands-on coaching, executive advisory services, strategy sessions, and embedded team mentoring, LitheSpeed guided the agency's adoption of Agile Delivery, DevOps, and Lean organizational practices.
Working closely with then-Chief Information Officer Mark Schwartz, LitheSpeed helped establish management guidance that enabled large-scale organizational change while creating a foundation for continuous improvement.
DEVOPS Transformation
To improve software delivery performance, LitheSpeed helped USCIS implement DevOps practices that strengthened the flow of value throughout the deployment pipeline.
By clearly defining responsibilities across development and operations teams, the organization reduced the traditional "throw it over the wall" approach to delivery and fostered shared ownership of system health, quality, and operational performance.
Agile Governance & Organizational Alignment
LitheSpeed collaborated with the Chief Technology Officer and the Agile Center of Transformation (ACT) to define Agile governance practices that improved organizational alignment and decision-making.
The engagement included:
- Defining Agile roles and responsibilities
- Establishing governance practices aligned with Lean and Agile principles
- Creating operating guidance that encouraged collaboration across business, development, and operations teams
- Supporting enterprise adoption across the ELIS and JETS portfolios
Coaching & Capability Development
LitheSpeed provided comprehensive transformation support through:
- Executive coaching
- Team coaching
- Individual mentoring
- Agile strategy workshops
- DevOps consultation
- Hands-on implementation guidance
This combination of leadership engagement and embedded coaching accelerated adoption while ensuring lasting organizational capability.
Results & Impact
LitheSpeed's partnership with USCIS transformed how technology was planned, built, and delivered across the organization.
Key outcomes included:
- Established USCIS as a recognized government leader in the effective adoption of Lean, Agile, and DevOps practices
- Improved organizational alignment through clearly defined Agile roles and responsibilities
- Strengthened collaboration between development, operations, and business teams through shared ownership of delivery outcomes
- Shifted organizational focus from activity- and output-based management to value-based delivery and continuous flow
- Increased deployment frequency from quarterly releases to weekly deployments, improving both delivery speed and predictability
- Enhanced release quality while enabling teams to independently manage deployments with greater confidence
By embedding Lean thinking, Agile governance, and DevOps practices throughout the organization, LitheSpeed helped USCIS create a modern delivery model that significantly improved responsiveness, collaboration, and operational excellence. The transformation enabled the agency to deliver technology solutions faster and more reliably while better supporting its mission to serve the American public.
