The Exchange Podcast

Welcome to episode 24 of the Exchange podcast. 

Together, we will be discussing the DigitalBC Livestream Policy to Pixels - Is Design Stalled. We will explore how our jurisdiction compares to others, such as Gov.UK, regarding design maturity, acceptance, and organizational structure. We will also discuss tips for empowering designers within an agile team, strategies for supporting long-term thinking within sprints, and examples of finished good design products for the public.

 We will also examine the role of Agile approach in breaking design stalls and the importance of learning across all disciplines as a foundation for making good service design decisions. Additionally, we will discuss strategies for communicating design benefits and ROI to senior leadership, moving beyond side-of-the-desk projects, and what to do when hitting a mental wall as a designer. So sit back, relax, and join us as we dive into the world of service design.

JP Fournier, Executive Director of the Digital Investment Office, continues the conversation from the #BCDigital Livestream with Rumon Carter on Fixing Digital Funding.

In this podcast, JP takes us further into the stories around his fast path from data jockey to fixer of government funding before he started working at the Digital Investment Office (DIO). We discuss what it's been like working at the DIO, JP's go-to reading in the government and more.

JP Fournier's suggested reading list

Core Policy and Procedures Manual

Public Sector Accounting Standards

Public Accounts

New South Wales Life Events Program

New South Wales Digital Restart Fund

Namita Sharma, formerly Senior Manager, Digital. Currently, the Senior Manager Digital Wallet program continues the conversation from the #BCDigital Livestream with Jillian Carruthers on Ontario's Journey to Digital Governance.

A few of the questions we discussed include, to the best of your knowledge, what are the biggest differences between Ontario and BC when it comes to digital governance? How did you manage the change management when it comes to data literacy?

Links:

·       Digital First Assessments: a guiding light for product teams

·       Standardizing rubrics to better evaluate digital services 

I hope you enjoyed this episode on Ontario's Journey to Digital Governance. You can connect with me at [email protected]

Director of Data Policy and Legislation Beth Collins, and Colleen Rice, Executive Director of Strategic Projects with the British Columbia public service, continues the conversation from the Livestream with Ari Hershberg on Data to help dismantle systemic racism.

The anti-racism data act is based on the input of more than 13,000 British Columbians. More than 90% of racialized people who provided feedback through community-led engagement sessions believed that collecting intersectional demographic data such as ethnic origin, ancestry, faith, ability and gender identity could bring positive change in B.C. and be a step toward building trust between government and Indigenous Peoples and racialized communities. 

A few of the questions we discussed include What did you think this was going to be like before you started, what was it really like, and what is a story or comment from the engagements that stood out for you the most, especially in terms of its influence on the legislation development.

Links:

• New anti-racism data act will help fight systemic racism
• Eleven people selected to join B.C.’s new anti-racism data committee

I hope you enjoyed this episode Digital Talent in the Public Sector: Defining Success. You can connect with me at [email protected]

Dorothy Eng, Executive Director for Code for Canada, Jonathan Craft, Policy Ready Co-Founder and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and Jordan Samis, Senior Director Digital Delivery, with the British Columbia public service. continues the conversation from the Livestream with Ari Hershberg on Digital Talent in the Public Sector: Defining Success

As I shared on the webinar, attracting and retaining Digital Talent is a big challenge that has only grown through the experience of COVID-19. We had a passionate audience that openly shared their difficulties and problems with current hiring, pay, and other areas they would like to see improved. We will be covering the top five questions.

In the fall we will continue the series by offering three more conversations:

1. Around the role of private sector in public sector digital transformation
2. Role of learning and development in building digital capacity in public institutions 
3. Growing and supporting digital communities to support this work

Link:

• Policy Ready Case Study Series

Hope you enjoyed this episode Digital Talent in the Public Sector: Defining Success. You can connect with me at [email protected],

Rumon Carter, Executive Lead, BC Parks Service Transformation, BC Parks and Recreation Sites & Trails Division continues the conversation from the #DigitalBC Livestream with CJ Ritchie on Reimaging the BC Parks Experience from the outside in.

Some of the questions we discuss include what operational results are your digital transformation efforts creating presently, how much consultation did you have with the public, and how do you balance expectations of digital service transformation priority vs service priority itself, and more

Link

-BC Parks Digital Service

Thanks for joining us for our seventeenth episode. I am talking with Marianne Bellotti, author of Kill it with Fire Manage Aging Computer Systems (and Future Proof Modern Ones) to continue the conversation from the #DigitalBC Livestream with Jillian Carruthers on Legacy Modernization Part 3

Topics discussed:

- Types of thinking required to approach designing future systems today that we will not have technical debt future generations to address/deal with

- Is it realistic for an enterprise to attempt to build and maintain core software capabilities (i.e. common components)

-What role do incentives play in how government structures its projects? The desire for certainty, the lack of openness to pivots etc

Links: 

- Marianne Bellotti articles on Medium

Thanks for joining us for our sixteenth episode. I am talking with John Jordan, BC Digital Trust Service, and Executive Director for the Trust Over IP Foundation. John has been working at the vanguard of digital trust and identity for many years, bringing his experience from the federal government to BC in 2016. We are continuing the conversation from the #DigitalBC Livestream with Jillian Carruthers on Why Digital Trust and Identity should Matter to you.

Topics discussed:

• Addressing the risk of shifting from a trust model to a verification model.
• Production implementation we can learn from around verifiable credentials
• Potential connections between Digital Identity and IDs like vaccination passports

Links: 

- BC Digital Trust

- Connect with John Jordan at [email protected]

Honey Dacanay, Executive Director, Benefits Delivery Modernization Employment and Social Development Canada to continue the conversation from the #DigitalBC Livestream with Jillian Carruthers on Legacy Modernization Part 2: Policy by Design. 

Honey answers questions on the complexity of government and how to evolve tech approach or culture across ministries, using policy to keep up with the pace of citizen demands and technology direction repurposing legacy systems and more.

If you would like to go further, we have curated a few articles from Honey on Medium

• • Enabling conditions, not just heroics
  • Year-end reflections on digital government
  • Asking the ultimate awkward question

Russell Treloar, Team Lead, Workplace Strategies and Planning, Real Properties Division and Jordan Samis, Director at the Exchange Lab continue the conversation from the #DigitalBC Livestream with CJ Ritchie on The New Exchange Lab. Building Community for the Modernized Workforce.

COVID-19 has changed how we all work. The Share Space and the Exchange Lab are leaders in the new way of working. Listen to Russell and Jordan's thoughts on how the new Exchange Lab and Share Space will effect culture in government, moon shot or audacious goals for the new Exchange Lab, how  the spaces support service delivery for the people of BC and more.

Take a tour of the new Exchange Lab. 1 min

If you work for the BC Government, please check out this 360 link of the Langford Share Space