Future Forward Thinking IT Directors Community of Practice Jan 14, 2010 San Francisco, CA Terry Bledsoe, Catawba County Government

80 “There is a force for change that’s basically invisible using old ways of seeing. It’s a force we have to let collide with and even destroy our old ideas about how the world should be before we can hope to make any sense at all” Age of the Unthinkable, Ramo 10

? Events Cause us to 9/11 recession Job Losses 15.7% Oil China Terrorist technology greed

Constant Change Instability And

Re thinking Every thing

How? Do You Continue Providing Services With Revenue Shortfalls? Planning Building a Base Adapting

How? Do You move an Entire County to a Higher Level? Sharing Partnerships Connections Opportunities

What is the Future Forward Thinking? Yes BUT What is the Future Forward Thinking?

Future Forward Thinking Strategic Planning Vs Future Forward Thinking

Traditional Strategic Planning Mission Objectives Situational Analysis Traditional Strategic Planning Strategy Formulation Implementation Control

Sustainable IT Excellence Principle 1: Recruit, train, and retain World Class IT employees Principle 2: Build and maintain a robust IT infrastructure Principle 3: Field an effective Project Development and Portfolio management process Principle 4: Ensure partnerships within the IT department and with the business Principle 5: Develop a collaborative relationship with external partners World Class IT by Peter High

Future Forward Thinking Starts by Asking the Question “What will the future look like?”

? Scanning The World Trends Patterns Drivers Weak Signals Factors What’s new

Not trying to predict the future Not trying to predict the future. Not looking for what everyone else is doing. Note

Mapping the Possibilities there is no one future The future is what I expect. The future is better than I expect. The future is worse than I expect. The future is weirder than I expect. there are multiple factors

Thinking it Through How do I deal with each of the futures? How do I move toward the future I want? How do I minimize risks? How deal with the future that I don’t want? Can I deal with a future that I did not envision?

Future Forward Thinking Asking the Question “What will the future look like?” Scanning the World Mapping the Possibilities The future is what I expect. The future is better than I expect. The future is worse than I expect. The future is weirder than I expect. Thinking it Through Scan -> Plan -> Adapt

Yes BUT What do you do?

Weak signals are seeds of change that exist today and they can tell about big trends in the future. are something odd or strange today.

signals Trends and Weak For the first time in human history, children are authorities on a central innovation – the new digital media. This generation gap has its implications Universal connectivity. What does that mean? Jobs that do not require proximity. Universal competition? Ubiquitous, unprecedented access to information. Universal collaboration? signals

signals Trends and Weak On Christmas Day, for the first time in history, Amazon.com sold more digital books than the old fashioned kind. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, more than one in five U.S. homes (22.7%) had cellphones - and no landlines - during the first half of 2009, up from 10.5% during the same period in 2006. On Tuesday, Panasonic and LG Electronics, two of the top television makers, are to announce that they are integrating the free online calling service Skype into their Internet-connected high-definition televisions . Universal connectivity. What does that mean? Augmented Reality and it’s role in Public Safety signals

Questions signals What was it like when we couldn’t get an answer in 5 minutes or less? Could you manage your staff in 140 characters or less? Could a Tweet overthrow a dictator? How did Social Media affect the elections? What is Apple really up to?

Regular Basis - Practice Scan the world Internet Twitter Social Networks Blogs Magazines and Other Types of Media Scan Internally Information Shared Multiple Ways (Transparency) Collaboration with Collective Creativity Encouraged/ Expected (Creative Destruction) Change Your View – Look in as Opposed to Out Customer Service vs Customer Experience How Can We Improve Services? signals

Make Connections Step 1: Defining—Define the problem you’re trying to solve. Step 2: Borrowing—Borrow ideas from places with a similar problem. Step 3: Combining—Connect and combine these borrowed ideas. Step 4: Incubating—Allow combinations to incubate into a solution. Step 5: Judging—Identify the strength and weakness of the solution. Step 6: Enhancing—Eliminate weak points while enhancing strong ones. Borrowing Brilliance by David Kord Murray

Creativity is just connecting things ……….. Steve Jobs

Something I Need Contact Vendor How Much? How Long? Wait, wait, wait… Resembles what I Need

Siloed

Issue: Public Officials are being called by the press seconds after a call is dispatched. Issue: Paging process too slow. Press gets to officials before pages. Solution: Page simultaneous with dispatch. Issue: Telecommunicators need to focus on incident. Real Problem Solution: Page by incident type Solution: Vendor is working on solution, will be ready in 9 to 16 months, with next release.

Traditional Thinking Real Problem Issue: Public Officials are being called by the press seconds after a call is dispatched. Issue: Paging process too slow. Press gets to officials before pages. Solution: Page simultaneous with dispatch. Issue: Telecommunicators need to focus on incident. Solution: Page by incident type Solution: Vendor is working on solution, will be ready in 9 to 16 months, with next release. Real Problem

Wait, this does exactly what the vendor charges for. Trip to Surry County Page on incident Keep officials notified Use current technology Reduce workload No additional costs Can we key off of incident and send a page? Do you know you can see it with a Blackberry? No problem, display locally. Great! Can we adjust to small screen? Could we get the code and adapt?

Creativity is just connecting things ……….. Steve Jobs

Future Forward Thinking

Closing If every IT organization does not come out of this recession changed, they have missed an opportunity. Look for opportunity in everything you do. Thoughts…

Future Forward Thinking IT Directors Community of Practice Jan 14, 2010 San Francisco, CA Terry Bledsoe, Catawba County Government