June 3rd, 2022
In the spirit of transparency and candour, we publish weeknotes reflecting on the what and why for the ENV service transformation team.
Jill's Notes
Is it just me, or did May disappear in the blink of an eye? I'll chalk it up to a month of missing my work' other half' (Kevin) and feeling like I was leading a double life. Today, well, last Friday when I started writing this note, was officially my last day as the Executive Director of Service Transformation. It's nice to finally share and celebrate!
To the past
I started my first BC Gov Director role in the OCIO nearly seven years ago. I had a fearless leader, endless autonomy, and worked harder than I'd ever known possible. I thought all Directors worked 10–12 hours a day and a cursory Saturday. I soon realized that was crazy and unsustainable. But in the madness, I was exposed to a laundry list of what I'd quickly learn were foundational components of a career in the BCPS:
- All things HR — partnering with PSA and kicking off the IM/IT (now Digital) Key Work Stream
- Managing a multi-million dollar project portfolio — all the PMP realities one can handle.
- Finance — learning the rules, the edges, the professional judgment, and the language.
- Procurement — same as above!
- Oh, so many briefings — committees, Deputies, CIO, ADMs, EFOs, CFOs and more acronyms.
- Writing — business cases, briefing notes, decision notes, and treasury board submissions.
- Partnerships — wayfinding who is involved and building longstanding relationships internal and external to government.
And most importantly, the connections and relationships that I rely on today. I draw on that network of inside and outside peers, and colleagues above, beside and around daily.
To the recent
The Natural Resource Ministries have treated me well. After working centrally for a few years, I realized I had no idea how to 'do' what I was recommending to program areas.
How do you deliver a digital project?
How do you build a team? or teams?
How do you change an organizational structure inside a ministry?
How do you manage your amortization?
In November 2017, with the nudge of rumon carter, I found myself in the Environmental Assessment Office leading an agile team and a new open-source digital product. It would be an understatement to say it was vastly different from working in the OCIO/corporate context. I described it to a colleague as taking my brain out of my head, bouncing it on the ground, and putting it back in.
Over the next four and a half years, with plenty of Tylenol, I built teams, created portfolios, delivered products, applied new frameworks, and focused my energy and effort on growing our collaborative digital era community. With great partners, too many to name, but you know who you are, we put our hands up for everything. We tackled the first large-scaled scrum implementation and the first SprintWithUs procurements. We embedded, classified and excluded Band 3 product owners with accurate job descriptions. And we led a shift in our organizational mindset.
The Service Transformation Branch and the role itself is a direct result of many years of work by many people. I'm proud to say that as a team, we've leaned in and seized the opportunity. I leave feeling like we've proven the model.
If you have an IDIR, you can check out our full June 2022 update here.
To the future
I'm pleased to share that I'll start my new role as the Sr. Executive Director of Digital Identity and Trust in the OCIO on June 6th, 2022. For me, it's a natural next step. It is one of our perpetually complex and challenging common components. I don't know enough to be dangerous, but I will soon. I'm going to go weeknotes dark for a bit and return with a new handle. In the meantime, you know where to find me.
So who do you say will continue to lead the Service Transformation Branch?
I'm pleased to announce that Kelsey Singbeil brings her wealth of corporate experience to the role starting on June 27th. Welcome, Kelsey! Cheers to the team, and the extended team, we did a lot, and there is more to come.
Kevin's Notes
Happy to report Kevin has made substantial thesis progress. He's nearly done! Not due back until July 4th, he shared a bit of a visual update. Safe to say, I'm jealous.
