Hacking Culture Through Innovation
The federal government’s approach to technology has greatly changed over the past six years, emphasizing innovation and agility, a trend that has only increased in the past two to three years. Often, however, organizational culture slows needed innovation and forward movement.
Centered on the theme “Hacking Culture Through Innovation,” the annual Management of Change sponsored by ACT-IAC will bring together change leaders — rising and established government and industry technology professionals — who will share real-world challenges and brainstorm solutions, said the event’s government chair, Kathy Conrad, the principal deputy associate administrator of the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies.
Speakers at the May 17-19 conference, in Cambridge, Md., will include U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer Ryan Panchadsaram, futurethink Founder and CEO Lisa Bodell, Box Co-Founder and CEO Aaron Levie and Tomorrow CEO Mike Walsh. Leading the May 19 Un-Federal panel is Uber’s head of Technology Services, Chris Cravens.
“Participants will be engaged in high-energy sessions that will empower them to be change agents, armed with tools to transform the ideas discussed into real-world solutions for government challenges,” said Conrad. “We have designed the event to focus on knowledge-sharing and problem-solving. We will look at core issues. For example, one track will tackle the proverbial elephant in the room, which is the need for a culture shift to achieve meaningful change. ”
Conrad doesn’t need to look further than her own office as one of the government’s models of innovation; her organization spearheads a number of innovative government programs, including 18F and Challenge.gov and is at the core of the government’s social media efforts.
This education and training event, which will be held at the Hyatt Chesapeake Bay, will feature more than 55 speakers, representing 25-odd government agencies. The following seven programming tracks will be offered:
• The Elephant in the Room: Disrupting the Status Quo
• Preparing for the Next Wave of Disruption: Internet of Things
• Wisdom of the Crowds: Innovating from the Outside In
• Life in the Fast Lane: Continuous Delivery as a Strategy
• Leadership Toolkit: What Every Leader Needs to Know
• What Lies Beneath?: X-Raying Resistance to Change
• Extracting Value from the DATA Act
• Digital Customer and Usability
“Sometimes government can be insular, so it’s important to bring people in from outside to learn what they are doing and how we can apply it,” Conrad said. “It’s also important, though, for government to see how others in government are tackling problems. Our goal here is to bring all of these different ideas together that will benefit everyone.”
