The 311 Podcast

• S2 E4 - Digital Government: a 2025 reality check with Vijay K Luthra

  What Digital Transformation for Government Means in 2025Today, my guest is Vijay Luthra. Vijay is the managing partner of CEVA Global in the UK, and he works to help government organizations in the UK and UAE to develop digital transformation strategies. Given the pace of change, particularly in the US, it's hard to say how long our conversation will remain relevant. It's hard to talk about the political side of government without taking sides, but we did our best to avoid thatVijay is, in his words, a former public servant and a recovering politician. He works in social enterprise and has deep expertise in healthcare and transformation. Today we decided to talk about what digital transformation for government means in the chaos that is early 2025.Resource Links:Vijay K Luthra LinkedInCEVA Global Website | LinkedInVUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity Harvard Busness Review | WikipediaThe National Programme for Information Technology ( NPfIT )Making IT work: harnessing the power of health information technology to improve care in EnglandThe UK's National Programme for IT: Why was it dismantled?Marshall McLuhanThe medium is the messageThe Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects (1967) Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore Amazon CA | IndigoDan Honig -  Mission Driven Bureaucrats | Amazon CADemis HassabisPress release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024Recorded: Feb, 2025This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/ We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to [email protected]. Northern LinkedIn

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• S2 E3 - The Evolution of the Town Square with Kate Burns

  Why government organizations must build digital trust.Today, my guest is Kate Burns. Kate is the Executive Director of MetroLab Network, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that connects local government organizations with universities to bring the latest in scientific research and innovation to the living lab of communities. MetroLab is a partnership ecosystem and runs projects to discover, implement, and scale innovative solutions for local government. Kate has a background in municipal government and in policy, and she's passionate about thriving cities and communities. She worked in Kansas City and Seattle, so understands the many different types of communities that are striving to adopt digital and innovative technology.Kate and I decided to wrestle with a timely challenge for cities. The evolution of the digital town square. As social media platforms shift in ownership and purpose and as the audience starts to fragment across many separate platforms, it's becoming less clear where the digital town square will be in the future. What was once a common expectation—that journalists, administrators, politicians, and citizens could mingle freely and share ideas and concerns—seems to be eroding or at least changing.Resource Links:Kate Burns LinkedInMetroLab  LinkedIn | XMetroLab Network, Data Governance Policy & Practice GuideTown and Gown DefinitionEd Edelman Trust BarometerKansas City Resident Satisfaction Survey ResultsRevenge of the Tipping Point, Malcom GladwellAmazon | Indigo | KoboStreetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, Janette Sadik-Khan & Seth SolomonowAmazon | Indigo | KoboRecorded in January of 2025This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/ We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to [email protected]. Northern LinkedIn

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• S2 E2 - Reinventing Government Payroll Systems with Alex Benay

  From Ashes to Solutions: The Phoenix Project RevisitedToday, my guest is Alex Benay.  Alex has recently returned to the federal service of Canada to lead the modernization of Canada's federal payroll system.  Starting in 2009 and launching in 2015. The Phoenix project was meant to replace a 40 year old technology stack and save millions of taxpayer dollars each year.  However, after launch it quickly became apparent that there were major inconsistencies and gaps in paying Canada's, 290,000 federal civil servants.  The project has continued to be a black eye for the government and costs have continued to bloom.  This is the kind of project that most people stay far away from. But Alex is no stranger to courageous initiatives.Resource Links:Alex Benay - LinkedInCynefin ModelGoss Gilroy Inc.MiramichiAccentureEdward Guest “It Couldn’t Be Done”Industry Partners mentioned:Accenture | Dayforce | EY | CGIAudit Reports2018 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada to the Parliament of Canada Lessons Learned from the Transformation of Pay Administration, Goss Gilroy IncRecorded in September of 2024This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/ We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to [email protected]. Northern LinkedIn

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• S2 E01 - An EPIC journey with Penny Rae

  Scaling Success in Healthcare IT for Alberta Health ServicesToday, my guest is Penny Rae.  Penny is the Chief Information Officer for Alberta Health Services.  AHS is the health delivery organization for the province of Alberta in Canada.  AHS is the largest health care delivery organization in North America. And with nearly 150,000 employees and contractors, it's one of the top five employers in all of Canada.  The IT department alone is 2,500 people. So the scale of Penny's operation is massive. Penny has spent the last few years leading a rollout of the EPIC health care management system as a wholesale replacement for hundreds of individual healthcare information management systems.  It's one of the largest IT projects in Canada. And in an industry where only 30% of IT projects like this reach success. Penny's approach is beating all the odds. You're going to hear Penny talk about culture and trust as the driver for success and her own philosophy about how to lead technical teams.  I hope you enjoy the conversation. --Resource Links:Greg Price story, Falling Through the Cracks [2017]Cynefin ModelSense and RespondWikipedia | Amazon | Kobo. | IndigoPenny Rae - National recognition for AHS Chief Information Officer (2018)AHS selected Epic Systems Corporation as the partner for Connect Care. (link to FAQ PDF)https://northern.co/311-podcastRecorded in May 2023This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/ We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to [email protected]. Northern LinkedIn

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• 09 - Power and Change with Sophia Hoosein and Jessica MacQueen

  I am really excited today to be talking to Sophia Hoosein and Jessica McQueen, who are two people that I know and respect and who have agreed to come and talk to us about government organizations trying to make digital change. We're going to talk about power and how you get things done, and I'm just really excited. Thanks to Sophia and Jessica for the open and honest conversation about the actual experience of working in government. --This is a show about the people that make digital government work. If you'd like to find out more, visit yellowpencil.com. We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to [email protected]. Government is about all of us. Let's keep making a better world. This has been the 311 podcast and I'm your host, Paul Bellows.-- LinksSophia Hoosein: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiahoosein/Jessica MacQueen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicamacqueen/This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/ We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to [email protected]. Northern LinkedIn

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