Be Agile, Don't do Agile

Kevin Gray, Chief Information Officer, City of Burbank

Kevin Gray, Chief Information Officer, City of Burbank

Kevin Gray serves as a trusted business partner and advisor to all the departments at the City of Burbank. Kevin has spent years transforming technology organizations to achieve modernization, cost reduction, improved service, and maximum departmental effectiveness. He is a highly effective, experienced, and successful technology executive with a forward vision. He has created and implemented IT and Media Technology strategies, aligned IT governance and execution with business strategy, integrated newly consolidated companies into global enterprise technology organizations, led public cloud adoption and migration, and implemented Dev/Ops framework and culture.

What are the challenges that you have faced in adopting digital technology for the government and media sectors?

The media and government are different in various ways. First of all, media changes quickly and constantly, offering several new opportunities for improvement. VHS was the main home entertainment format when I first began my career in media. However, home entertainment has evolved throughout the years from VHS to DVD, from DVD to live stream, and streaming has expanded to include numerous additional streaming platforms. There was a time when Netflix was the only streaming service available. But now we have services like Amazon Prime, Hulu, Paramount Plus, Disney Plus, and HBO Max in the market. Therefore, media is ever-changing.

However, Government services have mostly remained the same for a long time. However, I think that we must change the way we provide those services. So, that opens up a lot of doors for positive change. The same abilities and strategies that I used to influence change in the media industry are also relevant to this arena of government. Focusing on business strategy, not technology, is one way to do that. Other approaches include focusing on governance, connections, influence, as well as how I can lead an organization that has a significant impact on how the city offers services to its citizens and businesses.

What are some of the components you used to modernize IT companies, save costs, improve services, and achieve maximum departmental effectiveness?

There are three crucial components. The first of these three crucial aspects is implementing contemporary working practices. I believe that the way the government operates today is the same as it was 20 years ago. Adopting contemporary methods of working, such as Scaled Agile Framework, or human-centered design allows us to produce results better, quicker, and with greater visibility for the work we do for our communities. It encourages participation and teamwork among our departments.

"It’s important to build the right team by focusing on training, workshops, and creating opportunities in an organization to deliver solutions that will lead to business improvements for your city."

Focusing on talent, skills, and mindset is number two. It’s important to build the right team by focusing on training, workshops, and creating opportunities in the organization to deliver solutions that will lead to business improvements for your city. I believe that this requires finding ways to let go of routine tasks that take up time, effort, and cycles for your team. Additionally, concentrate on the future and the way to get there by attempting rapid evolution so that things will change frequently. Therefore, be agile.

The organization is the third and most important aspect. I believe that the traditional hierarchical structure of government organizations needs to change and concentrate on cross-functional teams. Gartner calls them Fusion Teams. I call them Agile Teams. We gather small teams from various departments to deliver new solutions more quickly.

Are there any recent projects that you have been working on lately?

The implementation of the Scaled Agile Framework throughout our entire city has been one of the largest projects. We implemented agile at scale for the delivery of solutions across the city, so it's not simply an IT issue. We have leaders and subject matter experts from all the city's various value streams who collaborate with us to produce new solutions. It has greatly aided us in increasing departmental engagement by at least 400%. There are city departments that had little interaction with our IT department earlier but now work closely with us.

We were able to boost engagement within our own IT staff, which has resulted in higher productivity. We're providing solutions for our clients, fellow citizens, neighbors, and businesses up to 70% faster than we did previously. Moreover, we have introduced a lot of brand-new services online. Our residents and companies can utilize a Smartphone app to seek services from the city. We released that fairly early on and it only had a few features. However, we've continued to expand it to add to the most crucial features that our residents were looking for.

Initially, we introduced services through our public works department, then through Burbank Water and Power, and now we're increasing services through our Parks and Recreation department. The Scaled Agile Framework implementation has been an important factor that has assisted us in changing both how we more effectively provide technology solutions for the city and how we will provide services to our residents moving forward. For us, that was a very fruitful endeavor.

We're going to put a lot of emphasis on our public safety services in the near future as we roll out a new ecosystem for computer-aided dispatch and 911 for our police force.

What would you like to advise upcoming professionals in your field?

My first piece of advice is to pay attention to business strategy. The CIO or CTO that wakes up in the morning thinking about technology is thinking about the wrong thing. If a CIO or CTO wants to be an integral leader in advancing the services that their agency offers, they should not be thinking about technology when they wake up in the morning. They should be thinking about their agency’s strategy, and how they can advance it. The second is that the government must scale up Lean Six Sigma, Agile, and Design Thinking. It will enable them to provide more, better, and faster for their constituents. I advise them to start small and ad hoc, but scale these approaches and frameworks.