Blog Archives

28/2/2019 0 Comments

Do Governments Need to Digitally Transform?

Let's play devil's advocate here and assume that governments do not need to undergo a digital transformation. What could possibly go wrong:

Customer service never improves and citizens become dissatissfied with services.
People hate using government services because it forces you to things the old way...like before the smart phone.
Apps are old, slow, unreliable and unpatched. Sounds like a dangerous attack vector to me.
Taxes are constantly going up, whilst service quality degrades.
People become so disillusioned they look at alternative strategies. Potential riots, civil unrest, or worse still they vote in someone with no political experience. Maybe Trump!

That's exactly what you're seeing around the world...and the result is that government's are themselves being disrupted. We're seen it in the US, exacerbated by Russian interference in the US election. We're seeing it play out with Brexit, as the UK moves away from the European Union.

I'm going to pull in a number of learnings from 2 courses I run: DevOps Foundation and Leading SAFe. Click on the pictures below to see the course outlines:

I believe those stories are just the start. So what can governments do to prevent these extreme forms of disruption. Well....there are two weaknesses that need to be rectified:

Be serious around removing technical debt and upgrading systems.
Embrace change and not resist it.

There are many ways to overcome those 2 achilles heals....here are 3 methods to help:

Understand who your customer is?

This involves understanding the key steps of the high-level process. From our first client interaction to when a product or service is delivered and value is consumed. We call this a value stream:

More importantly. Everyone in your organisation needs to understand who the customer is. Not just the people at the end of the value stream, but change their mindset when dealing with their colleagues.

A customer is someone who consumes your work. So if you're a System Architect, the System Engineers consume your work and are therefore your customers. If you are a project manager and you have to produce executive reporting, those execs are your customer. If you're a SCRUM master servant leader, then your dev team are your customers. If you're a developer your testers are your customers.

By shifting your mindset to a customer focused mentality, it will force you never to compromise on quality and your customer at the end of the value stream, will have the best possible experience. Here is some more guidance for further thinking:

Make Yourself and your work Visible and Transparent

That means open yourself up to criticism and learning. Be open and honest in your communications. When you author a document, make it clear you are the contributor, so that people can reach out to you and discuss the content. Some of my most fantastic opportunities in life, have come from being visible and transparent.

Other forms of transparency include:

Writing blogs for both internal and external consumption.
Open sourcing your code and ideas.
Creating newsletters for clients and stakeholders to keep them in the loop on progress.
Share all your work with your colleagues.
Aim to share your work with key partners.

There are some great techniques / practices from Agile software development that can also aid transparency:

The use of Kanban boards to show how work flows through a system.
Product Backlogs show all the work that needs to get done.
Linking your Epics to your Features to your Stories to help with requirements traceability and budgeting forecasts.

Here is a great article on how you can use a Kanban board to show the flow of work through your continuous integration / continuous delivery pipeline:

I have 5 more practices that can help governments too. These include:

Empowering your people.
Creating fast and effective feedback loops.
Demonstrate secure, working software every 10 days.
Assign funding to the value stream, not the project.
Decentralise decision-making.

But I think those can be covered in a future blog.

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20/2/2019 0 Comments

My First Standup Comedy Gig?

It's been on my bucketlist of a few years now...and finally I got to show the world, that I can stand-up for 5 minutes and make an audience laugh....well at least entertain them and hold them for a few minutes. Thank you to the awesome Fiona McGary, who is a legendary full-time professional comedian. The full video is embedded below:

So why did I do it? Well I love adventures and this was a incredible journey....which is only just beginning. I also had nothing to lose.

Really? I hear you scream. But you've built a reputation on many professional fronts:

Kickboxing
Music Composition & Performance
Cloud Architecture
Coaching / Teaching

Exactly....so I have everything to gain. All those great journeys have led me to this point now, where all of a sudden.....the world of comedy.....has now opened up a plethora of opportunities that I can choose to ignore...or be brave and explore them all to the fullest:

I have proven I can remember a script under pressure and nerves.....and I can now build scripts and humour into my workshops and courses.
I have made lots of great friends at the 2 day comedy workshop.....and I now I can see them perform at Open Mic sessions and learn from their journeys.
I've met and been coached by one of the finest comedians in Australia.....so I can learn more about performing, comedy and in return amplify her talents across social media.
I have a talent and passion for writing scripts.....but not necessarily a born natural at performing them.....so maybe I could write for others....and start that book I've always wanted to write.
Options for developing my social skills....and build this into my 'digital coach' brand with my corporate clients.
I can see new business opportunities.....not necessarily about making money....but enhancing the lives of everyone around me....it's all about fun, engagement and positivity.

Photo Credit:
Erica Murray

That last point is really important. We are all programmed that we need to get an education...to get a job....to pay the bills....and live. Nothing wrong with that. But there is another way. Instead of focusing on career, money, big house.....focus on:

Who are the most fun people to work with?
How can we make each other better people, to learn and grow?
How do I make a career out of the first two?

It's taken me 22 years, to reach this point....and I'm working hard in blending my personal and work lives together....and being driven by those 3 questions. The key with work / play is that there should be no distinction. We've been programmed to believe they are different.

Let's rethink our whole human being and focus on maximising the positive impact you have on this planet....in the very short time you have. This brings me to 3 sustainable development goals, that are guiding principles to the 3 questions above. Click on each picture to see what it means and how it fits in the world....

But that's the topic of another blog!

If you're i Interested in giving stand-up comedy a go?

Check out the aweseome Fiona McGary workshop by clicking the picture below. As you can see it's all about fun, positivity and learning....

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19/2/2019 0 Comments

Microsoft Azure is Awesome....

I have just done a fantastic knowledge refresh of my Azure knowledge and just passed the latest Azure Fundamentals course. You can check it out by clicking the image below:

Most of the course is theoretical, with a little hands-on practice. But what happens if you want to get down and dirty, with the platform. Never fear, I run a course with ALC Training that covers all things technical. It's an Azure 1 Day Technical Quickstart, where you will be spinning up virtual machines, storage and networking, like there is no tommorrow.

You won't get through all the lab exercises, but you can finish them off at your leisure, either in the same week, when you're back at home or work, or you can save them for a rainy day. I guarantee that you will be a lot more confident with spinning up the resources in Azure. Click on the picture below for more information:

So what did I learn? I refreshed my memory and skills on spinning up a number of compute, storage and networking resources, which I did outside of the tutorial with our Microsof Partner credits. I also explored a number of awesome features, that are geared towards regulated and large corporate entitites. Entities like government, banking, defence, healthcare, manufacturing to name a few. Here are some of the highlights:

Azure Security Centre - understand, see and manage your security across all your Azure resources. Very useful when dealing with a critical security incident in your organisation.
Azure Advanced Threat Protection - Protect your assets from all kinds of threats, both inside and outside your organisation, using AI and smart analytics.
Azure Policy - Enforce rules across how and where your Azure resources are deployed. Need to only deploy in Australia, no problem, set up a policy that only allows services to be run from Australia.
Azure Blueprints - Setup standard collections of resources, pre-approved by your security and governance functions that allow fast deployment of business solutions.
Azure Monitor - Monitor the health of all the resources you have created and have control over.
Azure Service Health - Monitor the health of all the resources that Microsoft controls.
Azure Advisor - Makes intelligent recommendations covering Availability, Security, Performance, and Cost.

The possibilities are endless with Azure, as there are a range of standard reference architectures, that you can use to help solve business problems and run your services on. Click on my favourite architecture below which will take you to the Microsoft Architecture Centre:

It's my favourite, because I really love solving business problems using Artificial Intelligence. This particular solution above, shows how you can classify images, using machine learning. The use case for this could be for facial recognition, to detect and diagnose disease or simply to help classify patterns in your business or social media data. The possibilities are endless.

I'm going to end with a final diagram that shows the breadth of Azure services available. Click on the diagram to take you to the Azure Solutions site:

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14/2/2019 0 Comments

Feedback Loops are the Key to Customer Delight

Feedback loops are a critical method for understanding where you need to improve and do things differently. Let's take a look at someone who is a master of feedback loops: Elon Musk.....

Feedback loops can take many forms:

A 5 star rating system assessming customer satisfaction. An example is the "rate my driver" feature in the Uber app.
LIstening on social media to understand customer sentiment about your brand. Elon Musk's Tesla Motors are fantastic at social listening.
Asking clients whether they think you're doing a great job. I do this each day in my workshops and courses.
Automated testing. Instead of waiting days or weeks to know whether the tests passed, you'll know within an hour.
Peer review of material. Material can be artifacts, scripts, jokes, code or documenation.
Dashboards. Provide instant feedback and allow drill-down information gathering.
Analytics. Allow business leaders to improve their decision-making.

Once you have the feedback and you understand what it means. The next step is go forth and act on it. Maybe trying something similar but with a slightly different angle. Or maybe it was a disaster, so you need a more radical approach. This is a common step that businesses miss out on, and is the key to delighting customers.

I cover feedback loops in my DevOps Foundation course, which leads to a certification by the DevOps Institute:

And also in the Leading SAFe course, which aligns to the Scaled Agile Framework, which I personally believe to be the best framework for successful digital transformation:

Have an awesome day beautiful people....and remember to practice your feedback loops daily....

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6/2/2019 0 Comments

Digital Government Disruption

There is no question, that governments are doing to be disrupted over the next 10 years. We've already seen hints of disruption along the way. Here are some very graphic examples that spring to mind:

Tianamen Square in China.
Election of Donald Trump as US President.
Fallout from Brexit as the UK leaves the European Union.

Tianamen square was a great example of what happens when governments try to control, manipulate and censor the rights of their people. Hilary Clinton was confident she had the number for the election. It was probably the biggest upset I can remember. And Brexit is a clear example of what happens when you treat your customers poorly. In this case the UK is the customer and Brexit is the supplier.

Click on the image below to download an awesome full brexit infographic:

All these are examples are of 'resistance to change' and are the core underpinnings of digital disruption. By digital disruption, I mean the ability for an entity to transform itself, just so it simply survive. Entities include:

Banks
Hospitals
Taxi Drivers
Video Stores (remember Blockbuster Video....)
TV & Radio Stations
Newspapers
Councils
Governments

Those entities that do no successfully transform and harness the new world of digital technologies, will die. And yes...governments may not think they will die or become irrelevant.....but it's only a matter of time.....if they "resist change" and do not transform faster.

Transforming is really akin to learning. Those organisations that can learn faster than everyone else will win...and those that are slow at learning will be last. This learning, or failing fast as I call it, is a cornerstone of 4 courses that I run for ALC Training:

Leading SAFe

Cloud Computing Foundation

DevOps Foundation

Want to learn more about Digital Disruption? Check the latest episode of the New York hit show #AskTheCEO, where Avrohom Gottheil grills me around all things digital!

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Author

Paul Colmer is an AWS Senior Technical Trainer. Paul has an infectious passion for inspring others to learn and to applying disruptive thinking in an engaging and positive way.

Paul has experience in building digital architecture strategies. This includes the development and execution of training material and workshops, architecting and leading digital transformation initiatives, providing expertise on social media marketing, as well as advanced presenting using comedy, drama and music.

Certifications include: Amazon Web Services(3 x Associates + 1 ML Specialty), Scaled Agile Framework (SPC), Cloud Security (CCSP), DevOps Culture (DevOps Foundation & DevSecOps Engineering), Big Data (EBDP), Data Science (EBDA), Microsoft Azure (AZ-900), Office 365 and a few others......

He is currently one of the Rise.Global Top 50 Global Cloud influencers on social media.

www.rise.global/the-cloud-social-influencers-power-100/p/1804096/r/2556192

And one of the OnalyticsTop 100 Big Data influencers on social media:

onalytica.com/blog/posts/big-data-top-influencers-and-brands/

He is also a keen writer and an award-winning open-mic comedian.

Contact Paul Colmer via LinkedIn.

Or simply watch his videos on YouTube.

YOUR CART

Do Governments Need to Digitally Transform?

Understand who your customer is?

Make Yourself and your work Visible and Transparent

My First Standup Comedy Gig?

Microsoft Azure is Awesome....

Feedback Loops are the Key to Customer Delight

Digital Government Disruption

Leading SAFe

Cloud Computing Foundation

DevOps Foundation

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Author

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YOUR CART

Do Governments Need to Digitally Transform?

Understand who your customer is?

Make Yourself and your work Visible and Transparent

My First Standup Comedy Gig?

Microsoft Azure is Awesome....

Feedback Loops are the Key to Customer Delight

Digital Government Disruption

Leading SAFe

Cloud Computing Foundation

DevOps Foundation

Categories

Author​​

Archives

Author