| | March 20158CIOReviewActually Doing What We Say We DoThe State of Colorado migrated to Google Apps for Government in 2012. In one fell swoop, everything state workers were familiar with was replaced by the most dynamic, collaboration-loving platform on the planet. Secure, but designed to foster sharing and connectivity. We rolled out a toolkit to achieve everything we know we should do in government, but don't... until now.There are plenty of experts who will assure you this can be done without difficulty and with minimal impact to services. Over promising garbage. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. As one who made the Google jump, I am happy to share what we discovered and share some scars and smiles recommendations.Five Lessons: Fostering Government Innovation 1) Assemble a team of friends to propel innovation. Good friends.You will have a team to support migration. To extract the true power of the Google Apps suite, it takes an ongoing support commitment. The By Brandon Williams, Director Google operations, Governor's Office of IT-State of ColoradoFive Lessons on Fostering Government Innovation Using Google Appsplatform's power multiplies exponentially with a core staff working together, who understand not just how the applications work, but how they can be combined and assembled to make something ordinary, extraordinary. Sites, maps, sheets, forms, apps scripts--these are game-changers when operating together. A group who understands the applications and teams with business managers to perform agile transformations of traditional processes is powerful stuff. This effort isn't about taking existing horrible practices and moving them to Google to be cloud-based, horrible practices. This is about reinventing government practices to be more efficient and lean. Make sure the team is friendly. This will be high-stress trench work. Also, make sure the team members are strong communicators--those who are relationship and rapport builders, understand the organization and work with staff at every level. Lastly, put them in the same room. A conference table, wi-fi and coffee with friends produce amazing results.2) Focus on staff with candy dishes. It is easy to focus on keeping C-levels happy. But, most don't manage their own email and calendars. Hours spent teaching them the finer points of boolean searching in Google Vault will not impress. They will, however, be happy when cost avoidance lines go up and staff is quickly generating amazing products. So, target their heart and soul--admins. Spend shoulder-to-shoulder time with them. They manage calendars, plan events, keep people informed and collect report information. Insane stress. Candy placates the hovering masses. So, if they aren't happy, no one is. Learn from them. They are also the ones creatively innovating and collaborating behind your IT back.3) Don't punt on everything that isn't Gmail and calendar thinking it will be magically solved in an undefined "second stage". opinionin my
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