Featuring Carolyn Staats, Director of Innovation, Information Systems Department Sonoma County in California
Summary
Carolyn Staats is the Director of the Innovation and Information Systems Department in Sonoma County in California. She has a unique story of how she got into IT, having started out with a business background and then taking IBM's training courses in RPG programming, database architecture, and system design. She learned from IBM the importance of taking the long view and designing sustainable, supportable systems that can grow with a business. She also discussed the importance of having a team-oriented approach to success. Lastly, she discussed the issue of siloed government systems and how technology can be used to help fix this problem.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:12 From business to IT - Carolyn's Journey
3:27 An open-mindedness to training opened new opportunities
5:21 IBM Principles - Key Takeaways
7:22 Advice on breaking down siloed government
9:29 First Principles Approach
10:04 Private sector demonstrates business value and ROI
11:15 What’s the most common reason people don’t want to partner?
16:49 Start with one person and build consensus
22:50 Advice to vendor partners on productizing their solutions
29:15 API Solutions
31:27 Building a system one room at a time
36:57 Getting out of your own way
42:58 The $2 million federal grant Sonoma County received from the federal government
46:13 Designing a roadmap
47:43 Cross County Collaboration
50:32 Outro
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