Join host Brian Fox as he interviews Frank McNally, an acquisition strategist with the United States Digital Service (USDS), about the pivotal role of procurement in government tech modernization. Frank shares insights from his career, spanning from the TSA to private consulting and now USDS, where he helps agencies tackle modernization challenges alongside top designers and engineers. He highlights the Digital IT Acquisition Professional training program and the importance of “failure as an option” to foster agile, adaptable solutions. Tune in for valuable insights into the evolving landscape of federal acquisition.

In this episode, podcast host, Brian Fox sits down with Jed Sundwall, the Executive Director of Radiant Earth and Lecturer at Yale School of Global Affairs, to explore the challenges and opportunities in managing and sharing planetary-scale data. We dive into the evolution of cloud computing, discussing how thoughtful, intentional use of this technology can lead to incredible performance, while avoiding the pitfalls of centralized storage solutions. Whether it’s data management, geospatial tools, or global collaboration, this episode sheds light on the future of shared knowledge in a digital world.

Join us in this episode as we sit down with Danielle Moyer, Executive Director at US Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground. With a remarkable journey beginning the Army Corps of Engineers at just 15 years old, Danielle shares her insights as a Senior Contracting Official and her mission to drive digital capabilities forward. She discusses her goal of eventually working herself out of a job by ensuring inclusivity and leveraging feedback to open opportunities for all. In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, Danielle emphasizes the importance of staying ahead in business practices and adapting to change. Don't miss this insightful conversation on embracing digital transformation and leadership in the modern era.

Few agencies have been in the news more than the Internal Revenue Service. In this episode, Nina sits down with Ken Corbin – the first Chief Taxpayer Experience Officer at the IRS. In this role, Ken focuses on overseeing the agency's efforts to radically improve taxpayer services. Together, they take a deep dive into customer experiences, building mission-ready teams, and the unexpected benefits of sharing bad news early.

Timestamps:

1:53 Ken tackles Nina's famous "Crystal Ball" question by highlighting two critical words for the Future of Work in Government: Choice and Access

3:50 The enormous task of pivoting 15,000 mostly on-site customer service representatives to full telework at the start of the pandemic

5:27 Getting ahead of the curve: How can you get a huge agency to try new things?

7:58 The secret to winning the retention battle: understanding what truly motivates and engages your workforce (hint: it isn't just salary)

9:34 Starting out as a GS-01, how the government became a calling and a career

12:40 More than W2s: how IRS employees serve the country

18:30 "Hear Me Sessions" the IRS revolutionizes the customer experience and even protects citizens from tax scams by listening to front-line employees

23:10 The surprising benefit of owning experiences and sharing bad news early

25:00 Why it's impossible to over-communicate  

30:52 Ken waves the magic wand, what does he wish for?

Links:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-creates-new-chief-taxpayer-experience-officer-position-ken-corbin-to-lead-new-focus-to-improve-service-to-taxpayers

Connect with Nina and Chris:

Nina Bianchi:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchininafuture/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinaFuture

Christopher Crist: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-crist-a1544a135/

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with Kyle Fox ,Chief Software Officer, Western Development Division, U.S. Air Force as they talk about the rise of Software Defined Weapons: what are they, can DevSecOps really be leveraged for jets, nuclear systems, and how it was to be the CSE for GBSD, the largest nuclear DAF program.

Whether we plan for it or not, organizations have internal cultures that determine the employee experience, and, by extension, the customer experience as well. In this episode, Nina and Chris sit down with Erik Anderson, the Chief of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Office of Administration which oversees the day to day operations of the agency. As a newer Senior Executive, Erik brings fresh perspective and insight on leadership theories and ideas…theories that were put to the test as he took the lead of his organization in the midst of the pandemic. Join us as we discuss what has proven to work in the crucible of managing a new organization in challenging circumstances, and the importance of planning for the culture you want to build.

1:50 - Chris' favorite question: what does the future hold when it comes to digital and workforce transformation in the federal government?

2:38 - Out of a season of challenge, change, and transition, an emerging opportunity to embrace new technologies

4:05 - Culture starts at the top: Erik shares his experience of being called into a new leadership position in a completely new organization in the middle of the pandemic, and realizing that before anyone would trust him he'd have to set the tone by opening himself up first

7:40 - As leaders, we can sometimes worry about those we lead abusing our trust. But the truth is if there is mutual trust between you and your employees, more often than not they will make you look like a genius

9:23 - How does a culture of trust in the workforce affect the customer experience?

10:57 - Culture happens no matter what, so why not plan for the culture that we want in our organizations? Developing metrics and plans around what kind of culture we want to build as an organization

14:32 - What does it cost to change a culture? What is the cost of ignoring it?

16:30 - How to measure a culture: concrete steps, metrics, and methods. Oh, and once a year isn't enough (looking at you, FEVS!)

19:45 - The critical role of doing exit interviews for EVERY employee who leaves your organization…and doing "stay" interviews for those who don't

24:57 - Setting aside your title: how humility in leadership can open the door for organizations to find both unexpected opportunities and advance warning of incoming threats

27:30 - Where career advice and workforce transformation meet: don't look for jobs, look for quality (humble) leaders

30:07 - What this looks like in IT: when those in leadership feel the need to be the smartest person in the room, other team members run out of room to contribute and grow

34:30 - Wave the magic wand! Erik's one wish for moving the ball forward when it comes to workforce transformation

Connect with Nina and Chris:

Nina Bianchi:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchininafuture/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinaFuture

Christopher Crist:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-crist-a1544a135/ 

As one of the world's top cybersecurity experts, join Joe Saunders and Nicolas Chaillan as they cover a vast variety of topics including memory based exploits, Google's Project Zero, supply chain risk, open source adoption, 5G economic and security risks, and more!

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with Rob Slaughter, CEO, Culture Executive Officer, Defense Unicorns and they discuss the challenges with bringing DevSecOps to the largest organization on the planet, the DoD.

Does "Solving for X" actually make sense in the real world? In this episode, Nina and Chris welcome two senior federal leaders, Dorothy Aronson, Chief Information Officer and Chief Data Officer for the National Science Foundation and Robyn Rees, an ATARC Board Member and advocate for unlocking human capital data to power workforce transformation. Together their combined experiences span across both the private and public sector and in this episode they discuss the similarities between customers and employees - since employees and customers too. They share how customer-centered design can also be used to improve the employee experience. Can we create a marketplace where employees can manage their own portfolio of skills and be matched to jobs like Uber drivers are matched to riders? Dorothy believes the workforce of the future will enjoy what they're doing and enjoy doing it from wherever they want using the tools they select rather than structured tools that are forced onto them. Robyn shares her thoughts about where the distinction between CX and EX might come from and how to overcome it. Dorothy advocates for the importance of leading with humanity versus just managing to build trust with teams. Robyn discusses the need for cultural change that's enabled through digital change by putting the tools in the hands of the people getting the work done and by Solving for X.

Connect with Nina and Chris:

Nina Bianchi:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchininafuture/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinaFuture

Christopher Crist:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-crist-a1544a135/

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time, with Special Guest Carl "C.J." Unis, United States Space Force as they discuss the supply chain risks we are facing, particularly with what is going on with the Ukraine/Russia conflict, with Taiwan and China and what we've seen after COVID.

Nina Bianchi, Solution Principal for Medallia Public Sector, and Chris Crist, Chief of DevSecOps at US Transportation Command both agree that workforce and digital transformation in the federal government lies at the intersection of the customer, employee, and workforce experiences. The question is…which one comes first and what does the workforce experience of the future look like? How does the government use the EX + CX = WX formula? Can it be used to help the government becomes the Nation's top employer? In this episode they dig into the government employee experience. Are federal employees waking up excited to go to work, and if not, how does that impact the customer experience? Are customers receiving service worth telling their family or friends about - in private sector positive customer testimonials are essential! Nina connects the customer experience (CX), such as filing taxes, applying for  student loans, or using a veterans hospital, as a reflection of the federal employee’s experiences (EX). What would we hear from our employees if we simply asked them how they're doing or what challenges exist is serving the Nation’s customers? There is undoubtedly a connection to the customer and employee experiences. Most importantly how can the workforce experiences help attract the best and brightest talent to government jobs? Join them as they try to Solve for X.

Connect with Nina and Chris: 

Nina Bianchi: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianchininafuture/  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinaFuture  

Christopher Crist: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-crist-a1544a135/

Join this episode of DevOps Community of Practice as our Host, Brian Fox, sits down with Special Guest, Ian Anderson, Lead DevSecOps Engineer, Naval Surface Warfare Center, to discuss DevOps within the Navy, best practices they have seen, current challenges and successes and where they see the future of DevOps and technology as a whole going in the DoD.

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time, with Kate Stewart, VP of Dependable Embedded Systems, the Linux Foundation as they talk about her work as one of the founders of SPDX, the projects OpenChain and Zephyr but also how she helped make Linux a first class citizen for RTOS!

Join us in this episode as we dive into the world of defense modernization with George Lamb, Director of Cloud and Software Modernization at the DoD CIO Office. George shares insights into how his team tackles the most pressing technology needs in modernization efforts within the Department of Defense. Discover what sets his approach apart as his team navigates the complexities of modernization, pushing boundaries to enhance operational effectiveness and efficiency in defense through innovative technology solutions.

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with Joey Arora, VP of Growth at the Outpost as they discuss the importance of dual-use technology in DoD and how to enable companies to become the next billion-dollar competitors to the current primes.

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with Armon Dadgar, Co-Founder and CTO of HashiCorp, as they discuss his journey and how HashiCorp managed to innovate in virtualization, key management, policy as code, service mesh and more.

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with David A. Wheeler, Director of Open Source Supply Chain Security at the Linux Foundation to find more about Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs), SPDX, OpenSSF and discuss what happened at the White House Open Source Summit!

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with Special Guest Eve Maler, CTO, ForgeRock as they disucss identity management, how to secure it, how to adopt to zero trust principle with non person entity and person entity, security vs privacy and more.

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with Special Guests David Kervin, Chief Solutions Officer, Torch.AI and Jon Kramer, Chief Technology Officer, Torch.AI as they discuss AI/ML capabilities and what it takes to successfully implement meaningful AI capabilities in organizations.

Join this episode to hear Danny and Nic discuss Continuous ATO, how he enables teams to move at the pace of relevance but with the right cybersecurity practices, how he thinks about continuous monitoring, and what he needs to have the right visibility to make the right decisions.

In this episode they will discuss the challenges that we face when building embedded software, decoupling software and hardware and enabling reuse of code/modules while interfacing with existing legacy, how this implementation is happening in DoD and how this compares to what a SpaceX is doing on a daily basis.

Join this episode of Digital Transformation with Jennifer Kenney-Smith featuring special guest, Barbara Morton, Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to hear conversations regarding her prior career experience and story before joining as Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer at VA, the role that digital transformation is playing within her organization, her thoughts on an effective customer experience, and details about upcoming projects in the VA.

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with Nat Natraj, Co-Founder and CEO of AccuKnox as we discuss why KubeArmor and eBPF are essential for your baked-in security and runtime security, their new concept around policy templates supporting the MITRE ATTACK framework and STIGs, and why open-source and CNCF are essential to their success and what challenges they see in this current market.

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with Special Guest Chris Hughes, CISO & Co-Founder, Aquia where they discuss the current state of DoD Software Factories and their spread across the government, supply chain risk, continuous accreditation, compliance as code, and how to build the right culture and training for your teams so we can all move at the pace of relevance.

Join us in this episode as we dive into the world of data and innovation in government with Alicia Scott, Technical Director for the Chief Data Office at the U.S. Navy, and LTC Melissa Sayers, Data Scientist at G5 Support and Plans and Policy, First Army. Together, in this Data Science Panel, they explore cutting-edge approaches to enhancing visibility and efficiency, promoting innovation, and automating processes to optimize time utilization in the workplace. Don't miss this insightful discussion on leveraging data for strategic advantage and driving impactful change in government operations!

Join us for this episode of Digital Transformation with Jennifer Kenney-Smith and special guest Stuart Wagner, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, U.S. Air Force and Space Force as we discuss Stuart Wagner's career history and how he became Chief Digital Transformation Officer of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, what is being implemented in the U.S. Air Force/Space Force to digitally transform operations and culture, and details about the next BRAVO Hackathon this month.

Join us for this episode of Digital Transformation with Jennifer Kenney-Smith and special guest, Ann Dunkin, CIO, U.S. Department of Energy as we discuss the following:

- The Journey towards becoming CIO  

- What is being done for digital transformation in the DOE?  

- How ATO has allowed DOE to deploy applications quickly  

- Deploying a Low Code platform 

- DOE's Playbook for scaling Digital Transformation

Join this episode as we dive into the challenges around API Discovery, how APIs are changing in this modern DevSecOps world, the concept of Shift Left, Protect Right when it comes to API security, the tie back to DevSecOps and CI/CD, and finally Sanjay will share how he took two 2-member startups to large distributed teams!

Join this episode as we will talk about Industrial Control Systems (ICS), Megan's genius idea of Incident Command System for ICS, why are ICS systems critical and what makes them different from traditional IT and learn more about what does the role of a Chief Product Security Officer entail!

Join this episode fo In the Nic of Time with special guest Prakash Sethuraman, CISO of CloudBees as they talk about the security challenges in DevOps, how to find the balance between velocity and security, and Continuous ATO.

Join us for this special episode of Low Code Trailblazers with Bill Bunce, Enterprise Account Executive, Pegasystems as he sits down with he collegue John Smith, Practice Lead - Public Sector, Pegasystems to discuss building a low code culture in your agency. 

Join this episode of Keeping US Federal Agencies Ahead of the Latest Vulnerabilities with Joseph Lin, Palo Alto Networks and Guest Gerald Caron, CIO, Assistant Inspector General for Information Technology, HHS OIG as we discuss Attack Surface Management. Some of the questions you can expect our host to bring up during the discussion include:

• Why are the most recent vulnerabilities (Zoho, log4j) so difficult to respond to?
• What new technologies and processes are agencies adopting to make sure you stay ahead of attackers?
• How has thinking evolved regarding “nice to have” vs “need to have” people, processes, and technology at disposal in “peacetime” and “wartime”?

During this episode of In the Nic of Time find out what "ITasCode" is and how to shift cybersecurity left so they can be fully embedded into your development teams. They also discuss what cyber tools can facilitate that shift and lessons learned from selling his company to a larger organization.

Join In the Nic of Time with Zack Butcher, Head of Product at Tetrate as we talk about why a Service Mesh is essential to your cyber posture, why Envoy is winning as a Policy Enforcement Point (PEP), the recent NIST 800-204 publication series, and what is Next Generation Access Control and why it is the foundation of JADC2/ABMS for data-centricity!

Join this episode of  In The Nic of Time with Delegate Reid Novotnyto find out what it is like to push cyber laws in the Maryland General Assembly? How did Colonel Reid Novotny ended up leaving the U.S Air Force for the Maryland Air National Guard and become a member of the Maryland General Assembly? As a former Chief of Staff for two DAF CIOs, what did he see? What were the challenges? What created the tremendous tech debt we have today in the Air Force and Space Force?

In this episode, we dive in with May Cheng, Acting Chief Information Officer at the International Trade Administration. With over 25 years of experience across various federal agencies, May shares insights into promoting U.S. exports, defending against unfair trade practices, and enhancing international competitiveness. Discover how she leads a team of 160+ IT professionals, collaborates on emerging technologies, and discusses the transformative impact of the SAFE program. Tune in as we explore the critical importance of re-skilling staff to update operational models and ensure ongoing relevance in today's dynamic trade landscape.

Join this episode of The Modern Data Experience with Nick Psaki and Special Guest, Dr. Michael Segala, CEO, SFL Scientificas they discuss the following topics:

The history and evolution of SFL’s efforts to date.

The evolution of the services SFL developed. Why the decision to select and deploy Artificial Intelligence Ready Infrastructure? What have the results been?

Interaction and integration of AIacross the government?

What's next? Where do you see the evolution of AI capability evolving in the government?

What are the challenges ahead?

In the Nic of Time on Tuesday with Special Guest Nathanael Coffing, Chief Security Officer, Cloudentity to talk about identity management, authorization, person entity vs non-person entity, open policy agent and more!

Join this episode of In the Nic of Time with special guest, Tracy Bannon, Senior Principal/ Software Architect & DevOps Advisor, MITRE, as we discuss why Culture matters so much to succeed in software innovation, how to attract and retain talent, how to train your teams and what is working or NOT working when it comes to the DoD Software Factories!

Join this episode to hear from Bill Bunce, Pegasystems, and Special Guests, Robyn Rees, Senior Advisor, Office of Human Capital, U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), Emily Camardo, Director of Operations, srcLogic, and Robert Gasser, Chief Revenue Officer, Revature, as they discuss:

The current low code workforce. 

How build, hire, and grow software engineers.

The status of the low code workforce in Federal IT. 

How low code/no code effects software engineers jobs. 

The future of low code/no code in Federal IT. 

Don't miss this episode of In the Nic of Time session with Brig. General John Olson, who is not only the first Air Force and Space Force Chief Data and AI Officer but also the Mobilization Assistant to the Chief of Space Operations.

Join this episode of The Modern Data Experience with Nick Psaki and Special Guest, Rob Albritton, Senior Director, Artificial Intelligence Practice Lead, Octo, as they discuss the following topics:

Intro to Rob Albritton and Octo Labs.

What Octo Labs has helped accomplish.

How to pick AI platforms and components.

What do we do with new data, and previous algorithms outputs?

What is the future evolution of AI capabilities? What technologies will help it get there? What are the challenges ahead?

Where does AI offer innovation?

Where is their risk associated in using AI?

How to pick AI capabilities through requirements.

Join Jennifer Kenney-Smith and Special Guest, Vidyut Desai, Chief Information Officer, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as they discuss the following topics:

What how Mr.Desai has incorporated the Technology Modernization Action Plan over the past year.

How best to prioritize in digital transformation.

How to achieve digital transformation within mission timeframes.

Dealing with Cultural push back on technology changes. 

Measuring success and benefits.

Viewing modernization as a business not just technology

His biggest technology lesson learned during pandemic.

Join us for this episode of Mobile and Cyber with Jaime Noble, Director, IT Security Division & Chief Information Security Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice as we discuss the following bullets: 

- An introduction to OJP/OCIO, mission, uniqueness, size, scope, autonomy, etc. (Remote work population, Macro level IT investments and priorities, and Mobile Cybersecurity specific visions) 

-Thoughts on the POTUS EO and What actions that EO initiated for the OJP/OCIO 

- How is OJP/OCIO addressing Zero-Trust? 

- Improving EDR across all “endpoints”. 

- How does “Mobile-EDR” play a role in the future at OJP/OCIO? 

- Does OJP/OCIO have plans to enable BYOD for Mobile? 

- Does OJP/OCIO have plans for developing mobile applications, either internal facing or for public consumption?

Join us or this special episode where we talk about Modeling and Simulation, Open Architecture and Digital twin capabilities and how to move your legacy programs to modern software and hardware best practices!

Join us to meet Raja Gudepu, the CEO of Oteemo!

We will be discussing how he has enabled large organizations to move and accelerate their move to DevSecOps using various enablers and accelerators, how he assesses organizations' maturity and how he invests in his people to ensure they continue to lead with continuous learning and new certifications.

In this episode, we sit down with Sean McIntyre, the Deputy CIO of Supervision and Platform Services at the OCC. Sean delves into the mission of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and shares his wisdom on transforming organizational mindsets. Learn how fostering a collective approach can enhance teamwork and drive success in any institution. Tune in for a compelling conversation that will inspire you to rethink how you approach organizational dynamics and mission-driven work!

Watch this event to meet Jay Bonci the Air Force and Space Force Chief Technology Officer.  Jay is leading the push for digital modernization across the DAF, including with modern transport (SD WAN), DevSecOps, EITaaS, Zero Trust implementation, Data fabric and much more!

You definitely do not want to miss the next episode of In the Nic with Lauren Knausenberger the Air Force and Space Force Chief Information Officer.  Lauren will share her thoughts on her priorities, her progress made after being in her role for 1 year and 7 months and what keeps her up at night.

Join us for this episode of the Federal Low Code Trailblazers Podcast with Bill Bunce, Pegasystems, and Special Guests Tracy Bannon, Senior Principal/ Software Architect & DevOps Advisor, MITRE and Alex Sutherland, Director, Salesforce Architecture, Liberty IT Solutions as they discuss DevOps, DevSecOps, and containerization throughout the Federal Government. See what processes they recommend to build and sustain DevOps practices, and the current status of of DevOps in the Federal IT ecosystem.