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Explore every episode of the podcast The 311 Podcast

Dive into the complete episode list for The 311 Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
S2 E2 - Reinventing Government Payroll Systems with Alex Benay05 Dec 202400:37:14

From Ashes to Solutions: The Phoenix Project Revisited

Today, my guest is Alex Benay.  Alex has recently returned to the federal service of Canada to lead the modernization of Canada's federal payroll system.  Starting in 2009 and launching in 2015. The Phoenix project was meant to replace a 40 year old technology stack and save millions of taxpayer dollars each year.  However, after launch it quickly became apparent that there were major inconsistencies and gaps in paying Canada's, 290,000 federal civil servants.  The project has continued to be a black eye for the government and costs have continued to bloom.  This is the kind of project that most people stay far away from. But Alex is no stranger to courageous initiatives.

Resource Links:


Recorded in September of 2024

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

S2 E01 - An EPIC journey with Penny Rae05 Nov 202400:41:23

Scaling Success in Healthcare IT for Alberta Health Services
Today, my guest is Penny Rae.  Penny is the Chief Information Officer for Alberta Health Services.  AHS is the health delivery organization for the province of Alberta in Canada.  AHS is the largest health care delivery organization in North America. And with nearly 150,000 employees and contractors, it's one of the top five employers in all of Canada.  The IT department alone is 2,500 people. So the scale of Penny's operation is massive. 

Penny has spent the last few years leading a rollout of the EPIC health care management system as a wholesale replacement for hundreds of individual healthcare information management systems.  It's one of the largest IT projects in Canada. And in an industry where only 30% of IT projects like this reach success. Penny's approach is beating all the odds. 

You're going to hear Penny talk about culture and trust as the driver for success and her own philosophy about how to lead technical teams.  I hope you enjoy the conversation. 
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Resource Links:

Recorded in May 2023

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

01 - Governing A.I. with Ashley Casovan20 Jul 202000:24:30

Ashley Casovan, AI Global's Executive Director and former Director of Data and Digital for the Government of Canada, joins host Paul Bellows for a frank discussion on the ethics and responsibilities of governments using Artificial Intelligence technology, and the many uses to which A.I. can be put.

Government of Canada's Algorithmic Impact Assesment
https://open.canada.ca/aia-eia-js/?lang=en

Ashley Casovan on Twitter:
@ashleycasovan

AI Global
https://ai-global.org/

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

09 - Power and Change with Sophia Hoosein and Jessica MacQueen14 Dec 202200:48:28

I am really excited today to be talking to Sophia Hoosein and Jessica McQueen, who are two people that I know and respect and who have agreed to come and talk to us about government organizations trying to make digital change. We're going to talk about power and how you get things done, and I'm just really excited.

Thanks to Sophia and Jessica for the open and honest conversation about the actual experience of working in government.

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This is a show about the people that make digital government work. If you'd like to find out more, visit yellowpencil.com.

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to podcast@yellowpencil.com.

Government is about all of us. Let's keep making a better world. This has been the 311 podcast and I'm your host, Paul Bellows.

--

Links
Sophia Hoosein: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiahoosein/
Jessica MacQueen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicamacqueen/

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

08 - Interpreneurship with Miki Stricker-Talbot27 Oct 202200:30:08

This is The 311 podcast. I'm your host, Paul Bellows. This is a show about the people that make digital government work. If you'd like to find out more, visit yellowpencil.com.

Today, my guest is Miki Stricker-Talbot. Miki is responsible for intrepreneurship and strategic design in the citizen services branch at the city of Edmonton.

You may ask what intrepreneurship is and my answer is keep listening. That's what we'll be talking about. In addition to organizational design, kindness, privilege, and generally how to make change from within an organization rather than just top down.

I know that our podcast theme is on digital government and the people who are making change. And while digital isn't part of Miki's purpose in the organization, I think that the mindset she brings to making change is what's necessary for any digital worker who is feeling frustrated and like they can't do their work in the right way. Like they don't have the right supports. Miki's work has been recognized globally and Apolitical recently named her as one of the 100 most influential people in government.  If you've come across, Miki's work on UNICORNS, that's an acronym that I'll let her unpack, then perhaps you've come to understand why the way she thinks and works is so important to pay attention to.

In particular with digital work, government is on the same talent hunt as the rest of the startup and software world but without the salaries and profit sharing that the private sector can sometimes offer. I think it's more and more important to think about the kind of organizations that we're creating to operate our public trusts. We need government to be the first place that passionate and talented people think about spending some or all of their career.

And if we have more people like Miki in positions of influence, then maybe we can make that come true. I loved having this conversation. Miki is a colleague, but also a friend. We had to edit out a few moments where we were just having fun, but I think you'll like what we left in. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

---

Thanks so much for listening. If you want to learn more about Miki's work and in particular, find her now infamous blog post on unicorns or read about unlearning, we'll have links in the show notes.

Government is about all of us. Let's keep making a better world. This has been the 311 podcast and I'm your host, Paul Bellows.

---

Links
Unicorns: https://apolitical.co/solution-articles/en/saving-unicorns-making-government-less-lonely-for-the-trailblazers

Unlearning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxBLlDOKfZY

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

07 - Creating Equity with Lawrence Eta06 Mar 202100:29:13

Today my guest is Lawrence Eta, Chief Technology Officer at the City of Toronto. Toronto is the fourth largest municipality in North America, behind Mexico city, New York city, and Los Angeles. Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. And it's the home of much of Canada's media and cultural community, as well as the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks.

Toronto's population is about as diverse as it gets both culturally and economically, and the city faces unique, digital challenges and opportunities. As a result, when I first spoke to Lawrence about the podcast, he was direct on his goal. He wanted to talk about equity. I love that because what I love most about digitization is the ability to remove barriers to equity seeking groups, when we make that a priority, and it's definitely a priority for Lawrence.  I love his perspectives on how to invest in a more equitable world. 

I do need to call out a technology fail that I had during the call. Due to an operating system upgrade, one piece of my recording software became unlicensed. You'll hear the audio quality change about 10 minutes in because I was using the software in trial mode and didn't realize until it was too late. 

We've done our best to fix this and keep the quality as high as possible.

Technology is never perfect, and humans less so. That's why I'm glad we have people like Lawrence Eta in positions of responsibility to keep watch and ensure that everyone's interests are in balance. 

Here's Lawrence Eta. 

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

06 - Digital Innovation with Dominique Bohn29 Dec 202000:39:26

Today, my guest is one of Canada's most influential government technologists. Dominique Bohn is the chief officer and assistant deputy minister at the digital innovation office at the government of Alberta.

Dominic has held various executive leadership roles in the government of British Columbia, as well as a director role at global IT leader CGI. Alberta's digital innovation office is a relatively new department at the government of Alberta. It reports to executive council and has been given the mandate to transform how software is created in the government with citizen needs and design leadership at the forefront, the Dio has been running exemplar projects to showcase how modern agile software development can work within a traditional government organization.

And the outcomes have been transformative. We spoke in August, 2020 over a web meeting. So the odd word may drop, but there's no denying the wisdom and enthusiasm that Dominic brings to her role. I think you'll enjoy her refreshing perspective and vision. 

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

05 - City Innovate with Jay Nath01 Dec 202000:33:56
Today, my guest is one of my favorite people in gov tech. Jay Nath is the co-CEO of City Innovate. They're based in San Francisco, where Jay was the former Chief Innovation Officer for the City of San Francisco. 

City Innovate is a program that Jay founded during his tenure with the city, and it was time to move on, he took the program with him, and he and his colleague Comran Siddique now run cohorts of cities through their matchmaking and procurement platform. They helped cities connect with startups and innovators who might never try to navigate the traditional procurement process for selling to government. 

It's a program that solves real problems and creates new economic and service opportunities. I think you'll love how Jay thinks and what's important to him.  

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

04 - Upgrading the CDS with Sean Boots26 Oct 202000:28:31


Sean Boots, technical advisor at the Canadian Digital Service, joins Paul to share his experience with digital government and bringing modern tools to government workers.

Sean Boots:
https://sboots.ca/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanboots/

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

03 - Open source government with Norman Mendoza26 Oct 202000:22:59

Norman Mendoza, manager of business and technology innovation at the City of Edmonton, joins Paul to share his experience with open source and open data, and how to make practical use of them within the context of a municipal government.

Norman Mendoza on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/normanmendoza/

Norman Mendoza on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/normanmendoza

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

02 - Open source government with Bianca Tomazeli02 Sep 202000:26:10

Bianca Tomazeli, senior advisor for architecture, security and innovation at Ville du Montreal, joins Paul to share her experience building an open source practice and talks about collaboration, cost management, and long term support.

Find out more about Montreal's open source work at: https://github.com/opensourcecities/montreal

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

S2 E3 - The Evolution of the Town Square with Kate Burns09 Jan 202500:41:22

Why government organizations must build digital trust.

Today, my guest is Kate Burns. Kate is the Executive Director of MetroLab Network, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that connects local government organizations with universities to bring the latest in scientific research and innovation to the living lab of communities. MetroLab is a partnership ecosystem and runs projects to discover, implement, and scale innovative solutions for local government. Kate has a background in municipal government and in policy, and she's passionate about thriving cities and communities. She worked in Kansas City and Seattle, so understands the many different types of communities that are striving to adopt digital and innovative technology.

Kate and I decided to wrestle with a timely challenge for cities. The evolution of the digital town square. As social media platforms shift in ownership and purpose and as the audience starts to fragment across many separate platforms, it's becoming less clear where the digital town square will be in the future. What was once a common expectation—that journalists, administrators, politicians, and citizens could mingle freely and share ideas and concerns—seems to be eroding or at least changing.

Resource Links:

Recorded in January of 2025

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

S2 E5 - From AI Venture Studio to GovLab with Nicole Janssen20 Mar 202500:37:43

Nicole Janssen on Bridging AI Innovation and Government Solutions

Nicole is co-CEO of one of Canada's AI powerhouse organizations, AltaML. She's a national business leader and one of our experts in AI. 

Her firm is also behind the Alberta government's innovative AI research lab, operating as an R&D hub for the big, complex problems that the government hopes AI can help address. If you're not from Canada, and maybe even if you are, you may not know that Canada is an AI pioneer. Some of the earliest technology that is powering this new digital economy was conceived of and developed in Canadian universities.

Canada has always had a very strong bond between higher education, the public sector, and industry when it comes to innovation. AI has grown here in this collaborative ecosystem. If you're feeling left behind by the pace of change in artificial intelligence at the moment, then I think you'll find Nicole's overview and perspective helpful. 

She lays out what is happening in the AI industry and where things are going,  and she also has great advice for government organizations just trying to get a toehold.

Resource Links:

Guest

Nicole Janssen, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, AltaML - LinkedIn
AltaML:  AltaML LinkedIn
GovLab

Canadian AI Institutes


AI for Wildfire Prediction

Digital Transformation at Scale (Book) - Amazon.ca | Indigo | Kobo

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

S2 E4 - Digital Government: a 2025 reality check with Vijay K Luthra20 Feb 202500:47:25

What Digital Transformation for Government Means in 2025

Today, my guest is Vijay Luthra. Vijay is the managing partner of CEVA Global in the UK, and he works to help government organizations in the UK and UAE to develop digital transformation strategies.

 Given the pace of change, particularly in the US, it's hard to say how long our conversation will remain relevant. It's hard to talk about the political side of government without taking sides, but we did our best to avoid that

Vijay is, in his words, a former public servant and a recovering politician. He works in social enterprise and has deep expertise in healthcare and transformation. Today we decided to talk about what digital transformation for government means in the chaos that is early 2025.

Resource Links:

Vijay K Luthra LinkedIn

CEVA Global Website | LinkedIn

VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity Harvard Busness Review | Wikipedia

The National Programme for Information Technology ( NPfIT )

Marshall McLuhan

Dan Honig -  Mission Driven Bureaucrats | Amazon CA

Demis Hassabis
Press release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024

Recorded: Feb, 2025

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

S2 E6 - Data and Discovery in the Arctic with Tom Henheffer11 Apr 202500:43:47

Today, my guest is Tom Henheffer.  Tom is the CEO of the Arctic Research Foundation, a non profit organization that facilitates data collection in Canada's Arctic region.

The Arctic Research Foundation is an essential ingredient in Canada's civil society, working alongside universities, government, indigenous communities, and industry to build our understanding of this critical global region through research and data collection.

The work that Tom and the Arctic Research Foundation does is challenging in logistics, environment, and cultural context,  but it's essential and inspiring.

The public sector involves those that work for and within government, but also the many para government organizations that work around and alongside formal government bodies.  Without the work of the Arctic Research Foundation, Canada would be limited in its ability to understand the future issues facing the Arctic, as well as limited in its ability to maintain claims of territorial sovereignty.

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Guest information:

Tom Henheffer LinkedIn

For more information about the Arctic Research Foundation check out our website Arcticresearchfoundation.ca and ArcticFocus.org (their publishing platform). You can also connect with ARF on LinkedIn.

Resource Links:

Location Information Courtesy Wikipedia:

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

S2 E7 - The Future of Trust and Identity with Tim Bouma16 May 202500:47:20

 Today my guest is Tim Bouma. Tim is Canada's public sector digital identity expert. He's held key roles in the federal government for years and was a key player in the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework, which brought together regional and federal government players to define standards and best practices for digital identity.

Tim now sits as a special advisor to Canada's Digital Governance Council, Conseil de Gouvernance Numérique, a member driven nonprofit working on responsible design, architecture, and management of digital technologies for the public service. 

Guest information:

Tim Bouma, Special Advisor, Digital Governance Council LinkedIn

Digital Governance Council Website LinkedIn

Public Sector Profile of the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework | Cadre de Confiance pancanadien

The 311 episode with guest and shared friend, Ashley Casovan, that recommended Paul look to Tim Bouma for Canadian expertise in the digital identity area: S1 E1 - Governing A.I. with Ashley Casovan, The 311 Podcast

Additional information on some of the technologies mentioned in the episode:

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

S2:E8 Design at Scale with Savan Kong22 Oct 202500:53:20

Transforming the Department of Defence with Savan Kong. 

Today my guest is Savan Kong. Savan has a unique resume and set of experiences. He was most recently the first ever Customer Experience Officer for the United States Department of Defense. One of the largest organizations of any kind in the world. 

When the CIO of the DOD tapped Savan to pioneer the new CXO role, Savan brought a design mindset to the job in every way. And in this episode, he's going to share his mindset and models for how to introduce design infrastructure into an organization as complex as the US DOD. I think you'll like his approach, and in the show notes, we'll be sure to spell out the model he lays out in the episode in great detail. Here's my conversation with Savan.
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Guest information:
Savan Kong LinkedIn
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Savan's Model
Savan highlighted that design is an intentional act of problem-solving. He applied these principles to explore how the CXO office within the Department of Defense could leverage policy and strategy to enhance customer experience.

While establishing the CXO office, Savan applied four key strategies in his model. Including specific steps in creating design infrastructure that embraces the problem solving nature of design thinking into the CXO infrastructure.

  1. Building Alliances: Identify key individuals to understand the organization and advance the CXO agenda.
  2. Identifying Leverage Points: Understand the organization's priorities, learn its culture, and identify key levers for initiative momentum.
  3. Defining Measurable Outcomes: Establish IT governance, update strategy for investment guidance, implement performance management (including OKRs), create a consistent intake structure for customer feedback, and build a user experience foundation.
  4. Developing a Robust Design Infrastructure: Ensure the infrastructure is 
    1. authoritative (vetted, signed off, and documented),
    2. sustained (funded, adopted, and continuously improved), and
    3. scaled (impacts many, is agnostic, and normalizes expectations).

Recorded in May, 2025

This is a show about the people that make digital public service work. If you'd like to find out more, visit northern.co/311-podcast/

We're going to keep having conversations like this. If you've got ideas of guests we should speak to, send us an email to the311@northern.co.

Northern LinkedIn

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