Mayor of London’s CDO turns smart city visions into reality

Show video

hello and welcome to CIO UK leadership live  I'm Doug drinkwater I'm the editor of CIO UK   and today I'm joined by Theo Blackwell who's a  chief digital officer at the mayor's office in   London Theo thanks for joining me today a great  pleasure to be here thank you for inviting me   fantastic so today um so we're going to  tackle a few things today but before I   go into that Theo has been the first Chief  digital officer since 2017 have informally   worked in digital transformation roles at um at  Camden it's a 20 years experience across public   and private sector and working for startup  accelerators and UK trade bodies as well   today we're going to look at vo's role as Chief  digital officer we're going to look at some of   these challenges and opportunities and we're going  to look at where next I'm sure there's a link for   the to-do list that he's currently working through  but yeah I want to start really with um if you can   just talk us through your role as Chief digital  officer and I guess I'm interested in the breadth   of responsibilities but I'm also interested if  there's any misconceptions around what you do um great well um thanks for the opportunity of  uh explaining my role I mean the role of the   chief digital officer in London uh emerged out of  the 2016 Manifesto it was called for by um London   first uh which is now called business London so  the business community and also uh Tech bodies   and other major cities had begun to appoint Chief  digital officers for varying purposes and the   needs that they saw was more strategic approach  to digital transformation in the city so uh as we   know London is 32 boroughs each with their own uh  separate technology Estates and Innovation record   um and then you've got big players like tfl  and the police and wanted a more of a strategic   Direction uh on that and also to troubleshoot in  areas such as How We join up data how we promote   Innovation and also on digital connectivity  and talent and skills so the role was created   um at the election it was in everyone's uh  Manifesto um and um the appointment notice   went out um and uh I was selected in In from  from quite a wide wide field to advise the   mayor on those key points and strategic digital  transformation uh what it means to be a smart City   how do we join up data and digital inclusion as  the top priorities that he set me at the outset   fantastic and actually that there's a lot of good  stuff there we'll tackle later in terms of joining   up local government data regulation as we look  into emerging Technologies but also that digital   divide uh which I know is close to your heart and  something you've worked on for it for a number of   years but um just uh before I go on to that kind  of smart City kind of London vision and what   that's entailed where were the only misconceptions  around about or have there been I think the one   that stands out for me was I think as you were  referring in a previous interview to the CDO   in San Francisco who was talking about it's not  all essentially sexy kind of strategic work some   of it's kind of I guess core Plumbing it's less  interesting I guess uh if you want to call it that   yeah I suppose there are two misconceptions one  is um in the word digital it could sort of apply   much more broadly to the digital economy so uh  are you championing the tech tech sector and   are you uh sort of opening uh new workspaces uh  and uh you know sort of funding accelerators and   um there are chief digital officers who are  very very involved in that digital economy   side I would say my job is probably less so  um because uh one of the challenges the base   the need for the role was how we develop our  better capabilities for Partnerships in the   first place and there are lots and lots of  champions of the tech sector you've got Tech   London Advocates uh then had technation and I  don't think London really needed another person   to sort of Bang the Drum for the tech sector  um because there were quite a few or already   um so yeah the question was really uh we've  got this amazing Tech sector bubbling up   and then we also have a London government in  its various forms um how do we create the right   conditions for that Innovation to work really on  behalf of citizens and meet City challenges and so   um that's really where I've been trying to uh  Point uh the role because there's plenty of stuff   that is sort of below the radar you know below  the surface if you like that we could be doing   to make sure that those conversations which  usually start at a high level but invariably   um sort of end up only as small Pilots  not seizing the opportunities of scale   um and to really just sort of focus on that so  what do we need to do to fix the plumbing to make   sure that Innovation flows right through for the  benefit of londoners I'm sorry let's go back a bit   to to that kind of smart City London Vision which  I think came from Khan in that road map in 2018.   um and I think if I kind of summarize there  seems to be a desire to your points just there   on this not been yet another top-down Smart  City pilot um but but rather kind of user-led   design LED is that a fair assessment yeah my  my influence came very much from those kind of   um that early pioneering work from government  digital service which I was sort of seeing over   the water when I was at Camden Council  and really thinking that actually that   those sort of that that user-led uh Focus  that was redesigning government services   um is probably best applied uh in the place  where people receive most of their services in   local government and whilst the focus has been on  Central actually there was tremendous opportunity   in in driving that forward so taking those  principles as GDs principles user-centered design   um uh and you know more broadly  design thinking approaches   um and applying them to London government was  really really really uh top of my list as opposed   to kind of um you know thinking in what I would  consider to be more more traditional Smart City   terms yeah that makes sense and that's kind of put  on or I believe as if following from that you had   the smarter London together roadmap it's got these  kind of five core missions is that right because   talk us through what they're aiming to achieve and  I think to quote it how data and Technology serve   those who live in work in the capital yeah so what  are the what are the what are the five things that   um I would say any organization needs to do in  order to be uh Innovation ready and I wanted   to focus on those I mean there's an element  of the road map which was an exercises in   consolidation because I was Finding initiatives  here and there uh when I went to the uh the GLA   um but the large um uh emphasis of the  road map which Sadiq asked me to do in my   first six months um was you know first  of all to go out there and listen so I   did a about 70 or 80 events with businesses in  the public and understood what they what what   they were thinking about when they thought  about data and technology in smart cities   um and I wanted to really sort of say okay well  you know what were the five things that we really   need to be better at so we can have better  conversation create a better environment for   Innovation that benefits londoners so the first  of those is championing user design principles   um uh it's common these days to talk about  human-centered design but perhaps you know less so   um uh five years ago in local government  environment second one was to join up data better   now London has a really good track record with the  London data store and transport for London's open   API um but we need to do much much more than just  have a platform um I think the promise of data   um in 2010 when the open data platform was was  was created was you know if you put the data all   in one place um then great things will come you  know like armchair Auditors will you know sort   of uh drive forward with transparency you know yes  to a certain extent but I think what people who've   created those platforms realize is that you need  to be really really close to the users of that   platform to develop the platform according to what  they want and what kind of data they're looking   for and how they want to have it and also to set  questions like the big policy questions with data   people domain experts in the public so that you  can build products and services or drive insights   for specific purposes so how do we engage with our  ecosystem the third area that London really really   needs to be uh better at was digital connectivity  I mean a huge copper Legacy across London um you   know only four percent of London uh London's  homes were connected on full fiber in 2017   um as of in January a couple of days ago um that's  50 so what we need to do is talk to telcos talk to   the borrowers and say well how do we make London  more investable for the private operators going in   um and is there a play that we can make ourselves  uh which we have with uh Transport for London and   its partnership with Bai which is laying hundreds  of kilometers of full fiber through tube tunnels   as we speak um the fourth area was digital  skills um this is obviously a moral and political   imperative uh for the mayor we need to make  sure there's Talent pipeline of jobs uh that uh   um to to londoners um it it is also you know I  cannot talk to our elected representatives uh at   a Borough level about um digital transformation  and making Public Services better through the   use of Technology without answering that question  um and um being able to you know develop a strong   piece around digital inclusion was really really  important so the fifth area um which is really   again sort of taking a leap out of um of uh you  know Mike Bracken government digital service is   creating new institutions for the digital age uh  to put it grambly it's like we don't have the we   didn't have in London the kind of team central  team that enables us to explore some of those   really complex and sort of off-grid problems  that stand in the way of all of the things   that I've said before so in 2019 we created the  London office of technology and Innovation which   has gone from strength to strength and that  is a core team of people who work on agile   principles they've done about 40 to 50 projects  so far with the boroughs it convened all of the   London cdos of local authorities in one place  it's examined things like new methodologies uh   and creating things like new methodologies to  do great data services it's done great work on   um new business models that we can apply to  social care it's looked at how we can use   our Market power on the technology estate and  disrupt some of the market that really holds   local government prisoner kind of thing that the  taxpayers don't really realize is that you know   we are essentially sort of subject to quite  a lot of big Tech and it's not as flexible   um uh or as cheap as it should be um so Lottie  uh being a collaborative body really really   important to London um no no other city  in the UK has a body like Lottie and we   constantly talk to uh cities uh in the UK and  across the world on how they can develop teams   like that so that was setting up that as a new  institution was really really important for us um uh to be heard and I guess that's what  I'm going to go next actually fear was   um I guess playing there was Advocate  how do you kind of drive that I mean   collaboration will be part of this clearly  but driving digital change across 32 borrowers   um and not least given some of the The Wider  Market constraints we've seen over the last kind   of two to three years how are you trying to kind  of balance that local autonomy and power with you   know what what you as a group can provide well  I mean it is a balance because of course London   boroughs are their own Sovereign bodies and they  don't have to do um anything that I suggest um but   um I think increasingly people are looking at  how they can use data more dynamically and if   that's the case um how do they join up with  others how do we make that as simple and easy   and effective and responsible as possible  and that's what that's what we can do here   um there are projects of course that um  you know that go beyond borrow boundaries   something like 40 of London's population  live within a kilometer of of our boundary   um so projects around air quality where we should  put electric vehicle charging the Project's on   digital inclusion um all of these uh are ones that  transcend uh Borough boundaries so our ability to   um work with borrower boroughs and their  needs and enable us to combine those boroughs   based upon their needs so I think in the past  you know you know with with the sort of legacy   of shared services it was quite often that you  know boroughs would consider joining up with   a neighboring geographical Borough so you know I  was involved in the at the beginning of the shared   service with Islington and haringey there was one  which stretched from Westminster across Kensington   Chelsea and Harrisburg and Fulham which is ended  um but you know ultimately you may well have outer   London boroughs at different ends of London there  are have the same needs so how do you bring those   borrowers together and I'll tell you there's also  like something quite fundamental uh that someone   um who led on public health in Camden once told me  about data um the average size of a London borough   is 250 000 people and 250 000 people isn't that  big when you're using data and if you're looking   at particularly vulnerable users the numbers  diminish in those cohorts that people tend to be   you know suffering um you know you know  serious or chronic or multiple conditions   um and they are very very costly uh in  terms of uh triage in them and uh with   with local government or the NHS if you're  able to identify the needs of that group   um on a much larger scale let's say a million  people or two million people four million people   Etc um you are then able to get greater Insight  develop better Services than you would if you   just did it alone and then I think increasingly  we as a um as a city are seeing these problems   in the round I'm thinking how do we combine our  knowledge and experience and insight into tackling   um you know some of these uh some of the  challenges faced by these groups of people yeah   given that is to have a great uh well it's going  with that question was is there a greater desire   for Club collaboration I know for example in in  central government as an example that there's not   always there's always been a bit of skepticism  in terms of local versus centralizing UH   responsibilities or leadership but do you get the  sense that there's more there is more appetite to   share findings to share challenges so you can work  as a collective to some of these problems which as   you say go beyond you know the boundary of one  boa yeah I mean you know it's a difficult one   um I mean London's on a journey um and the day job  of local authorities is delivering services to the   arrests that's what they do so um that often  uh is a top in our conversation with them and   um the um sort of time and opportunity for  collaboration um you constantly have to prove   a sort of you know business case or a moral case  um four um so there there is there you know it's   not uh sort of it's it's not as intuitive as one  or common sensical as one might uh think however   when new challenges arise um there is clearly  uh a drive in London to do things together so   for example you know when they wanted to trial  e-scooters in the city an unprecedented number   of boroughs got together to do that I was  13. now like 13 borrowers you know what   was that that's that that already is in terms of  population size the largest city in the country   um so um and and equally on air quality um  discussions around retrofit How We join up data   um all of these challenges coming down the  road people are thinking okay I don't have   the capacity or resource to do this alone and then  when you go into things like smart cities it is   inconceivable that um you know if you think about  the human technical expertise needed to create   sensor networks and ingest data and to uh link it  with your staff in the environment department or   housing requirement or whatever um uh you know 32  borrowers all employing the same kind of person   um would not be feasible so people thinking  about combinations coming together in groups   of of councils sharing resources pooling resources  in order to do things um so I think increasingly   that's the uh that that's the way forward  especially with um as it were new challenges   yeah absolutely um you prepared to data that's  obviously a key commitment that has been for some   time I think in the in the manifesto from from  the mayor um and and you speak about enjoying   data sets up and strategically and operationally  I know data store has an important role to to   play it just talk us through some of your you know  progress there if it does seem like there is real   momentum behind that okay so we the the basis of  data in London is the London data store which was   created in 2010. now that is um what's called an  open data publishing platform uh primarily it um   took data that was being published by government  and other bodies and put it all in one place we'll   link to it in one place really um over time um  over five six seven years it grew in functionality   um it was able to share other kinds of data 2018  it was able to link private data sets now that's   really important because you can develop more  personalized Services you and insights uh you   and it gave rise to a whole host of what we  call data services uh from that now you'll   note that when you change from just being an  open data platform into being something else   it's sort of like outgrew its original  specification so now we're looking at   um sort of rebuilding the London data store  and we're going to call it the data for London   platform with a much better search and Discovery  uh function so it kind of Acts sort of like a data   mesh it works in a Federated way so that goes  with the grain of London government with all of   that uh sovereignty that you were talking about  before and so stand slightly in in contrast to a   to a traditional big city smart big  smart city data platform I.E the sort of   um you know weighed on the amount of data that  it has in one place and instead this is more like   like a digital service for joining up data it  works as a city registry so like a like a kind   of Library index card in a in a University Library  um you go along and you you and the platform would   be able to point you in the direction to a data  set that you were looking for or possibly needed   for your project so that you could you could um  either access it if it was open data or a range   of data sharing agreement with the owner of that  so the data store itself doesn't hold data just   tells you what and where it is we think that  works really really well for a city like London   um because of its size the number of Institutions  it has and um it also means that in a sense the   you know like 20 of the discussion around  the platform is the technology built and   the software 80 is right we need to invest more  in central information governance um either in   human beings and processes or in technology that  assists you to do a dpia or or information sharing   agreement or whatever you need um and things like  data ethics um how we create templates for that   um and a user community that would  drive the iteration of the platform   um onwards the previous data store was so open  we didn't ask who the users were so over time   they became you know they loved it and they you  know very sort of intense group of people using   the data store but it became more and more a  smaller expert audience rather than constantly   engaging with data users saying what more do  you need than search and Discovery um how do   we ingest live data feeds is there something that  we need to build on top of our platform so that's   a journey that we're going on now uh with the  London data store which will really put us into   um a kind of era where uh certainly on the  big data front we're able to engage much more   dynamically with the kind of sensor data that will  be coming out of public and private buildings and   streets and so forth yeah it has a nice almost  sick way into future Technology's emerging   Technologies and and you spoke just briefly about  I guess ethics and I guess that a by word that   wasn't mentioned there but regulation um now I  know you've got this kind of emerging Tech Charter   uh for London okay what was the the intention of  that and like you want to come on from there into   I guess as we move into new technologies  like AI like facial recognition obviously   with that comes a whole swathe of concerns  on privacy and how data is going to be used   yeah I mean we published something called the  emerging Tech Charter for London because we   need to get into the space of setting down  some values um and some guidance around what   we expected when a sensor or a camera was put  in the public realm or will certainly public   realm that the public thought was public I mean  quite often you've got private squares that for   all intents and purposes look like they're  run by a local Authority but but are not   um so um we uh designed this uh with londoners and  it's a partly a kind of clarity and consolidation   exercise because if you're an innovator or a  Londoner or an elected representative of londoners   and you say okay what what are good rules and  questions to ask around data ethics uh and privacy   um yeah if you're an innovator what's  acceptable in London beyond the law   um it's just a box ticking exercise or you know  how should I engage with the state now there   are various bits of guidance and experience around  the place lots of bits of government are published   guidance on it but it's not in one place and also  our lived experience from Transport for London   um the police local councils was hidden in um  departments so the guidance brings together   what we've learned and sets out a series  of principles and examples and measures   that we think people should be mindful of  you know not all of the principles be open   uh trustworthiness and data respect diversity  which is about um design principles and be   sustainable which the public asked for there were  three principles at the start four at the end um   all of these um are brought to life by particular  measures which may or may not be applicable but   something you should think for think about so  it's like kind of like an aid Memoir to trialling   and deploying new technologies in uh the city  and I've urge people to you know give us their   comments and read up on it um because it's an  interesting document and what we want to do is   make London a safe and effective and responsible  place for the deployment of these Technologies   see and I think your point there about there  being that guidance but not necessarily in   one place is a good one we see that I  guess with all governments or or Doug   it's too high level yeah because it becomes  too abstract for people to apply in their   daily lives and I mean and actually ultimately  you know I think a real driver you know that   this is a voluntary thing it's it's not  you know there's no enforcement mechanism   apart from reputation yeah if someone deployed  something that infringed on people's rights   and um they hadn't followed the charter I want  people to ask questions yeah and that's a fair   point um I guess yeah on the other side of that  and everyone wants to come on to you've already   touched on it already is that element of digital  inclusion because as we all know of society and   Genworth we can erased new technologies  that digital divide potentially becomes   uh bigger and I think people often kind of assume  that when we speak about digital inclusion we're   speaking primarily about the elderly but actually  you could argue those social economic background   um there could be a whole host of reasons why  people don't have access or awareness of these   tools or how to use them and I know losses doing  some work with lots of good things Foundation uh   you've done some work going backs in 20 years  so what are you trying to do and I guess it's   a quest that all the the end goal will always be  changing I guess it's not a kind of a tick box   exercise you can often say you're done because  the technology will move so quickly that people   bringing them bringing them on that Journey  takes time you can't bring everybody with you   at the same time well this went right up to the  top of the agenda during the pandemic yeah people   who were stuck at home and they were excluded um  so um we we looked at the problem like this um   there are lots and lots and lots of corporate or  Community charisable Council initiatives around uh   digital inclusion and they don't they they're  often quite specialist some are about skills   some are about a device some are about connection  but this there's no way to triage someone's need   um effectively across the city so what  we what we did was we thought about this   as a potential service so if someone  was helping or supporting someone with   um digital inclusion needs how can we ensure  that they are directed to the free offer of basic   digital skills available from your local College  which is paid for by the great London Authority   um or free resources from you know good things  Foundation secondly how can they get access to   data or a social tariff which is provided  governments asked the uh telcos to provide   uh and thirdly a device um and our work with  uh digital exclusion task force glas made   up people from Edge UK and telcos uh and  councils and lossy led us to this really   really exciting partnership with good things  Foundation which is creating a service so that   if someone presents themselves with one  or more of these needs for skills device   um connection that they can be  satisfied and because we have   that connection with the user we can develop that  service according to their needs over time what   was happening before with these hundreds of small  scale projects is that we weren't capturing that   need we were not developing our offer at scale um  so a service approach enables us to really know   about the effect of our work and to improve it  over time um so many times during the pandemic um a corporate would say   um we have these SIM cards or we have these  devices we want to give them two digitally   excluded people they'd approach a council  and accounts will just not be able to tell   um uh the the the the corporate or the government  precisely who needed what so we want to change   that by having uh not doing another report on  digital inclusion that says 23 of this group and   67 of that group you want actual people and that  is a that is the call to any service providing a   service to people [Music] what's your view more  generally on on digital inclusion obviously I   think you work with Martha uh Lane Fox some 10  years ago on on digital inclusion and I you know   having been on a few round tables recently with  the likes of digital property Alliance often   there's that assumption that there's just too many  silos there's a question perhaps more politically   of how engaged central government is and in in  achieving this watch if someone has worked in this   space for for over a decade what is it is that is  it that communication that collaboration piece is   it obviously there's no Silver Bullet to this but  what do you see I mean I mean I think I think it   started off as a campaign so race online and go  online um and um you know there's some really   notable achievements I mean uh Martha's work led  to the creation of the government digital service   I think over time um digital inclusion went uh  less about numbers and more about accessibility   and web design and making things mobile friendly  and compatible and so on and when the pandemic   hit us uh it was it was like back to numbers it  was back to um lots and lots and lots of people   cannot access the internet because they cannot  afford a connection they don't have a device   they don't have the basic skills so it was I I  totally applaud the kind of movement into making   um uh websites much much more user-friendly  you know that is a necessity yeah   um it was not it's not a substitute for the basic  um fact that lots of people when I say lots of   people there are you know probably about you know  eight percent of each Borough since you know would   talk about 10 50 000 people in each Borough in  London do not have this connection and there's   a that's in the city with one of the highest rates  of inclusion in the country so um so I think that   um we our approach of saying this is actually  a service so let's understand user need   um and develop it from there and also  work in a different way with uh Civil   Society to effectively we're commissioning  uh this money uh two good things Foundation   which is in the process of changing their  business model towards creating a service   um that we can co-exist if you like where we don't  you lose the benefit of all of those hyper local   initiatives and Goodwill but we can provide a  layer on top where it's greater than some of   their parts yeah that makes sense um fear we're  coming towards the end but also to finish with   three questions one uh I guess is a typical  question and then two a slightly different   um for those of you that have tuned in to  leadership life before you know do we always   like to ask a couple of off the off the wall  questions or slightly different questions to   find out more of the person really that we're  that we're speaking to but um Theo I guess the   final serious question if you want to call it that  is it's going to wear next to you in the mayor's   office and I guess a key part of that is you know  for those that are watching today um perhaps in   public sector could be private sector how can  they partner with you how can they work with you   well there's um a number of opportunities to uh  work with us um I would say follow the work of the   London office and technology and Innovations doing  some really interesting things it's got some open   um uh sessions where you can understand uh you  know or work on digital conclusion and doing   some really interesting work on on how you engage  with residents and using digital tools to do that   so lottie's work is really really important to  follow if you want to understand our story uh   in in London secondly we often do some open calls  so whether us or tfl um we will design a problem   statement that we'll put out to market for rapid  prototyping with a local Authority uh or or in the   transport system so those open calls are currently  called challenge London or doing work uh at the   moment um there will be a series of open calls in  the future around the green uh green economy so   um our door is always open um you can also  internet people internationally uh or uh with a   more business orientated uh view can also connect  up with London and partners which is the London   promotional agency so I work very closely with on  um on issues of inward uh investment and how you   uh sort of negotiate the London Marketplace which  you know um is not um as intuitive uh has um some   might think and where next view out of interest in  terms of the edge a couple of priorities for the   year ahead what's on your to-do list yeah so three  three priorities for me Doug um firstly um we are   in the process of building the new data for London  platform and establishing that user community so   creating a new Central register of data uh in  London is the sort of talktop uh priority and you   know I would be immensely pleased to see progress  in that area and not least because we will not get   to Net Zero as a City without a better use of  data and particularly Big Data sensor data so   um it is a critical part of that conversation  secondly uh this year we're going to launch the   digital inclusion service it's already being spun  up we're giving devices out to homeless people   um who we'd the mayor had housed uh in in uh  over the Christmas period that that came from   essentially a device upcycling from public sector  organization so they retired their end of year   end of life devices and they were upcycled  by good things Foundation donated to people   um so that service will be really important  and then the third area is what I'd call broad   broadly speaking open Innovation we're doing a  lot of thinking about um how the city does more   open calls in the future so linking together with  boroughs linking together with those in transport   or the police you've got a particular problem to  solve and how can we do really really exciting   prototyping work and what sort of structure do we  need to do that because I don't want London to be   a kind of like theater of Pilots I want us to be  able to say here is a problem that is faced by   a significant proportion of the population  and we can we can do these things at scale   um so there'll be of interest to the market  because you'll be serving potentially hundreds   of thousands of people um and it will have a kind  of longevity or sustainability because it'll met   the need that we'd set out there so there's a  big buck about open Innovation probably less   Advanced on how we think about that in its next  iteration than the others but nonetheless uh   really really important yeah absolutely some  great priorities there's some interesting   um work ahead but I guess um  you know Theo I mentioned before   and at the start of this session I'd like to  ask a couple of slightly different questions   at the end so I guess the first one would be what  are you most proud of that could be professional   or personal you can take your pick or give  me both if that's uh what you prefer to do   oh gosh um I I think that um in in  my in my current job uh I have really   um I'm I'm really really pleased on the progress  that we're making on connecting London and dealing   with just the legacy of under investment uh  in connecting up people's homes so we're now   over 50 some say um we could hit 95 by 2026 if we  carry on going at the current rate so not saying   that you know the kind of infrastructure you know  London is a Global Tech Hub so infrastructure in   its sort of recent state did help London achieve  that status but it doesn't help us is as we move   to kind of web 3.0 and the new Advanced Tech stack  that's being developed here so it the the mayor   being able to influence that and our team that  was created at the same time is me being able   to work with boroughs and telcos to make London  a better connected Place totally fundamental to   London on all sorts of levels so I'm really really  happy with the progress that we uh that we've made   there and you know underneath our feet transport  for London hundreds of kilometers of dark fiber   being laid uh with cruise out every night doing  that people sort of witnessing it by getting a 4G   connection on the tube but it's so much more than  that that fiber spine um will light up London so   um we're really pleased with progress on that no  help from the government though yeah interesting   um and then finally growing up what do you want  to be what was it what was your aspirations when   you were a kid appeared that's that's I I kind  of thought back when you said that I think at   one point I was I I'd seen some film or something  and and I thought being a diplomat sounds quite a   good job I didn't really know what it was but they  seemed to have quite a good life but but actually   you know kind of relating it to um Chief  digital officer I mean I'm saying I'm like   particularly diplomatic but um but the uh most  of my work doesn't actually have a huge amount   um to do with discussions around software or  Hardware yeah most of my work is about culture   um process change design getting  people on board getting buy-in and um   the most important change comes about when people  go this is the right thing for me to do and um   laying the groundwork for that I think is um is a  key part of of my job so I suppose it's diplomatic   yeah brilliant that's a great note to finish  and I think that resonates with a lot of uh   well CIO CTS or Studios and any number of uh  Industries in terms of how they collaborate   and get people on site to make change happen  whether that change may be but yeah it's been   pleasure to chat with you today thanks so  much for your time thank you Doug and of   course thanks to you viewers for tuning in today  I hope there's some interesting insights to take   back into the day job that's all for me for now  but thanks for watching goodbye and see you soon

2023-02-17

Show video