Job Posting Postscript #2: Senior Advisors, Modernization (IS30)
An Open FAQ
I am hiring permanent roles into my team that runs Modernization Advisory Services at the The Exchange Lab. The team I’m leading is focused on supporting others to modernize the way government delivers services to people.
I previously posted an open FAQ about the Lead (Product Owner/Manager) role. This second blog is about the specialized talent on the team.
TL;DR on the kinds of skills and experience I am looking for candidates to bring: bureaucracy hacking (business analysis/digital governance, policy) agile values, scrum methods, UX, design, change facilitation, and empathy.
Here, I’ll do my best to anticipate questions about this specific role. I’ll cover:
- What is an IS30, and what is the essence of this role?
- What kind of specialized skills will the senior advisor need?
- Where does this role fit in the organization and how does it contribute?
- How does the team work?
- What career pathways might this role lead to?
- What should I pay attention to as I navigate the hiring system?
UPDATED JUNE 16: As questions come in, I’ll append answers in comments below. So far:
- Question: Do I need Agile Experience? And, what kind of Agile?
- How much effort should I put into the competition assignment?
- What are some of the projects you are currently working on and how are they prioritized?
- Do you have any physical ‘pod’ locations across the province (away from Victoria) for teams to interact in person where they feel the need to connect?
- What is the culture in the Lab, and is it inclusive?
Reading this will not give you an upper hand in the competition. My aim is to attract more of the right talent and to help people get to know me, the organization, and what this job experience might be. Of course, if you join us, we’ll be creating that experience together, with our team of teams.
✍🏻 There are also plenty of other blogs here that can help you do that, too.
What is an IS30, and what is the essence of this role?
The Information Systems (IS) 30 tag is a classification for a union position. The position guides how technology is developed to deliver services. It is the most senior position in the IS class, typically with responsibility for guiding multiple different organizations on technical or governance practice.
The Senior Advisor role is a new profile I developed. It is a modernized blend of two roles more commonly found in traditional IM/IT agencies in government: the IM/IT Governance and Senior Business Analyst roles.
The existing job profiles do not accurately reflect our new core policy as of 2021 (there is work in progress on this). Given that our job is to help gov adopt the new Chapter 12 Core Policy, I updated many of the references to reflect new practices and skills.
So, IT and Business Analyst professionals who might consider applying will need experience working in (and contributing to) contexts where new policy and practices are in place, and shining a light on what good looks like.
Additionally, candidates with experience working in the systems that have been in place for 20+ years will be equipped to navigate and to have empathy for those experiencing change.
In all cases, candidates will be inclined to focus on people, rather than processes, tools, or policy.
NOTE: this is not a job for people who want to actually build technology! This team does not release working software. We release working teams.
What kind of specialized skills will the senior advisor need?
I need team members that can advise on the new digital operating model and plan for government and help organizations to:
- embrace the need to iteratively design with people who use our services (instead of with a bunch of senior experts in some back office),
- build collaborative, focused, diverse and cross functional delivery teams (specifically those applying Agile scrum methods), and
- recognize we exist in a system where borders are imaginary, and value multiplies when you create and nurture connections across it (especially where service journeys span organizational lines).
As IS30 roles are often specific to an expertise, this role is too, but in a different sense. It requires people who can lead as expert learners, creative problem solvers, collaborators, and with deep empathy. This team addresses complexity face on and is responsible for helping others to navigate it too.
The specific disciplines that we employ most effectively to do this work are Agile Coaching and Human-Centered Design (HCD). I need people who have some experience in both, so they can work effectively together.
The job profile also begs for change facilitation and policy and bureaucracy hacking chops. Do you have experience navigating big organizations and working through layers of process to build trust, clarity, and confidence in a new path forward? Chances are you won’t bat an eye at some of the jargon in the profile.
🦄 It might seem like I am fishing for unicorns (do they even swim?). However, what I really want is to support a cross-functional team of t-shaped people to lean into their strengths when they are needed.
Candidates may have more depth in one of those particular disciplines than another.
Where does this role fit in the organization and how does it contribute?
The role is a support to organizations adapting to new digital-era ways of working, particularly those building tech enabled services. My team is as central as it gets, in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), in the Ministry of Citizens Services.
While the name sounds like we interface with citizens directly… most of us are actually supporting other agencies that do that. Leaders have referred to us as “the engine room of government.”
Within the Exchange Lab, this team is one of 13. The Advisors I hire will work as a small team in service of programs that need help setting up new delivery teams and services.
Be prepared to say “yes”
We are often at the front end of the journey for a program, because when they come to ask “can you help?” we have the skills and responsibility to determine how we might say yes.
- Sometimes saying yes is taking them on as a full-time residency partner with the Lab (that is the bulk of this team’s focus), usually with some conditions for being ready to take on the change.
- Sometimes it is offering a quick tune-up or a boost from one of our fantastic service teams helping with talent, or tech.
- Often, we say yes, and connect them to content or others in the ecosystem across gov who can offer peer support and help get them unblocked.
Rarely do we say no entirely. When we do, it might be that they are unwilling or unable to let the old ways go (for now), and they work in contradiction to our principles.
On that note: people on my team interface with others working in ways that align to old policy too. It is our job to help them adapt and there is value in understanding them (empathy) as we work to facilitate change.
Sometimes we say yes so that we can learn how to get unblocked. This is usually only the case when Senior Leaders are completely onboard and willing to actively support their people through the change.
How does the team work?
The Senior Leadership Team in the Lab (my peers) prioritize opportunities to deliver on the mission of modernizing government. Our priorities also align to Senior Executive and ultimately Cabinet direction. There is often a core mission like improve healthcare outcomes, or address housing delays, that focus our attention on where to help first.
As a small (4–6 people), Agile team, the Advisors work with their Lead and a Scrum Master to plan how to help organizations. They’ll inspect frictions or blockers or gaps and ideate activities, products, or methods, mostly with a focus on creating conditions that enable an engaged, high-performing delivery team to solve a clear service delivery problem.
The Advisory team makes most of the decisions about how they work. However, because we are a growing organization, there are some constraints to enable scaling our Agile practice across value streams and teams.
For example, we’re working on tooling for backlogs (Jira), and there will be a cadence of work planning that can align to the Exchange Lab’s meta-scrum framework (we’re applying Scrum Inc.’s Scrum at Scale approach.)
What are some career pathways for this role?
I’m taking a guess here, because it really depends on you, dear reader!
The BC Public Service is a large, diverse organization that embraces talent development and mobility. I personally was financially supported to complete an Agile Leadership Certificate in 2018, and here I am, building this awesome team! (I’m a Geographer, if you trace my roots back to University.) I could have travelled in many different directions, though.
My first guess is that you might want to move into Product Ownership/Management.
This role will give you insight into how hard that role is… and how incredibly rewarding it is when the conditions are right (because you’ll be part of helping create this for new Product Owners).
Or maybe, you’re interested generally in leadership and management?
We’re certainly people focused and we have to dabble in a wide variety of topics, networks, systems, processes, and practices that give leaders an edge in applying competencies like strategy, intrapreneurship, and strategic alliances.
Or perhaps you love the discipline you’re skilled at now, and you really want a chance to offer your talents in pubic service.
How about having the chance to meet incredibly dedicated, passionate public servants who would be grateful for you to join them and save lives, house people, preserve a livable climate, or give youth the tools they need to experience a positive future?
These are some of the ways you might blaze a trail for yourself if you are successful in this role.
What should I pay attention to as I navigate the hiring system?
First, you should know that there are teams working to improve candidates’ experience of our current hiring system…
Second, it is important to pay attention to the job requirements listed in the posting. The questionnaire will reference these and it is a key screening tool. You must demonstrate that you meet those requirements using that questionnaire.
This should elaborate on what your resume communicates.
Plain text is your friend.
Also, our team made a big effort in the last competition to manually redact identifying information for the screening process. This included the resume and the questionnaire, which we get in PDF format.
We were happy to do this to ensure we maximize inclusion and avoid potential impacts of unconscious bias, but some of the applications were a bigger lift than others.
Can you do us a favor? If you minimize third person references (e.g. He delivered workshops; She leads teams); and only note the name of the company or location in reference to your experience once, we’ll move though that screening process faster.
It’s not a requirement… but I figure, it doesn’t hurt to ask. I have a busy, hard working team 🙂
What else?
Some questions you have might have been answered in the previous job posting blog. Here’s the quick list:
- What will this team actually do?
- Does the team track hours and bill for services?
- What happens when you modernize all of government? Will this role still be needed?
- What are some downsides of this job?
- Can I live anywhere?
- How do I screen in?
- Information about effort required in the assessment process (will be about the same for this IS30 posting).
- What is the culture like at the lab?
- There are a variety of IM/IT agencies in government. How does the Lab connect to these?
Send me your questions
As I receive more questions about this position, if I have not yet answered them in this article, I’ll be adding them to the comments section.
For further details about this opportunity, including accountabilities, please refer to the attached job profile or contact me at Heather.Remacle@gov.bc.ca
DO NOT SEND YOUR APPLICATION TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS.
Big gratitude for your interest in this. Even if you’re not planning to apply, you’ve made it this far which indicates you care about this work.
If you have already applied, thank you!
H
