Siim Sikkut - Digital Government Excellence

17 CHAPTER 9: Hillary Hartley What Brought You to Work in Digital Government, in the US and in 18F at First? What Made You Jump to Ontario Government from There? What Appealed to You about the Job in Ontario Once You Learned More? What Was the Minister Saying That They Expected for You? What Was the Mission Set for You to Do? Did You Hesitate at All in Making the Move? Did You Set Any Conditions or Prerequisites for Joining In? Where Was ODS Placed Institutionally? What Was the State of Digital Government in Ontario, and What Prompted the Creation of ODS? What Was the Concrete Objective You Set for Yourself to Achieve? What Was Your Focus in the First Hundred Days or Three Months? What Were Your Initial Tools and Levers in the Mandate to Ensure Delivery Across the Government? If These Were the Initial Tools at Your Disposal, Have You Added Some More or How Have They Changed? How Did the Law Come About Politically? What Set Things Rolling in This Direction? Besides Having Champions to Have Your Back Politically, How Did You Ensure Buy-in from Other Departments—for the Wider Role and Power? How Did You Build a Team That Excels in Delivery? What Are Some of the Things You Have Been Telling Your Team as Your Mottos, Your Philosophy? What Have Been Your Regular Routines or Practices with Your Team? How Have You Managed to Attract Folks to Join the Team? Who Have Been Your Most Valuable Hires? If You Look Back to the Journey So Far, What Have Been Your Biggest Achievements That You Are Most Proud Of? Is There Something You Have Failed at or Regret Not Having Achieved Yet? What Would Make You Move on from the CDDO Role at Some Point? What Have You Done to Make Sure the Change You Initiated Is Sustained? Is There Anything You Wish You Had Known at the Start? What Kind of Skills Are Necessary to Do Your Job Well? What Are Your Key Recommendations about How to Be Excellent in the CDDO Job? Notes

18 CHAPTER 10: Innocent Bagamba Muhizi How Did You Become a Digital Government Leader in Rwanda? What Was Your Motivation to Take Up the Calling and Join RISA? There Was a Massive Challenge Ahead—Did You Hesitate at All? What Were You Called in For? What Were You Expected to Deliver? What Was the State of Digital Government in Rwanda? What Was the Aim behind the Creation of RISA? What Did You Set Yourself as a Concrete Objective When Starting the Job? What Were the First Steps You Took from the Three-Year Plan? As You Started a New Way of Work for the Government, What Methods Have You Used for Steering Agencies in Your Intended Direction? You Emphasized That You Really Started from Building Up a Team. How Did You Find Suitable People? You Have Mentioned That as You Bring People Onboard, You Do a Lot of Training—How? What Routines Have Been Useful for You as the Manager to Steer RISA's Team and Culture? What Routines Have You Employed to Be an Effective Leader? What Has Been Effective for Managing the Relationships with Outside Stakeholders? You Mentioned That You Set Out to Create a Certain Culture from the Start. What Are Your Mottos or Principles That You Have Tried to Install in the Team? What Do You Think You Have Achieved in RISA So Far? You Brought Up That More Requests Came Your Way with COVID-19—How Did This Affect Your Delivery and How Did You Handle Them? Have You Had Any Failures or Things That You Regret? What Are the Next Challenges for You and for the Digital Government in Rwanda? What Steps Have You Taken to Make Sure That What You Have Been Starting Will Last? What Do You Think You Have Learned the Most in This Role? What Other Skills or Knowledge Is Useful to Do This Sort of Job Well? What Would Be Your Three Recommendations to a Colleague on How to Be an Effective Digital Government Leader?

19 CHAPTER 11: José Clastornik How Did Your Digital Government Leadership Story Start in Uruguay? Why Were You Approached or Selected to Join the Board and Take the Lead Role? Did You Hesitate to Join and Take the Role? What Was Your Motivation to Join AGESIC? What Was Lacking in the Digital Government Area in Uruguay Back in 2005? What Was the Mandate of AGESIC to Change the Scene? What Led You to the Incubator Approach? What Were the Carrots or Sticks That AGESIC Had toward Other Agencies to Execute Its Mandate? What Was Your Own Role in AGESIC as the Executive Director? How Would You Describe It? What Were Your First Steps as Executive Director of AGESIC? What Did You Start Working On? How Did You Work with the Wider Ecosystem after the Initial Strategy Making? You Worked in AGESIC for Nearly Fifteen Years. What Were the Key Initiatives or Strategic Periods across the Years? With Eleven Boards and a Full Agency to Manage, Plus a Handful of Things in Strategy—How Did You Choose Your Priorities? How Did You Align the Setup of AGESIC to the Delivery of Initiatives? How Did You Build the AGESIC Team? What Were the Principles or Working Routines You Tried to Have and Take Root in Your Team? What Do You Think Were Your Greatest Achievements in Your Fifteen Years in AGESIC? What Were Your Biggest Failures, in Your View? After Three Periods and Three Governments, What Made You Leave Finally? What Are the Next or Remaining Challenges Going to Be for a Digital Government in Uruguay? How Did You Ensure That What You Started Lasts? Looking Back, Is There Something You Wish You Had Known When You Started the Job? Would You Recommend the Job to a Friend? What Would Be Your Recommendations for Being Effective in Such a Role? Notes

20 CHAPTER 12: Lars Frelle-Petersen How Did You Get Involved in the Digital Government Field in Denmark? Was the Task Force Successful? From the Task Force, What Led to Setting Up the Agency of Digitisation Quite a Few Years Later? What Made You Stay in the Field, and Then Step into a Leadership Role in DIGST? Why Do You Think They Chose You? Did You Hesitate to Apply at All? Why Is the Ministry of Finance at the Helm of Digital Government Work in Denmark? What Other Levers, Carrots, or Sticks Were at Your Disposal to Ensure Cooperation? What Became Your Own Strategy Going into to DIGST? What Did You Set Out to Be Your Objective There? You Had Been There Already Before in the Agency, but What Was Your Hundred-Day Plan When You Started in the Director General Role? As You Said, the Elephant Is Eaten Piece by Piece. How Did You Prioritize and Sequence the Steps? What Did the Road Map of Elephant Eating Look Like in Your Case? Did You Have Surprises along the Way? Did Politicians Stay behind the Strategy All the Way Through? How Did You Build Out Your Team to Achieve All of That? Who Was Your Most Valuable Hire through the Years? You Have Already Said a Bit about It, but What Was the Culture You Wanted the Team to Have? What Are You Most Proud of Achieving as the Director General? What Is Something You Most Regret or You Think You Failed At? What Made You Move on from DIGST in 2017? How Did You Make Sure That Things Will Last in DIGST and with the Agenda? What Are the Skills Necessary to Be Effective in This Kind of Job? In Addition to the Skills, What Are Your Three Recommendations on How to Be Effective in This Role?

21 CHAPTER 13: Luis Felipe Monteiro What Was Your Journey into the Digital Government Leadership Role in Brazil? What Was Your Motivation in Becoming the Secretary? Did You Hesitate at All about the Challenge or the Role? What Was the Expectation Laid Out to You in the Role in Terms of What to Achieve or Fix? Can You Give a Bit of Context about Where Was Brazil Standing in Digital Government Development in 2018? What Was Your Vision and Proposed Strategy Then in More Detail? What Was the Time Frame for Your Vision and Strategy? How Did You Chart Out the Delivery Plan and How Hard Was It to Retain Delivery as Intended? What Kind of an Organizational Setup Did You Build Up to Make Such a Rapid Delivery Possible? What Were Your Main Priorities within the First Hundred Days in the Secretary Role? How Did You Manage to Retain the Focus on the Strategy Delivery, as You Went Along? What Were Your Methods to Really Get Agencies On Board for Such an Aggressive Transformation Program? You Already Spoke about Adding Some Specific Skills to the Team, but How Did You Build Out the Team Overall? Where Did You Find the Skills and Talent From, and How Did You Lure Them Over to Work with You? Who Were Your Most Valuable Hires? What Routines Did You Use to Manage the Team? Did You Also Have Some Regular Routines with Outside Stakeholders? What Were Your Principles of Leadership? What Slogans or Sayings Did You Repeat to the Team? How Did You Build These Principles into a Team Culture? What Was the Hardest Part of Your Job? In Your Time on the Job, What Do You Think Were Your Failures? What Do You Consider Your Achievements in the Role? What Is Still Left on the Table as Next Challenges for Brazilian Digital Government? What Made You Move On from the Job in Autumn 2021? What Did You Do to Make Your Initiatives and the Change Last? To Sum Up, What Do You Think Are the Skills Necessary to Do This Kind of Job Well? What Are Your Key Takeaways from Your Time as the Digital Government Leader? Your Three Recommendations to Any Peer Doing the Same Job? Notes