Kane McLean, BRTRC-Strategy and Communications Group

1. Senior Leaders Adapting to Social
Technologies
━━
A User Experience Challenge
by Kane McLean
Military Open Source Working Group
OSFA | MIL-OSS WG2 | 03 AUG 2010

2. Why Focus On The Outgoing?
Obvious Reasons
● Improve Collaboration and Situational Awareness
● Improve Quality of Thought, Input, and Feedback
● Record Asynchronous Discussion for Future Reference
Less-Obvious Reasons
● Future Leaders’ Use
● Saving Time ≈ Saving Money
● Saving R&D Time and Money
Obstacles
Perceptions
● “I’m not using anything at work that my daughter plays with at home!” Un-named Lt. General
● Poor Security (OPSEC Primarily)
Security
● OPSEC - Keep Classified Conversation Off-Line
● CAC Protected
● No New Security Concerns
Overcoming Obstacles
Targets
● Who are we focusing on?
○ There are Three Primary Types of DoD Leaders
■ Warfigher (Not Likely to Easily Adapt)
■ Bureaucrat (Not Likely to Care About Adapting)
■ Entrepreneur (Highly Likely to Adapt, but May Not Continue Long-Term)
● When are we focusing?
○ Long-Range Perspective - Prepare for Tomorrow’s Leaders
○ Success Tomorrow Depends on Not Being Rejected by Today’s Leadership
○ To Prevent Immediate Rejection, Work with Legacy Systems
Go for the Legs (Win the “Minions” and the Rest Will Follow - Star Wars AT-AT Video)
OSFA | MIL-OSS WG2 | 03 AUG 2010

3. Take Aim at the Objectives
● Work-Like Interface Needs to be “Professional” Yet Inviting
● Don’t Focus on a Specific Technology (as Best You Can)
● Focus on User Experience. This is a Prime ‘DON’T MAKE ME THINK’ Scenario
● Provide a Way Forward (from Where They are NOW)
○ Email, Phone Calls, and Meetings are the primary tools of senior leaders interaction
** Make Sure Theses Systems Can Continue Being Used
○ Eventually, the Majority Will Migrate to the Social Paradigm.
** Some will never adapt and phase out naturally
○ Combine Legacy Technologies and Practices with Tomorrow’s Technologies SEAMLESSLY
■ Example: Reply to Message Thread in Email
■ Example: Click-to-Call Like Features
■ MS Office File Upload and Import/Export (Yes, Just Like Google Docs Does)
■ Make It Compatible with PowerPoint (It’s Going to Wind Up There Anyway)
Current Efforts
● SMS (Not a true social platform, but built on concept of rolling-up data from sub communities)
● Stepping Future Leaders into professional social collaboration
○ PlatoonLeader Forum (Young Audience)
○ CompanyCommand Forum (Mid-Career Audience)
○ Orion (Senior Leader Audience)
○ MilSuite (Everyone)
** NOTEWORTHY: Google Apps for Government (now FISMA-Compliant)
OSFA | MIL-OSS WG2 | 03 AUG 2010