Taking the right risks: How to be a digital government leader

When it comes to championing famously complicated digital transformation projects at the federal level, there are few incentives for public service leaders to do things differently.

In fact, in light of several head-line grabbing digital service failures, there is significant pressure for leaders to double down on the status quo, continuing to work in project-based, waterfall methodologies and with vendors who cannot deliver the modern digital services Canadians deserve.

But, as many digital champions know, the greater risk comes from continuing to work this way, which all but guarantees future service failures and front-page news mistakes. That’s why Brandon Lee, Director General, Grants & Contributions Transformation, Global Affairs Canada (GAC), has chosen to embark on a first-of-its-kind digital transformation project, working with Code for Canada to bring his team into the future of modern digital ways of working.

In this keynote conversation, Brandon and Code for Canada CEO Dorothy Eng will discuss the barriers to choosing to champion this work, what can be done to address them, and why having a leader at Brandon’s level decide to embrace this transformation is so critical for shifting the way the federal government delivers digital services.