PP 23 :: 11/16/2008 - 11/21/2008

Innovation Expo here in Hampton Roads; work with OCIT OC-5 Workgroup.

Highlights:

Coast Guard Innovation Expo

Participated in all three days at the Innovation Expo 2008 held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Primarily completed five tasks: Walked the floor to connect exhibitors and program managers; assisted in manning the Organizational Performance Consultants' booth; created and implemented a social media meet-up; assisted with a measurement breakout session; and met with the CG-0931 program manager.

Connecting exhibitors and CG program managers

The bulk of my time was spent cruising the Expo floor and looking for linkages between what the exhibitors had and what I know is going on elsewhere in the organization.

Accenture: Lean Six Sigma

Met with Lauren Amodeo, formerly of George Group which has recently been purchased by Accenture. Ensured she met with Geroge Y., Charlie C. from the LDC, and Danny P of CG-0931 as we continue to examine ways we can use LSS in the Coast Guard. Picked up four little booklets which I've put in the Amp Leadership Library (2nd shelf down, all the way to the right):

• What is Lean Six Sigma?
• Lean Six Sigma for Services: How revolutionary service organizations are adopting Lean Six Sigma
• Fast Innovation: Achieving superior differentation, speed to market, and increased profitability
• Conquering Complexity in Your Business: How Wal-Mart, Toyota, and other top companies are breaking through the ceiling on profits and growth

These superb references provide easy-to-read and understand explanations of Lean Six Sigma and how service organizations can put the power of these tools to work for increased performance.

PDQ Precision: An aqueous-waterless cleaning system for industrial facilities

Met with Max Friedheim at this booth which featured an "aqueous-waterless cleaning system." The system is in use at the ALC, and I could see direct applicability and benefit at our various other industrial facilities. Information at minimaxcleaner.com. This system has been approved by the EPA as an acceptable "substitute for ozone-depleting substances" for uses including metal cleaning, electronics cleaning, and precision cleaning (as noted in the Federal Register, 71(188).

Sent email to Mark D., industrial program manager at MLCA (mds), giving him a heads-up on this product which the industrial facilities could use.

IBM and the new Coast Guard Portal

Spent several hours with the IBM/Portal exhibitors, including RADM Erol Brown (Ret) testing the new software and offering suggestions for the roll-out of the Portal. Of note, IBM products will be powering the new Coast Guard Portal which will provide the ability for Coast Guard members to create and use blogs, wikis, discussion forums, feed readers, announcements, and calendars. One substantial problem with the Coast Guard's implementation of the Portal is that the Coast Guard has not purchased the product which allows users to create professional Facebook-like pages which would aid in expertise location within the Coast Guard. I lobbied with members of CG-635 and the IBM staff to go back to the well about the purchase of this product. Without the user-page product, the Portal will not be a complete KM solution and will actually be worse than the current systems available in CG Central and Intelink with regard to expertise location. The CG-1B sponsored social network analysis conducted in FY07 of several sectors showed that expertise location was vitally important in the quick-moving culture we currently operate in.

Picked up for review Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government, and excellent overview of the use of social media and Web 2.0 tools in government in order to improve performance. This reference is available on Scribd. Also picked up a copy of The New Language of Business: SOA & Web 2.0.

AMVER and D13 Public Affairs

AMVER and D13 Public Affairs are both strong, emerging users of social media for official uses. Spent time with PAC Paul R. of D13 and Ben S. of AMVER comparing notes and learning about additional uses of social media & Web 2.0 tools.

APQC

Discussed, with Suzi Bruin, the possibility of getting an APQC knowledge management expert to speak at the Coast Guard Knowledge Management Summit in February. Also discussed the proposal I submitted to present at the APQC Knowledge Management Conference in May.

CDM

Met briefly with Jay Manik, formerly the MLCA (mds) industrial program manager and an OPC client, who is now an associate with CDM.

Evergreen: Creating and Sustaining Strategic Intent in the Coast Guard

Discovered that finally HQ has put together a white paper about Evergreen. The paper is available here at CG Central. The paper is also available at Google Base and on Scribd. This paper ought to be required reading for anyone interested in the strategic positioning of the Coast Guard. Updated list of guiding documents.

Kongsberg: Protector Remote Weapon Station

While there may have been other vendors with "remote weapons stations," this product by Kongsberg is the one that jumped out at me.

A CWO (BOSN) at the Boat Forces Center at Yorktown has been looking into the possibility of remote weapons for the RB-S platform. The current set-up, with manned crew-served weapons on the bow of the RB-S is less than satisfactory. We have had one fatality of a weapons operator in a non-urgent environment. Unofficial weapons testing show an accuracy rate of manned RB-S weapons at less than 30% metal on target. Clearly, there is a need for an effective remote weapons system for the RB-S and, perhaps, other platforms (such as the RB-M). Forwarded vendor handouts to BOSN Andrea C. at the BFC.

FutureThink: Innovation

One of the sponsors of the Expo was FutureThink, an innovation research and consulting firm. FutureThink offers a catalog of innovation research and tools, along with training services to turn innovation into action. Interesting stuff, and the chair of the Innovation Council (also the office chief at CG-0931) recommended the materials from this vendor. I still need to sort through the wealth of handouts collected from this very unique exhibitor.

Organizational Performance Consultants' booth

Staffed the booth for four hours over the course of the three days. Answered questions; networked with past, current, and future clients; made and served dozens of batches of popcorn.

Measurement Summit Update

Helped host the Measurement Summit Update, a follow-on to our very successful summit held last November in San Antonio, TX. Ten people participated in this update session. George Y. has the lead on follow-on for this event.

Intelink/Social Media Meet-Up

Thirty Coasties, including Admiral Allen and three other flag officers, attended this break-out session, Intelink/Social Media Meet-Up. The session followed, fairly accurately, the proposed agenda. In addition, Admiral Allen addressed the group for about ten or fifteen minutes talking about social media, the Coast Guard's use of social media, and his own experiences with social media.

One of the outcomes from this session was the establishment of a Google Group focused on CG social media.

Future look:

Next week is Thanksgiving. Planning on being in the office, catching up.

Summary for this reporting period

• Hours Worked: 40.0
• Billable hours/direct client work: 24.0

While this entry is dated 11/21, it was not posted until 12/2.