Interview with Carolyn Staats, Director of Innovation, Information Systems Department Sonoma County

Featuring Carolyn Staats, Director of Innovation, Information Systems Department Sonoma County in California

Summary

Carolyn Staats is the Director of the Innovation and Information Systems Department in Sonoma County in California. She has a unique story of how she got into IT, having started out with a business background and then taking IBM's training courses in RPG programming, database architecture, and system design. She learned from IBM the importance of taking the long view and designing sustainable, supportable systems that can grow with a business. She also discussed the importance of having a team-oriented approach to success. Lastly, she discussed the issue of siloed government systems and how technology can be used to help fix this problem.

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

1:12 From business to IT - Carolyn's Journey

3:27 An open-mindedness to training opened new opportunities

5:21 IBM Principles - Key Takeaways

7:22 Advice on breaking down siloed government

9:29 First Principles Approach

10:04 Private sector demonstrates business value and ROI

11:15 What’s the most common reason people don’t want to partner?

16:49 Start with one person and build consensus

22:50 Advice to vendor partners on productizing their solutions

29:15 API Solutions

31:27 Building a system one room at a time

36:57 Getting out of your own way

42:58 The $2 million federal grant Sonoma County received from the federal government

46:13 Designing a roadmap

47:43 Cross County Collaboration

50:32 Outro

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