#210 The Government Transformation That Created Australia’s Top Analytics Leader, with Brad Petry, the Executive Director – Operations, Insights, and Digital Channels at the Department of Jobs

This week on the Data Futurology podcast, we have the special privilege of talking to the top analytics leader in Australia, according to IAPA (the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia).

Brad Petry, the Executive Director – Operations, Insights, and Digital Channels at the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions in the Victorian Government, was awarded this accolade for his work in leveraging AI and machine learning to overcome biases in the recruitment process. He spends time on the podcast this week talking about what that means for the department, and the implications it has for recruitment more broadly.

Over the past 18 months Petry has been driving a digital transformation program across the department, something that has been made even more challenging because it has happened through the pandemic and because the data that he and his team handle is needed on a daily basis. There was no room for downtime or mistakes while the transformation was executed.

At the same time, there was an enormous opportunity within the department to leverage automation and AI with data – in many cases for the first time – to improve the reliability of the data and productivity across the department.

As Petry says, the key to success is to remember that it’s the data that’s the important element, rather than the software or context that the data is held and analysed within. “When we started, we said to ourselves that the thing we knew, and what was going to persist, was the data,” he said. “The technology and programs will come and go, but the data is something that will always will always be there and everything comes back to the data.”

For a deep dive on driving a transformation agenda with data, tune in to this week’s podcast!

Enjoy the show!

Thank you to our sponsor, Talent Insights Group!

Connect with Brad  https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-petry/

See Brad’s presentation at Scaling AI with MLOPS:  https://www.datafuturology.com/mlops

Join our Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/datafuturologycircle/shared_invite/zt-z19cq4eq-ET6O49o2uySgvQWjM6a5ng

“When you start to showcase these great innovations that you’re doing, and people go, that’s magic, that’s amazing. How do you do that? I can’t believe it, they start to get curious and interested in what you do, which has been really beneficial for us.”

— Brad Petry, the Executive Director – Operations, Insights, and Digital Channels at the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions

WHAT WE DISCUSSED

00:00 Introducing Brad Petry, executive director of operations insights and digital channels at the Department of Jobs and Regions.

3:42 What’s your current role?

5:23  What are some of the benefits you are seeing of integrating tech, data analytics operations closer together?

8:19 How is the OCR model is being used in areas of the business?

16:26  What types of things are critical to get right or have in place early when starting the digital transformation journey?

20:05 The importance of bringing in good technical people early on.

28:12 What are the leadership requirements to drive change in organisations?

32:24 What can we expect to hear from you at the MLOPs Conference in Melbourne next month?

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• We didn't have a strategy then right, we were just thinking tactically, and didn't have a roadmap. When we started, we were like, okay, the thing we know that's going to persist at the end of all this is the data, right? The technology will come and go, the program will come and go, but the data is something that will always will always be there. I always remember that being something that one of my former bosses, and mentors did say to me that everything comes back atomically to the data, that the data is key.

• One of the things that I reflect on that has been really valuable was having good technical people and bringing them in very early on. It's very easy to get too caught up in what you have to do today, and not focused enough on what you need to do tomorrow.

• We've set ourselves a pretty big ambition, or I have for the team, which says, we don't compare ourselves to government. That's not a thing that we want to do. The measure we have of success is that we do things in our area, that people outside of government look out and say, Wow, that's really innovative, that's really interesting, you know, how do you do that, and you get asked, hey maybe we can collaborate on a project together, because what you're doing here, to play around healthcare, and the work that you do, is directly relevant to something else.

• I often had joked to staff in the past that when people like Google come poaching you and big tech companies want to poach you into their organisations, I feel like I've done my job appropriately, because you've got the requisite skills that make you appealing and attractive to companies who I look at and think, wow, you're doing the leading and bleeding edge stuff.

• Sometimes you have to agitate. A lot of the times you're doing things that are different, and that are maybe not things that the organisation is familiar with, or comfortable doing. And so, a lot of times you'll be making decisions and trying to do things and pushing people into areas where they feel uncomfortable and it's making sure that people are brought on that journey.

• I've been very fortunate, and I'm still fortunate to have really great leaders around me that support me, but also provide great mentorship and thinking about my journey, and where I am now, this is one of the best jobs I've had in my career, right.

• It's been possible because I've had people around me that are willing to give their time to me to help me understand what being a leader means outside of a technical craft, but also making sure that I've got good technical mentors that helped me stay, stay close to the technical aspects of the work on the tools as much as I'd like to be in the team get annoyed when I start digging into the environment and start playing around with that. Because that's fun, right? 

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