Possible? What Were Your Main Priorities within the First Hundred Days in the Secretary Role? How Did You Manage to Retain the Focus on the Strategy Delivery, as You Went Along? What Were Your Methods to Really Get Agencies On Board for Such an Aggressive Transformation Program? You Already Spoke about Adding Some Specific Skills to the Team, but How Did You Build Out the Team Overall? Where Did You Find the Skills and Talent From, and How Did You Lure Them Over to Work with You? Who Were Your Most Valuable Hires? What Routines Did You Use to Manage the Team? Did You Also Have Some Regular Routines with Outside Stakeholders? What Were Your Principles of Leadership? What Slogans or Sayings Did You Repeat to the Team? How Did You Build These Principles into a Team Culture? What Was the Hardest Part of Your Job? In Your Time on the Job, What Do You Think Were Your Failures? What Do You Consider Your Achievements in the Role? What Is Still Left on the Table as Next Challenges for Brazilian Digital Government? What Made You Move On from the Job in Autumn 2021? What Did You Do to Make Your Initiatives and the Change Last? To Sum Up, What Do You Think Are the Skills Necessary to Do This Kind of Job Well? What Are Your Key Takeaways from Your Time as the Digital Government Leader? Your Three Recommendations to Any Peer Doing the Same Job? Notes
22 CHAPTER 14: Mike Bracken How Did You Become a Digital Government Leader in the UK? In Addition to Honor, What Was Your Motivation or the Reason behind Such a Thought? Why So and What Were Your Hesitations? You Came in Knowing the Hardships; What Were Your Conditions for Taking the Job? What Task or Expectation Did Politicians Give You for the Role? If That Was the Case, What Sort of Ambition or Objective Did You Set for Yourself? Did You Set Yourself Any Concrete Objectives, Too? I Know You Have Considered the First Hundred Days to Be Crucial When You Start in a Leadership Role Because That Is When You Will Be the Fastest. What Was Your Plan for Your Hundred Days? What Were the Priorities of Your Work from Then Onwards? Did the Departmental CIOs Ever Stick Around? How Did You Change the Supplier Scene? How Did You Build Your Team? How Did You Convince People to Join You? What Kind of Culture Were You Trying to Have in the Team? What Slogans or Mottos Did You Push for the Team Again and Again in This Regard? What Were the Other Ways You Reinforced the Culture? What Steps Did You Take to Empower This Awesome Team to Deliver at Its Best? How Did the Political Relationships Work Out for You? What Were Your Failures or Things You Regret? Could You Have Avoided Your Own Exhaustion? Do You Think You Managed to Instill Some Culture Change in Civil Service At-Large, Like You Set Out to Do? You Said That You Knew from the Start There Was Going to Be Pushback and Struggles Ahead. Did You Start Doing Something Very Consciously to Make Sure That What You Are Starting Would Last? What Was the Push That Made You Leave after All? Would You Ever Take This Job Again? What Are the Skills Necessary to Do This Sort of Job Well? What Are Your Bottom-Line Three Recommendations from a Leadership Point of View for Anyone Doing a Similar Job? What Does It Take to Achieve Excellence in Something Like the GDS and Your Work? Notes
23 CHAPTER 15: Pedro Silva Dias How Did You Enter the Digital Government Leadership Role in Portugal? Did You Have Any Hesitations for Joining the Government? Did You Have Any Conditions for Taking the Role? You Said That the Minister's Vision Was Key—What Was the Objective He Set for You and Expected You to Deliver? What Was the Digital Government Situation Like Otherwise at That Time in Portugal? What Milestones Did You Set Yourself at the Beginning in Your Role? What Was Your Method for Learning Really Fast, as You Set Out to Do This as the Very First Thing? What Was Your Method for Rapidly Building Up the Relationships? What Did the Strategy You Came Up With Look Like? What Was Its Time Horizon? This Is a Wide Agenda—How Did You Choose Where to Focus or What to Prioritize? How Did You Sequence the Actions?