Host Intro (Gene Kim)

Thank you, Ben.

So some of the industry verticals that probably have the most reason to say it can't be done here are within the intelligence agencies and in the US Department of Defense.

For that reason, I have been so awed and amazed that incredible technology leaders from these communities have presented their amazing and heroic stories here, such as Technical Director Virginia Laurenzano from the US National Security Agency; Adam Furtado, Branch Chief from US Air Force Kessel Run, co-presenting with US Air Force CIO Ms. Lauren Knausenberger; and earlier this year in Las Vegas, we heard from Lieutenant Colonel Max Reele, also from US Air Force Kessel Run, presenting on our findings after studying over 30 of the software factories across the US DoD, trying to figure out what made some succeed while others struggled. And the answer was because some are organized to succeed.

We also heard the amazing story from US Navy Captain Andy Bean, who described the amazing work he helped lead changing how software is upgraded to US Aegis systems on ships at sea, which before required ships to undergo major overhaul, which happened once every five to eight years and involved cutting through steel bulkheads so they could remove the computers to upgrade them. And we also heard from former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson describing how all this work is needed to win the future fight.

So last year, we also heard from Andy Nicklin from the UK Ministry of Defence, who presented, among other things, how they were supporting important humanitarian activities such as providing early warning systems to civilian populations at risk in Ukraine, so they can better seek safety, and coordinating humanitarian and refugee support resources for those Ukrainians.

So our next speaker is Captain Jay Long, a reservist in the US Army. We worked together on the Organizing for Success paper along with Max Reele and team, and I'm so delighted that he'll be talking about what he's been doing to help enable talented people to help with some of the most important humanitarian and societal problems that affect national security. Here's Jay.

Jay Long

Thanks, Gene. Hello. My name is Jay Long, and I'm a captain and innovation officer in the US Army Reserve.

I got an opportunity to work with Lieutenant Colonel Max Reele from Kessel Run in the US Air Force on the Organizing for Success paper that he presented in Las Vegas two months ago.

And I've been lucky enough to partner with many other fantastic technologists leading innovation projects with the US government's software community. One of the things that we all talked about was access to technology talent. We all complain about the same things: too few talented technologists, the difficulty of competing with industry, and barriers to best employing digital experts. I'm not here to talk about those problems. After all, those are our challenges, not yours. Although I suspect that recruiting and retaining talent is one of your top problems, too.

What I'm here to talk about is an emerging opportunity to work with government teams tackling wicked problems, like fighting the rising tide of authoritarianism or responding humanitarian challenges across the globe.

You heard Gene describe some of the humanitarian activities that so many military services have been working on over the last year. During that period I've had the privilege of working to create civilian-military partnerships that allow technologists to transform how our military responds to the current torrent of crises facing the United States and our NATO allies.

Gene asked me to share more about what I've been working on, some of the progress we've made, and ways to get involved.

Our challenge is building software at the speed needed to win in chaotic environments. Unfortunately, agility inside the defense ecosystem remains a work in progress. While much is being done to enhance the speed and agility of defense acquisitions, success cannot be achieved until software development becomes an organic capability.

Consequently, senior defense leaders have started to borrow best practices from Silicon Valley to form an ecosystem of digital transformation efforts, like the Air Force's Kessel Run and the Army Software Factory. While these programs are an incredible step forward, the scale of the problem confronting military leaders requires ever more innovative approaches to recruiting and empowering digital talent.

But nestled within this challenge of building a digital force at scale is an incredible opportunity. If we can import best practices from the private sector like gig platforms and open source software development, we can connect the right talent to emerging problems in real time. Even more compelling, it maximizes the impact of those already in service.

That opportunity starts with you, the reservists and National Guardsmen in the audience, and the tech leaders out there with reservists and Guardsmen on their teams. I know the idea of bringing digital talent practices into the military may seem like a stretch, but I'd like to share a story with you that shows how we've already started and where we need your help.

Over the last year, we ran a number of pilots within the Special Operations community that offer evidence that we already have much of the talent we need to make disruptive digital talent models work. As part of these pilots, teams inside the US Special Operations Command began experimenting with gig marketplaces to accelerate software development.

For those of you who don't know, the Special Operations community is uniquely suited to running these types of experiments. You may have heard about some of them in the fantastic book Team of Teams.

We began these experiments to correct a talent demand mismatch. As commanders saw how technology can enhance mission outcomes, demand for technology grew. Unfortunately, the organic digital talent population did not. If we cannot create new pathways to harness digital talent, we've failed to meet mission requirements.

Luckily, we found a place with tons of digital talent: the US military's Reserve and National Guard community. Across the country, members of these communities work in some of America's most elite technology organizations. For too long, reservists have struggled to use these skills in uniform because few military projects use gig and open source methods.

Our pilot opportunities leveraged talented reservists across the joint force in this capacity for the first time ever. In turn, many of these reservist National Guard personnel were thrilled by the opportunity to use their drill periods to support mission-critical digital projects.

Within the first year alone, we saved hundreds of thousands of dollars and accelerated the speed of some of our software projects by over 50%.

In some cases we achieved operational effects within hours, often for free, as reservists contributed to these projects from home.

Many service members on these projects also reported enhanced work engagement, which translated to retention and boosted readiness because they can now bring their digital expertise to national service.

The progress we've made is exciting, and it's been rewarding for me personally to work on this program. But in my opinion, we are only beginning to explore the art of the possible. So Gene asked me for the help I'm looking for.

As technology leaders, you likely have reservists and National Guard personnel on your teams that are already in uniform and often hungry for opportunities to maximize the mission impact of their digital skills. If you care about issues, like fighting the rising tide of authoritarianism or enhancing our capacity to respond to humanitarian challenges across the globe, and you want to move the needle on some of those problems, we now have a program designed to utilize the digital talent in your organization today.

For the first time there are opportunities to replace traditional Reserve activities that, while important, do not need skilled software engineers to execute, like elementary military skills training or basic field maneuvers. Instead, we can gather them, use their unique skills to tackle some of the most wicked problems in national security from anywhere in the country, and do it from home.

As a service member myself, I can share there's nothing more fulfilling than using the expertise and experience gained in the private sector to support America's key missions and security challenges.

So if you're in service or have reservists in your organization, I'd love for you to find me. Please DM me on Slack. I'm Jay Long. Or check out the registration link in the show notes to get more information about this unique pilot. Thank you for your time, and looking forward to working with you soon.