Summary
The mere idea of interacting with the DMV or the IRS makes any of us groan. But what if a dysfunctional government service is what’s standing between you and the ability to keep your house, feed your family, or get a kidney? Hear from Marina Martin, the most recent Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, about the trials, tribulations, and ultimate successes of her team’s fight to get usable healthcare application into the hands of our nation’s Veterans. She’ll cover key tactics for leaders in bureaucracies of all sizes to prioritize and drive the end user amid regulations, red tape, and committee meetings through stories from her five years in the federal government.
Key Insights
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Despite assumptions, only 8 of 847,000 VA health care applications were submitted online before vets.gov.
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Veterans like Dominic face multiple technical barriers, including inconsistent data entry rules and incompatible PDF forms.
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Direct user engagement with veterans uncovered real pain points that brute force hiring or assumptions could not solve.
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The VA had between 564 and 1,565 separate websites with at least 12 different usernames and passwords, causing confusion.
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vets.gov consolidated disparate VA services into one user-friendly portal, enrolling 369,000 veterans instantly.
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Bridging silos between doctors and claims processors by co-creating a tailored tool sped up disability claim decisions from years to instant.
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Veterans want hearings to tell their stories locally, but informed choices show local hearings delay decisions with no impact on outcomes.
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Trying to quickly retrain large legacy IT staff in new cloud tech fails due to cultural and skill gaps, requiring measured change management.
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Working within bureaucracy and fully addressing process requirements, like security paperwork, enabled cloud adoption at the VA.
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Using a viral video of a veteran struggle can be a powerful catalyst to change entrenched institutional behavior.
Notable Quotes
"Most people think that veterans in America automatically get health care. That is not the case."
"Of the 847,000 applications, only eight people submitted them electronically before we intervened."
"Veterans don’t use the internet, they said. 20 million veterans just don’t, not online at all."
"Dominic had tried to apply 12 times and he qualified for health care, but the system kept failing him."
"Every experience at VA is broken in its own way. It is confusing."
"How you get a higher disability rating is influenced by whether you choose a local or DC hearing, but local hearings can take about four years."
"The key tactic was to lead with your users, not just complain about the UX."
"There’s a lot of opportunity in between the silos."
"You can’t just train all 16,000 IT staff on cloud tech over a weekend and expect it to stick."
"We spent years making the bureaucracy own the cloud instead of sneaking it in quietly."
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