Page 3 - DRIVES Newsletter October 24 Issue 2 2019

• What do you think is the biggest challenge on a project this size?

Communication and the struggle with assumptions, rumors, and misinformation. Team members working on the
implementation need facts and specifics, the agency needs information on changes and impacts of processes that may
need to change – sometimes these are at odds. Sometimes we assume we hear what we think we wanted to hear.
Sometimes, we assume the communication happened when it was not transmitted or received. Sometimes, we
challenge the information and that challenge is seen as a challenge to the expertise of the individual – we need to make
clear the reasons for the questions to get the right answers. Our biggest challenge is to ensure we can all ask the tough
questions and get good answers while working together as a team to be successful, not only for this project’s rollout
but for many years to come.

• What skill-set do you think is most important for members of the DRIVES team to possess?

Flexibility and adaptability. FAST projects are different. Our projects methodology works much differently than any
other project methodology. We will configure, evaluate, change, test, adapt, configure, evaluate, test to ensure what
we are configuring meets not simply a written requirement but a true business need. Members of the DRIVES Team
will need patience coupled with an ability to objectively evaluate everything. Throw out assumptions and test with a
critical eye and be ready for change.

• Favorite food or restaurant?

C-food. If I see it… No really, I am not all that picky, but I do like all kinds of food and I like to experience local
restaurants over chain-restaurants.

• What do you do for fun when you’re away from the office?

I am trying to learn Italian and I have a ukulele that gets some attention (when I know my neighbors are not home.) I try
to get back to Mississippi at least once per month to strike things off my wife’s “honey-do” list. I don’t have cable TV,
but I do have the ability to watch Netflix, MLB Baseball, and Prime on my Apple TV.

• Favorite movie, TV show, or book?

My Kindle app is full of all kinds of books on many different topics, but I am always on the lookout for books on
leadership and management. One I read recently I would like to recommend: “It’s your Ship: Management Techniques
from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy.” Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. And the latest books from Andrew Mayne.

• What is on the top of your Bucket List?

o Scheduling my FAST Pause – a benefit Fasties receive after 4 years – I haven’t taken one yet.
o Living together with my wife again sometime very soon (she is still in Mississippi with my daughter and my

four grandchildren).
o Being trained to be a powered para-glider pilot
o Establishing my own apiary on my own land