For Lang, evaluating an agency’s needs starts by assessing its “people, processes, technology and money.”
“In any organization, you’re gonna hit all four of those,” Lang said. “Usually, within the first 30 days of taking on a leadership role, I’ll take a look at where we stand with my staff.”
For the Department of Corrections, funding is limited, according to Lang. However, when evaluating people, processes and technology, she and her team focus on the number of IT resources compared to the work that needs to be done.
“The Department of Corrections has 39,000 different devices that we support, plus 137 applications, 200 servers, 169 different projects, 250 employees, 89 institutions, around 60 probation officers and we’re tracking 150,000 inmates in probation across the state of Florida,” she said.
To manage each area, the department heavily relies on technology.
“When I’m looking at technology, I’m looking at three major categories: a presentation layer, application layer and an infrastructure layer, as well as what’s critical to the organization,” Lang said.
For instance, regarding applications, 54 of the department’s 137 apps are mission-critical and deal with inmate, officer and public safety. Of those 54 apps, the department identified 37 that were at end-of-life.
“That means if 37 applications in the state of Florida in the Department of Corrections goes down, I can’t bring it back up,” Lang said. “That means it’s public safety, inmate safety or officer safety.”
Another concern for the department is connectivity within the state’s prisons.
“There are 2,000 buildings, and of those 2,000, 1,000 are not connected,” she said. “That means an officer goes in to manage a roomful of inmates with no connectivity. That’s an officer safety issue.
“As far as prioritizing, I’m gonna look at whatever organization I’m in, look at that mission and compare it to what technology component I am responsible for and what they need to meet their mission.”
At the Florida Digital Service, Schoonover implements the following approaches to navigating his daily responsibilities as CTO:
- Patience: “I had to develop patience not only with myself but with people and technology processes. If you understand where you want to go, where you are, and you build a road map to get there, and you really lay that foundation, you’ve just got to be patient. It’s not always going to go the way that you want it to go. There are going to be resource challenges; there are going to be personnel challenges. But it’s just understanding that it takes time, especially when you’re moving a large ship, and you’re trying to pivot to maybe some sort of new direction or new vision.”
- A glass ball or a rubber ball: “Florida Digital Service is still developing. We’re growing into that role of helping facilitate the strategy for the state, so when we’ve got 100 priorities, everything’s No. 1.” However, Schoonover said, “I look at things as if they’re a glass ball or a rubber ball. What ball can you drop, and what can’t you? If you drop one of the balls, is it going to bounce back? Or is it going to break? If it’s going to break, I don’t drop that ball because breaking it means mission failure, people get hurt, we violate a law or statute, or we’ll get into big trouble. Once I make sure our core mission or responsibilities are taken care of, then I can work on other things.”
- Empower your team: “Getting the team to understand how to prioritize, mentoring them and trying to help them understand was my first role, and then delegating decision-making authority to the appropriate level. When I first took over, it was ‘Leo, can I?’ which showed me there was a very micromanaging type of thing happening where no decision was delegated to the right person. I think if you empower people and they feel that you have their back and that you’re going to give them top cover, they’re going to knock it out of the park.”
