1 00:00:00,199 --> 00:00:02,190 I think the most daunting of all of 2 00:00:02,190 --> 00:00:04,840 that was the website. And we had no 3 00:00:04,898 --> 00:00:07,287 idea how much volume we were gonna get 4 00:00:07,287 --> 00:00:09,372 on the first day. We were asked to 5 00:00:09,372 --> 00:00:12,181 prepare for about a million an hour, and 6 00:00:12,477 --> 00:00:14,388 I kind of did the back math, and 7 00:00:14,547 --> 00:00:17,117 I just quickly said, you know, it's free 8 00:00:17,349 --> 00:00:19,819 it's open to the whole nation. Test gets 9 00:00:19,819 --> 00:00:23,087 us scarce. Covid is rampant. There's no way 10 00:00:23,087 --> 00:00:24,840 it's only gonna be a million an hour. 11 00:00:26,770 --> 00:00:29,005 Welcome to activation. I'm your host peter eye. 12 00:00:29,325 --> 00:00:31,799 My guest today is P mara. Pre is 13 00:00:31,799 --> 00:00:34,848 the chief information officer and executive vice President 14 00:00:34,848 --> 00:00:37,405 of the United States postal service or Usps, 15 00:00:37,805 --> 00:00:39,563 a role she's held for a bit more 16 00:00:39,563 --> 00:00:40,602 than 3 and a half years. 17 00:00:41,401 --> 00:00:43,652 She's worked at the Us Ps for 34 18 00:00:43,652 --> 00:00:46,606 years in total. As Cio, Pre oversees 1 19 00:00:46,606 --> 00:00:47,984 of the world's largest technology 20 00:00:48,362 --> 00:00:51,896 infrastructures with 5 national deployments and solution centers 21 00:00:52,289 --> 00:00:55,800 32000 network locations, 20000 servers and more than 22 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:56,699 930 23 00:00:56,837 --> 00:00:58,673 applications on more than a hundred and 80000 24 00:00:58,673 --> 00:01:01,154 devices, processing more than a hundred and 10 25 00:01:01,154 --> 00:01:02,821 pet of data per year. 26 00:01:03,535 --> 00:01:07,369 Pre focused on modernizing the Usps ecosystem, platform 27 00:01:07,519 --> 00:01:09,437 a network to meet the demands of an 28 00:01:09,437 --> 00:01:11,695 increasingly competitive market environment 29 00:01:12,074 --> 00:01:15,131 overseeing a network that supports 640000 30 00:01:15,191 --> 00:01:15,670 employees. 31 00:01:16,244 --> 00:01:18,790 And the delivery of a hundred and 27000000000 32 00:01:18,790 --> 00:01:21,098 pieces of mail per year. I look forward 33 00:01:21,098 --> 00:01:23,587 to hearing more about the transformation she's leading 34 00:01:23,739 --> 00:01:26,357 through this conversation. Pre the welcome to techno 35 00:01:26,357 --> 00:01:28,023 innovation. It's great to speak with you today. 36 00:01:28,499 --> 00:01:31,530 Thank you, Peter. It's a remarkable scale as 37 00:01:31,689 --> 00:01:33,435 I was just just referring to and I'm 38 00:01:33,435 --> 00:01:35,499 looking forward to understanding how you and the 39 00:01:35,499 --> 00:01:37,483 team, grapple with all of that and indeed 40 00:01:37,483 --> 00:01:39,229 modernize it along the way as well. But 41 00:01:39,309 --> 00:01:41,576 I I think every, at least American listening 42 00:01:41,794 --> 00:01:44,107 would, have some familiarity with the 43 00:01:44,665 --> 00:01:44,984 Usps. 44 00:01:45,702 --> 00:01:47,696 Any aspect of the organization you'd highlight is 45 00:01:47,696 --> 00:01:50,185 perhaps less understood facets of what you all 46 00:01:50,185 --> 00:01:50,344 do. 47 00:01:51,625 --> 00:01:54,024 Oh, I guess there must be several that. 48 00:01:54,344 --> 00:01:56,984 You know? So 1 is we're a 250 49 00:01:56,984 --> 00:01:57,564 year old 50 00:01:57,944 --> 00:01:58,185 institution. 51 00:01:59,079 --> 00:02:00,913 And, you know, of course, you see or 52 00:02:00,913 --> 00:02:02,748 carry on the street. And everyone knows that. 53 00:02:03,147 --> 00:02:04,742 I don't know if everyone knows that we 54 00:02:04,742 --> 00:02:07,236 deliver to a hundred and 67000000 55 00:02:07,294 --> 00:02:09,625 addresses in the country. So we cover every 56 00:02:09,625 --> 00:02:10,665 state, every town. 57 00:02:11,944 --> 00:02:13,165 And, of course, that 58 00:02:13,544 --> 00:02:15,145 everyone pays the same price 59 00:02:15,705 --> 00:02:17,713 for a first class mail stamp, you know, 60 00:02:17,873 --> 00:02:20,444 from point a to point b. Right? And 61 00:02:20,661 --> 00:02:22,971 we process over 44 62 00:02:22,971 --> 00:02:26,009 percent. Up the world's mail, and that's pretty 63 00:02:26,009 --> 00:02:26,168 big. 64 00:02:27,362 --> 00:02:29,452 1 of the things that people don't generally 65 00:02:29,509 --> 00:02:30,360 know is that 66 00:02:31,594 --> 00:02:34,304 we're an independent agency of the executive branch. 67 00:02:34,543 --> 00:02:35,043 So 68 00:02:35,578 --> 00:02:36,636 we we 69 00:02:37,252 --> 00:02:39,722 are required to operate like a business. We 70 00:02:39,722 --> 00:02:40,254 don't get 71 00:02:41,333 --> 00:02:44,290 appropriation. We engage in both the competitive parcel 72 00:02:44,290 --> 00:02:47,087 business as well as a non competitive mail 73 00:02:47,087 --> 00:02:47,587 services. 74 00:02:48,446 --> 00:02:51,409 And so really in the parcel space, we 75 00:02:51,409 --> 00:02:52,306 face fierce 76 00:02:52,679 --> 00:02:55,061 competition, and, you know, so we are self 77 00:02:55,061 --> 00:02:55,379 sustaining. 78 00:02:56,173 --> 00:02:56,649 And 79 00:02:57,443 --> 00:03:00,252 we have we're a retail giant. We have 80 00:03:00,252 --> 00:03:01,691 over 33000 81 00:03:01,691 --> 00:03:04,109 post offices, so we are larger than 82 00:03:04,967 --> 00:03:08,098 subway and Mcdonald's and all of that. Right? 83 00:03:08,736 --> 00:03:09,236 And 84 00:03:10,810 --> 00:03:13,123 on the technology side, you you set it. 85 00:03:13,362 --> 00:03:14,102 We have 86 00:03:14,798 --> 00:03:16,654 1 of the world's largest technology 87 00:03:17,111 --> 00:03:18,665 infrastructures we process 88 00:03:19,125 --> 00:03:21,205 over a hundred and 15 terabytes of of 89 00:03:21,205 --> 00:03:21,605 data. 90 00:03:22,085 --> 00:03:25,224 We have, you know, 5 solution centers, 91 00:03:25,605 --> 00:03:26,460 lots and lots of 92 00:03:27,134 --> 00:03:28,007 applications. So, yeah. 93 00:03:28,722 --> 00:03:29,118 We're big. 94 00:03:30,706 --> 00:03:32,690 Indeed, indeed that that is surely the case. 95 00:03:32,928 --> 00:03:35,168 I I wanted to also ask you to 96 00:03:35,168 --> 00:03:37,157 provide a bit of an overview as to 97 00:03:37,157 --> 00:03:39,304 your role as chief information officer. What's within 98 00:03:39,304 --> 00:03:40,100 your purview, please? 99 00:03:41,228 --> 00:03:41,704 So 100 00:03:42,578 --> 00:03:44,642 you know, I'm gonna start by giving you 101 00:03:44,642 --> 00:03:46,706 our mission statement because I think it's really 102 00:03:46,706 --> 00:03:49,182 cool. We came up with it, like, 4 103 00:03:49,182 --> 00:03:51,648 years ago and it's still very relevant, and 104 00:03:51,648 --> 00:03:54,671 it's a very elegant 1. So... And it 105 00:03:54,671 --> 00:03:57,557 goes like this. It like we create business 106 00:03:57,557 --> 00:03:58,057 value 107 00:03:58,596 --> 00:04:01,552 through an adaptive talent rich workforce, 108 00:04:02,510 --> 00:04:03,744 inspired by compost 109 00:04:04,118 --> 00:04:08,491 technologies that drive innovative solutions, build insights and 110 00:04:08,491 --> 00:04:11,036 since the future. That's our mission statement. 111 00:04:11,449 --> 00:04:13,920 And my role, well, you know, 112 00:04:14,638 --> 00:04:17,131 we had that my group heads the technology 113 00:04:17,349 --> 00:04:18,088 out of this 114 00:04:18,465 --> 00:04:20,793 organization. And by now I sure you might 115 00:04:20,793 --> 00:04:22,947 have heard of the delivering for America plan, 116 00:04:23,825 --> 00:04:25,899 which was drawn up by Lewis Joy our 117 00:04:25,899 --> 00:04:27,038 post master general, 118 00:04:27,829 --> 00:04:30,780 3 years ago. And it's really a very 119 00:04:30,780 --> 00:04:33,173 exciting time to be a Cio because there's 120 00:04:33,173 --> 00:04:34,550 a lot of investment 121 00:04:35,406 --> 00:04:38,528 in the growth of our business. So we 122 00:04:38,528 --> 00:04:39,504 have been modernizing 123 00:04:40,036 --> 00:04:42,814 everything. So, you know, 1 of my mission 124 00:04:42,814 --> 00:04:46,410 critical strategies is to modernize our mission critical 125 00:04:47,036 --> 00:04:48,784 ecosystems and platforms. So, 126 00:04:49,419 --> 00:04:50,213 I mean, literally, 127 00:04:50,610 --> 00:04:51,349 we're modernizing 128 00:04:51,722 --> 00:04:55,137 payroll and visibility and data and logistics and 129 00:04:55,137 --> 00:04:55,955 fleet management 130 00:04:57,142 --> 00:05:00,492 customer engagement platforms, which to me is very 131 00:05:00,492 --> 00:05:03,783 critical. So that's 1 of our primary roles 132 00:05:03,921 --> 00:05:07,682 and very heavily involved in Saas because we 133 00:05:07,682 --> 00:05:10,069 don't want to build anything that's beautiful out 134 00:05:10,069 --> 00:05:10,967 there. So, 135 00:05:11,343 --> 00:05:13,435 you know, so that's that. So 136 00:05:14,619 --> 00:05:17,158 data is another very key strategy of ours. 137 00:05:17,475 --> 00:05:20,014 We want to really maximize the value of 138 00:05:20,014 --> 00:05:22,370 data as a strategic asset for the postal 139 00:05:22,489 --> 00:05:25,828 service and really use data to drive value. 140 00:05:26,226 --> 00:05:26,782 So, you know, 141 00:05:27,895 --> 00:05:29,429 mission excellence across 142 00:05:29,963 --> 00:05:31,169 logistics processing, 143 00:05:31,566 --> 00:05:31,963 delivery, 144 00:05:32,915 --> 00:05:36,749 and, of course, customer product solution. So data 145 00:05:37,122 --> 00:05:38,154 is huge for us. 146 00:05:39,599 --> 00:05:42,465 Of course, we also manage the infrastructure and 147 00:05:42,465 --> 00:05:44,877 the telecom network. And we're also modernizing 148 00:05:45,253 --> 00:05:45,571 that. 149 00:05:46,208 --> 00:05:49,411 We're actually replacing our entire telecom network with 150 00:05:49,411 --> 00:05:50,630 a highly redundant 151 00:05:51,646 --> 00:05:55,078 system that's highly performing with with capacity for 152 00:05:55,078 --> 00:05:58,382 growth. 0 trust on the cyber side. We 153 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:02,181 cyber is very critical and everyone owns security 154 00:06:02,181 --> 00:06:04,981 in our organization. We've done a lot to 155 00:06:04,981 --> 00:06:07,285 really promote security first. 156 00:06:08,079 --> 00:06:09,906 The cis group used to be the most 157 00:06:09,906 --> 00:06:10,406 hated 158 00:06:10,939 --> 00:06:11,178 organization. 159 00:06:11,828 --> 00:06:12,780 Across the Cio, 160 00:06:13,415 --> 00:06:14,525 but not anymore. 161 00:06:15,477 --> 00:06:18,334 Everyone realizes how essential they are, and they've 162 00:06:18,334 --> 00:06:20,055 really matured in their practice 163 00:06:20,574 --> 00:06:21,394 and in their 164 00:06:21,935 --> 00:06:24,175 incident management and in their, you know, 165 00:06:25,214 --> 00:06:25,954 detection capability. 166 00:06:26,334 --> 00:06:29,467 So we are very, very heavily involved in 167 00:06:29,467 --> 00:06:31,624 setting up a 0 trust environment and we 168 00:06:31,624 --> 00:06:33,722 do use those frameworks pretty 169 00:06:34,101 --> 00:06:34,601 vigorously. 170 00:06:36,033 --> 00:06:36,910 And then, of course, 171 00:06:38,026 --> 00:06:39,085 we want to 172 00:06:39,781 --> 00:06:40,738 really make 173 00:06:41,695 --> 00:06:42,014 workforce, 174 00:06:43,050 --> 00:06:46,252 really do everything we can for promoting workforce 175 00:06:46,252 --> 00:06:46,752 productivity 176 00:06:47,207 --> 00:06:50,094 whether it's enabling the workforce with a mobile 177 00:06:50,230 --> 00:06:50,469 device, 178 00:06:51,105 --> 00:06:52,003 engineering the 179 00:06:52,793 --> 00:06:55,026 environments for the for the workforce. 180 00:06:55,584 --> 00:06:58,057 So that that is also a critical strategy. 181 00:06:58,216 --> 00:07:00,450 And then 1, that's my favorite is of 182 00:07:00,450 --> 00:07:01,907 course, creating a really 183 00:07:02,699 --> 00:07:05,360 digitally, dexter next generation Cio 184 00:07:05,660 --> 00:07:08,379 workforce because, you know, that is really the 185 00:07:08,379 --> 00:07:10,240 key to a legacy is 186 00:07:10,620 --> 00:07:11,120 just 187 00:07:11,832 --> 00:07:12,548 promoting that, 188 00:07:13,503 --> 00:07:14,003 curiosity 189 00:07:14,457 --> 00:07:15,276 around technology, 190 00:07:15,810 --> 00:07:17,560 which I think is very critical. 191 00:07:18,609 --> 00:07:20,354 Or like that digitally dexter, 192 00:07:21,386 --> 00:07:23,529 great great turner phrase and and appreciate that 193 00:07:23,529 --> 00:07:25,671 broader context stuff as to what you and 194 00:07:25,671 --> 00:07:27,834 your team do. Well, you you send it 195 00:07:27,834 --> 00:07:28,394 to your role, 196 00:07:29,035 --> 00:07:31,754 just a few months into the Covid pandemic. 197 00:07:32,074 --> 00:07:33,834 And I've read a bit about the remarkable 198 00:07:33,834 --> 00:07:36,908 role that the Usps plate during the pandemic 199 00:07:36,967 --> 00:07:39,282 ensuring that Covid tests were shipped in a 200 00:07:39,282 --> 00:07:41,278 timely fashion. Can you talk a bit about 201 00:07:41,278 --> 00:07:43,593 the the role your organization play to help 202 00:07:43,593 --> 00:07:44,231 me that challenge? 203 00:07:45,524 --> 00:07:47,122 Yeah. And IIII 204 00:07:47,122 --> 00:07:49,759 say Kudos to, lewis joy for this 1 205 00:07:49,759 --> 00:07:52,316 the post mass channel, when White House approached 206 00:07:52,316 --> 00:07:54,646 him. I think it was Christmas of 20 207 00:07:54,646 --> 00:07:57,118 21 and said that they wanted to deliver 208 00:07:57,118 --> 00:07:59,830 these test throughout the nation. They wanted to 209 00:07:59,830 --> 00:08:00,787 start in 3 weeks. 210 00:08:01,585 --> 00:08:03,314 Literally, I got a phone call on the 211 00:08:03,434 --> 00:08:05,348 20 sixth of December. I never forget this. 212 00:08:05,588 --> 00:08:08,082 And and he I was asked to 213 00:08:08,539 --> 00:08:09,916 set up an ordering 214 00:08:10,373 --> 00:08:12,846 website for the nation in 3 weeks. 215 00:08:13,819 --> 00:08:16,296 Now, we've we've never done anything crazy like 216 00:08:16,296 --> 00:08:17,116 that. So, 217 00:08:18,294 --> 00:08:21,571 my my, the team's role was essentially to 218 00:08:21,571 --> 00:08:23,819 be responsible for all the systems, 219 00:08:24,216 --> 00:08:24,613 ordering, 220 00:08:25,247 --> 00:08:27,468 inventory, fulfillment and customer care, tracking. 221 00:08:28,817 --> 00:08:31,056 All these systems, but I think the most 222 00:08:31,056 --> 00:08:33,685 don't daunting of all of that was the 223 00:08:33,685 --> 00:08:36,314 website because that's very front facing. You know, 224 00:08:36,473 --> 00:08:38,799 if anything fails the back nobody knows. But 225 00:08:38,799 --> 00:08:40,792 when you go into order a test kit, 226 00:08:41,111 --> 00:08:42,864 and and it was going to be free, 227 00:08:43,342 --> 00:08:46,148 and we had no idea how much volume 228 00:08:46,148 --> 00:08:47,744 we were gonna get on the first day. 229 00:08:48,303 --> 00:08:50,058 We were asked to prepare for about a 230 00:08:50,058 --> 00:08:50,558 million 231 00:08:51,574 --> 00:08:52,931 an hour, and, 232 00:08:53,824 --> 00:08:55,820 I kind of did the back math and 233 00:08:55,900 --> 00:08:57,337 I just quickly said, you know, 234 00:08:58,295 --> 00:09:00,929 it's free. It's open to the whole nation. 235 00:09:01,648 --> 00:09:02,765 Test gets us scarce. 236 00:09:03,418 --> 00:09:05,643 Covid is rampant. There is no way it's 237 00:09:05,643 --> 00:09:07,470 only gonna be a million an hour. So 238 00:09:07,629 --> 00:09:10,672 I figured at least 1 third of the 239 00:09:10,887 --> 00:09:13,450 population would order test kits within the first 240 00:09:13,450 --> 00:09:15,843 2 days. And so I asked my team 241 00:09:15,843 --> 00:09:17,598 to plan for 20000000 242 00:09:17,598 --> 00:09:20,150 an hour. They were pretty mad me actually. 243 00:09:20,628 --> 00:09:23,355 And we we built AA3 244 00:09:23,355 --> 00:09:24,233 pronged approach. 245 00:09:24,871 --> 00:09:27,343 We did 2 cloud solutions and 1 on 246 00:09:27,343 --> 00:09:30,215 prem. We already had a a postal store 247 00:09:30,215 --> 00:09:32,544 where people can go an order stamped. And 248 00:09:32,544 --> 00:09:35,105 so we had 1 team working on that, 249 00:09:35,264 --> 00:09:37,904 and we thought, oh, that's obvious. The other 250 00:09:37,904 --> 00:09:40,236 smart thing we really did was it was 251 00:09:40,236 --> 00:09:42,945 really smart was we... Within the first week 252 00:09:42,945 --> 00:09:44,720 of this project, we started 253 00:09:45,255 --> 00:09:46,052 load testing. 254 00:09:46,865 --> 00:09:50,544 So we... The website wasn't... Wasn't completely built, 255 00:09:51,184 --> 00:09:53,345 but we just built the the portion where 256 00:09:53,345 --> 00:09:55,584 someone can go in our order. And on 257 00:09:55,584 --> 00:09:57,427 all these 3 sites, and then it was 258 00:09:57,427 --> 00:09:59,727 almost like a competition with the 3 teams 259 00:09:59,727 --> 00:10:01,393 on who's going to get there first. 260 00:10:02,028 --> 00:10:04,344 And, of course, the cloud solution 1, and 261 00:10:04,344 --> 00:10:06,963 it was a very elegant design. We use 262 00:10:06,963 --> 00:10:09,978 a lot of capabilities that we already had 263 00:10:09,978 --> 00:10:14,238 in our organization like Half queues and asynchronous 264 00:10:14,856 --> 00:10:16,155 cloud processing 265 00:10:16,694 --> 00:10:19,092 and so it wasn't like everything was new. 266 00:10:19,252 --> 00:10:21,625 The website was new. And then we really 267 00:10:21,745 --> 00:10:23,504 partnered with the cloud providers, 268 00:10:24,065 --> 00:10:26,144 and we let everyone know. We took the 269 00:10:26,144 --> 00:10:28,384 entire journey of the order. 270 00:10:29,119 --> 00:10:31,991 And we made sure that every system we 271 00:10:31,991 --> 00:10:32,491 touched 272 00:10:33,108 --> 00:10:36,394 was scaled and ready and load test it. 273 00:10:36,872 --> 00:10:39,663 So we even called all the email providers 274 00:10:39,663 --> 00:10:41,736 and said, you know, we're gonna get lots 275 00:10:41,736 --> 00:10:44,846 of emails coming to your systems because when 276 00:10:44,846 --> 00:10:47,251 someone comes into order. We send an email 277 00:10:47,251 --> 00:10:49,743 back to them saying, you know, your order 278 00:10:50,278 --> 00:10:52,987 been fulfilled and all of that. We've accepted 279 00:10:52,987 --> 00:10:54,421 the order. We're fulfilling it. 280 00:10:55,073 --> 00:10:57,691 So so I think we were very careful 281 00:10:57,691 --> 00:10:59,699 and very meticulous about, 282 00:11:00,151 --> 00:11:03,345 you know, every step of that order, making 283 00:11:03,345 --> 00:11:06,930 sure that we had those systems tested, 284 00:11:07,567 --> 00:11:08,364 load tested, 285 00:11:09,081 --> 00:11:11,726 you know, calling all our partners that were 286 00:11:11,726 --> 00:11:13,797 involved in it, all the vendors that were 287 00:11:13,797 --> 00:11:16,028 involved in it. And I tell you it 288 00:11:16,028 --> 00:11:18,361 was Eu for on the first day because 289 00:11:18,578 --> 00:11:21,309 we had no idea, you know, how many 290 00:11:21,309 --> 00:11:23,470 orders we were gonna get. I think on 291 00:11:23,470 --> 00:11:25,870 the first day at peak hour was close 292 00:11:25,870 --> 00:11:26,830 to 9000000. 293 00:11:27,884 --> 00:11:30,205 So I wasn't that far off. And within 294 00:11:30,205 --> 00:11:31,884 the first 2 days, I think it was 295 00:11:31,884 --> 00:11:33,485 over 40 to 15000000. 296 00:11:34,845 --> 00:11:36,924 So... And I think the and the other 297 00:11:36,924 --> 00:11:40,797 thing that I must acknowledge is really the 298 00:11:40,936 --> 00:11:44,373 leadership of our post master general, bringing all 299 00:11:44,373 --> 00:11:48,383 the teams across the organization together. And designing 300 00:11:48,383 --> 00:11:49,601 a really elegant 301 00:11:50,219 --> 00:11:53,252 fulfillment system. So, you know, these test kits 302 00:11:53,252 --> 00:11:55,747 came to us in palettes. We received them 303 00:11:55,886 --> 00:11:56,580 in 6 304 00:11:57,258 --> 00:11:59,353 distribution centers, and then we had 305 00:12:00,049 --> 00:12:03,160 fulfillment centers about 49 across the nation where 306 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:05,792 these ballots were sent. They were broken down, 307 00:12:05,951 --> 00:12:08,513 and they were you know, put into envelopes 308 00:12:08,513 --> 00:12:10,343 and kidd it for to a pack of 309 00:12:10,343 --> 00:12:12,093 labels and then shipped out. 310 00:12:12,809 --> 00:12:13,309 And 311 00:12:13,858 --> 00:12:15,767 quite a phenomenal story. We... I think we... 312 00:12:16,245 --> 00:12:19,529 We have delivered about 885000000 313 00:12:19,666 --> 00:12:21,678 tests to about 90000000 households. 314 00:12:22,784 --> 00:12:25,421 So pretty phenomenal story. Yeah. It's 1 of... 315 00:12:25,581 --> 00:12:27,738 It's a feather and the Cios cap for 316 00:12:27,738 --> 00:12:27,978 sure. 317 00:12:28,777 --> 00:12:30,669 No was doubt. No doubt a Federal story 318 00:12:30,789 --> 00:12:31,980 So I'm glad you've you've just told it 319 00:12:31,980 --> 00:12:34,046 now, a remarkable 1 you and your team, 320 00:12:34,761 --> 00:12:36,907 we're able to undertake. And And I wonder, 321 00:12:37,304 --> 00:12:37,622 obviously, 322 00:12:38,496 --> 00:12:40,496 Nec is the mother of intervention and, 323 00:12:41,051 --> 00:12:43,193 quite a number of necessity were we're brought 324 00:12:43,193 --> 00:12:44,621 about as a result of the pandemic. But 325 00:12:44,780 --> 00:12:46,446 I wonder as a result of of the 326 00:12:46,446 --> 00:12:47,239 great work done. 327 00:12:48,605 --> 00:12:51,410 If there are any new ways of working 328 00:12:51,466 --> 00:12:54,090 or innovating that we're developed that now have 329 00:12:54,090 --> 00:12:57,366 a shelf life or a means operating now 330 00:12:57,366 --> 00:12:59,356 sort of post pandemic or however you might 331 00:12:59,356 --> 00:13:00,152 refer to this period. 332 00:13:01,028 --> 00:13:01,983 Are there people applied? 333 00:13:02,700 --> 00:13:06,461 Yes. Of course. Lessen the organization, firstly, you 334 00:13:06,461 --> 00:13:09,014 know, we are uniquely capable to reach every 335 00:13:09,014 --> 00:13:13,002 door, well positioned to support agencies, customers in 336 00:13:13,002 --> 00:13:15,587 delivering product at high quantities and vas. 337 00:13:15,962 --> 00:13:18,270 You know, 1 doesn't think of the postal 338 00:13:18,270 --> 00:13:20,919 service that way. But, you know when 339 00:13:21,389 --> 00:13:23,567 when put to the test, the whole 340 00:13:23,947 --> 00:13:26,604 organization came together really mission oriented, 341 00:13:27,063 --> 00:13:28,762 this is a very mission oriented 342 00:13:29,461 --> 00:13:32,585 organization. I think on the technology side, we 343 00:13:32,585 --> 00:13:35,134 demonstrated that we can be very agile and 344 00:13:35,134 --> 00:13:35,634 dexter. 345 00:13:36,329 --> 00:13:39,071 We've also harness a lot of the technologies 346 00:13:39,206 --> 00:13:39,920 that we built, 347 00:13:41,269 --> 00:13:43,436 around Covid for other 348 00:13:43,888 --> 00:13:46,054 projects that require that 349 00:13:46,602 --> 00:13:49,230 you know, that evidence of scale. And mostly 350 00:13:49,230 --> 00:13:52,096 everything we do is evidence at scale. 351 00:13:53,052 --> 00:13:54,348 You know, the ka 352 00:13:54,819 --> 00:13:56,174 the technology is like, 353 00:13:56,972 --> 00:13:58,987 you know, 1 that we've now 354 00:14:00,002 --> 00:14:02,792 becomes so very familiar with. It drove a 355 00:14:02,792 --> 00:14:05,859 new level of excellence at high speeds 356 00:14:06,396 --> 00:14:08,550 among our technology team. So it was a 357 00:14:08,550 --> 00:14:11,660 big learning on the technology team on their 358 00:14:11,660 --> 00:14:13,038 ability to deliver 359 00:14:14,145 --> 00:14:17,975 such a big project in 3 weeks, working 360 00:14:18,188 --> 00:14:20,408 together, and I think it also brought a 361 00:14:20,408 --> 00:14:21,335 lot more camera 362 00:14:22,095 --> 00:14:23,075 across the technology 363 00:14:23,934 --> 00:14:24,175 organizations. 364 00:14:24,815 --> 00:14:27,795 You know, in my own team, the development 365 00:14:27,855 --> 00:14:30,747 group, the infrastructure group, the Cis group the 366 00:14:30,747 --> 00:14:32,575 data group. You name it, you know, 367 00:14:33,290 --> 00:14:37,262 definitely, our endpoint technology group. And then I 368 00:14:37,262 --> 00:14:40,776 think we also learned the power of saying 369 00:14:40,776 --> 00:14:42,765 yes. You know, It's easy to say no, 370 00:14:42,924 --> 00:14:43,879 And it's impossible. 371 00:14:44,436 --> 00:14:46,028 But, like, you know, when we were trying 372 00:14:46,028 --> 00:14:49,005 to buy printers to print that labels across 373 00:14:49,537 --> 00:14:52,156 a covid. You remember the supply chain issues, 374 00:14:52,315 --> 00:14:54,379 so printers were not available. So we had 375 00:14:54,379 --> 00:14:55,117 to call 376 00:14:55,744 --> 00:14:57,438 all our partners, and 377 00:14:57,815 --> 00:14:59,726 and we got the job done. So, yeah. 378 00:15:00,204 --> 00:15:02,434 It's just a whole new energy and a 379 00:15:02,434 --> 00:15:03,868 whole can do attitude. 380 00:15:04,999 --> 00:15:07,956 That's fantastic. Real really interesting and and can 381 00:15:07,956 --> 00:15:10,034 imagine how how much pride that must give 382 00:15:10,034 --> 00:15:11,153 the organization as well. 383 00:15:11,952 --> 00:15:13,311 You, I mentioned at the outset that you've 384 00:15:13,311 --> 00:15:15,965 been with the Usps for roughly 34 years 385 00:15:15,965 --> 00:15:18,685 now. So you've seen many waves of of 386 00:15:18,685 --> 00:15:19,185 technology, 387 00:15:20,285 --> 00:15:21,725 come and go as a result of that. 388 00:15:22,045 --> 00:15:23,805 And and you've you've been part of, 389 00:15:24,299 --> 00:15:27,171 catalyst for change and modernization within the organization 390 00:15:27,171 --> 00:15:29,563 to ensure that a better foundation continues to 391 00:15:29,563 --> 00:15:32,275 be weighed upon which the organization innovate. And 392 00:15:32,355 --> 00:15:33,711 I wonder if you can reflect on some 393 00:15:33,711 --> 00:15:34,784 of the recent 394 00:15:35,402 --> 00:15:39,015 transformations, and activities associated with modernization that have 395 00:15:39,393 --> 00:15:41,628 particularly propelled the organization forward? What what comes 396 00:15:41,628 --> 00:15:42,288 to mind? 397 00:15:43,797 --> 00:15:46,332 I'll start by talking about sort of some 398 00:15:46,332 --> 00:15:49,264 of the the constructs that these... 399 00:15:49,977 --> 00:15:52,455 That I saw to achieve here. 1 is 400 00:15:52,455 --> 00:15:53,750 technology curiosity. 401 00:15:54,921 --> 00:15:57,648 And I feel that these enough things you 402 00:15:57,879 --> 00:16:01,084 forced down somebody's throat. You have to create 403 00:16:01,141 --> 00:16:03,233 a culture of technology curiosity. 404 00:16:03,767 --> 00:16:04,961 So we've done that. 405 00:16:05,613 --> 00:16:08,717 We we actually... When I first started, that 406 00:16:08,717 --> 00:16:11,105 was the biggest thing I thought of. We 407 00:16:11,105 --> 00:16:13,118 were not... Not a cloud shop 408 00:16:13,508 --> 00:16:16,056 minimally a cloud shop? You know, we we 409 00:16:16,056 --> 00:16:18,365 built a lot of things. So how do 410 00:16:18,365 --> 00:16:20,754 you create the technology curiosity. And I don't 411 00:16:20,754 --> 00:16:22,204 know. 1 day, I just woke up and 412 00:16:22,204 --> 00:16:23,642 said I'm gonna do tech chats. 413 00:16:24,441 --> 00:16:27,158 III was listening to something about fireside side 414 00:16:27,158 --> 00:16:28,916 chats, and that just came to mind, and 415 00:16:28,916 --> 00:16:30,195 we started tech chats. 416 00:16:30,848 --> 00:16:33,413 What we did was we brought in vendors, 417 00:16:34,899 --> 00:16:37,600 solution providers, it was pretty much open to 418 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:40,301 anyone. It is open to anyone. And they 419 00:16:40,301 --> 00:16:42,407 could come in and they could describe 420 00:16:42,862 --> 00:16:45,727 a technology. And my only requirement was that 421 00:16:45,727 --> 00:16:47,579 you have to talk about technology 422 00:16:48,034 --> 00:16:50,700 because this is a Cio team. And so 423 00:16:50,759 --> 00:16:53,080 the first 1 we had, I remember, I 424 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:53,820 had asked 425 00:16:54,519 --> 00:16:55,740 the guy who leads 426 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,767 architecture, Jerry Wheeler. Said. Can we do 1 427 00:16:58,767 --> 00:17:00,918 on Ai? So why don't we let just 428 00:17:00,918 --> 00:17:03,309 have everyone listen to a podcast and then 429 00:17:03,309 --> 00:17:04,185 you just do a chat? 430 00:17:04,914 --> 00:17:06,659 With them. And he did that. He picked 431 00:17:06,659 --> 00:17:08,111 the... He picked the podcast, 432 00:17:08,643 --> 00:17:11,181 sent it out, and then he invited all 433 00:17:11,181 --> 00:17:13,505 of Cio. And I said, you know, even 434 00:17:13,505 --> 00:17:16,144 if 20 people join, I'll be happy, and 435 00:17:16,144 --> 00:17:18,464 we had over 500 people join. 436 00:17:19,265 --> 00:17:22,158 So people love this, and we are very 437 00:17:22,158 --> 00:17:24,875 open to the market. The other thing that 438 00:17:24,875 --> 00:17:28,252 we have sought to change is really promoting 439 00:17:28,311 --> 00:17:29,510 market awareness. 440 00:17:29,924 --> 00:17:30,662 And looking 441 00:17:31,116 --> 00:17:32,569 outside of the 442 00:17:33,102 --> 00:17:33,261 organization. 443 00:17:34,294 --> 00:17:37,972 We really promoted people going out to conferences 444 00:17:38,679 --> 00:17:39,179 to 445 00:17:39,638 --> 00:17:40,357 trade shows, 446 00:17:41,236 --> 00:17:41,976 especially technology 447 00:17:42,674 --> 00:17:45,391 to all the, you know, the cloud workshops, 448 00:17:45,550 --> 00:17:46,943 the Rs say conferences 449 00:17:47,478 --> 00:17:50,287 because I think that's really important in people 450 00:17:50,424 --> 00:17:52,972 understanding what's out there. And then whenever we 451 00:17:52,972 --> 00:17:54,427 select a mission critical 452 00:17:54,978 --> 00:17:56,515 operation that we want to modernize. 453 00:17:56,972 --> 00:17:58,727 Like, 1 of the ones I'm most proud 454 00:17:58,727 --> 00:18:00,025 of is our logistics 455 00:18:00,402 --> 00:18:02,635 operation. When we started, this journey 3 years 456 00:18:02,635 --> 00:18:05,120 ago, we literally were doing setting of, 457 00:18:06,390 --> 00:18:07,922 suppliers and and 458 00:18:08,533 --> 00:18:11,549 transportation carriers with Excel spreadsheets and phone calls. 459 00:18:12,263 --> 00:18:14,029 And then we stitched together, 460 00:18:14,988 --> 00:18:16,586 5 Saas products, 461 00:18:17,226 --> 00:18:18,125 1 for 462 00:18:18,984 --> 00:18:22,500 transportation management, 1 for visibility, 1 for contracting, 463 00:18:22,980 --> 00:18:25,707 1 for fuel management, 1 for fleet management. 464 00:18:26,186 --> 00:18:29,137 Best in class, we stitch them all together, 465 00:18:29,536 --> 00:18:32,088 and that's our new logistics ecosystem, and we 466 00:18:32,088 --> 00:18:33,939 did this in a year, and it's huge. 467 00:18:34,738 --> 00:18:37,295 And and the way we were successful was 468 00:18:37,295 --> 00:18:37,795 previously, 469 00:18:38,573 --> 00:18:39,952 we would as a technology 470 00:18:40,570 --> 00:18:42,761 organization go out and put out a bid 471 00:18:43,217 --> 00:18:45,050 and wait for people to come back, 472 00:18:45,767 --> 00:18:48,078 and we weren't even clear what we what 473 00:18:48,078 --> 00:18:50,638 we should ask for because we were so 474 00:18:50,638 --> 00:18:53,499 legacy in our thinking that we didn't really 475 00:18:53,499 --> 00:18:56,439 know what best in class was. Today, what 476 00:18:56,439 --> 00:18:58,624 we do is we just invite people 477 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:01,073 come in and chat with us. And, you 478 00:19:01,073 --> 00:19:03,146 know, everyone loves to talk the postal service 479 00:19:03,146 --> 00:19:05,001 because we're such a big 480 00:19:05,377 --> 00:19:06,230 player. So 481 00:19:06,826 --> 00:19:08,836 just come in and talk to us about 482 00:19:09,211 --> 00:19:11,596 transportation management, and we look up the magic 483 00:19:11,596 --> 00:19:14,299 quadrant and find the 5 best players and 484 00:19:14,299 --> 00:19:15,413 just have them chat with us. 485 00:19:16,144 --> 00:19:17,419 I tell you in a matter of a 486 00:19:17,419 --> 00:19:18,774 week, you've learned so much. 487 00:19:19,332 --> 00:19:21,245 So that... And then the other thing we 488 00:19:21,245 --> 00:19:24,250 really did was we really grew 489 00:19:25,007 --> 00:19:27,159 architecture team. There were 8 people when I 490 00:19:27,159 --> 00:19:27,478 started, 491 00:19:28,036 --> 00:19:30,427 it's in excess of 50 people now. 492 00:19:31,144 --> 00:19:34,583 Journey mapping is really important. So whenever we 493 00:19:34,583 --> 00:19:36,753 are trying to modernize or anything, 494 00:19:37,367 --> 00:19:40,246 we first journey map the current state. It's 495 00:19:40,246 --> 00:19:42,632 really important to understand legacy a And way 496 00:19:42,632 --> 00:19:44,780 you're coming from before you can define where 497 00:19:44,780 --> 00:19:45,893 you wanna go to. 498 00:19:46,943 --> 00:19:49,596 Especially an organization like ours. Where no system 499 00:19:49,734 --> 00:19:52,865 is on its own. It's always integrated with 500 00:19:53,163 --> 00:19:55,967 tons and tons of applications. So the power 501 00:19:55,967 --> 00:19:58,454 of journey mapping is all over the Cio 502 00:19:58,510 --> 00:20:00,837 group. Everyone knows, you know, when you do 503 00:20:01,529 --> 00:20:01,688 modernization, 504 00:20:02,403 --> 00:20:04,428 we have a very strong 505 00:20:04,801 --> 00:20:07,738 architecture team that has laid out this process 506 00:20:07,738 --> 00:20:11,088 of journey mapping. So really, those are some 507 00:20:11,088 --> 00:20:14,131 of the constructs that we sought to 508 00:20:14,505 --> 00:20:15,403 sort of perm 509 00:20:15,777 --> 00:20:18,264 across the organization. So there's a lot of 510 00:20:18,574 --> 00:20:19,052 segment. 511 00:20:20,167 --> 00:20:23,832 And then the last paradigm is really understanding 512 00:20:23,832 --> 00:20:27,098 the business that you're automating. So previously, we 513 00:20:27,098 --> 00:20:29,656 would receive a requirements from the business and 514 00:20:29,656 --> 00:20:31,483 then do exactly as we were told. 515 00:20:32,198 --> 00:20:35,057 Whereas now, we've changed that whole paradigm and 516 00:20:35,057 --> 00:20:37,494 in in the Cio group where we back 517 00:20:37,614 --> 00:20:41,263 actually developed verticals of excellence where our folks 518 00:20:41,263 --> 00:20:44,278 are required to know the business that they 519 00:20:44,278 --> 00:20:47,069 are modernizing. So if you a modernized payroll. 520 00:20:47,228 --> 00:20:50,003 If you need to understand this the extreme 521 00:20:50,003 --> 00:20:52,858 payroll process, what other the deductions, you know, 522 00:20:53,493 --> 00:20:55,412 all of that how does a paycheck get 523 00:20:55,412 --> 00:20:58,270 created? And that's very exciting to see because, 524 00:20:58,984 --> 00:21:01,524 when you really partner with the business at 525 00:21:01,524 --> 00:21:04,080 that level, the van you of your organization 526 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:04,580 really 527 00:21:05,192 --> 00:21:07,972 advances. So those are some of the constructs 528 00:21:07,972 --> 00:21:10,513 that we've changed, and that has allowed us 529 00:21:10,513 --> 00:21:11,807 now to really 530 00:21:12,594 --> 00:21:14,846 catapult out into bringing in 531 00:21:15,382 --> 00:21:18,033 modernization at a scale and speed that's unprecedented. 532 00:21:18,409 --> 00:21:22,008 Right? So we've modernized our logistics platform as 533 00:21:22,087 --> 00:21:25,103 I told you, we've also created an entire 534 00:21:25,103 --> 00:21:27,881 the data group. We've got chief data and 535 00:21:27,881 --> 00:21:28,675 analytics office. 536 00:21:29,564 --> 00:21:32,751 And we're really now thinking about... We've got, 537 00:21:32,830 --> 00:21:35,402 you know, an Ai policy and Ai 538 00:21:35,938 --> 00:21:38,206 implementation, a data policy, the data 539 00:21:38,742 --> 00:21:41,851 implementation because an organization as large as ours 540 00:21:41,851 --> 00:21:44,960 as has massive amounts of data. So we 541 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,597 have to make sure that when we modernize, 542 00:21:47,756 --> 00:21:50,774 we're not creating these silo data sets, data 543 00:21:50,774 --> 00:21:53,529 is no longer owned by an organization, it's 544 00:21:54,049 --> 00:21:54,369 enterprise, 545 00:21:55,009 --> 00:21:57,410 and we treat it as an enterprise asset, 546 00:21:58,210 --> 00:22:00,789 and we make sure that when you're modernizing 547 00:22:01,250 --> 00:22:04,064 1 1 system that needs scan data of 548 00:22:04,064 --> 00:22:04,863 every package. 549 00:22:05,582 --> 00:22:08,778 We propagated it against every consumer of that 550 00:22:09,097 --> 00:22:12,702 that information. So it's it's truly enterprise. 551 00:22:13,338 --> 00:22:15,564 Oh, and the other... I think the other, 552 00:22:17,153 --> 00:22:19,379 modernization initiative that I'm really proud of is 553 00:22:19,379 --> 00:22:22,261 that we have deployed and Api platform for 554 00:22:22,261 --> 00:22:24,836 our customers. I think that's going to be 555 00:22:24,895 --> 00:22:27,289 the beginning of some really cool things to 556 00:22:27,289 --> 00:22:31,289 come. So this really helps are really wide 557 00:22:31,289 --> 00:22:31,789 and 558 00:22:32,561 --> 00:22:33,061 diverse 559 00:22:33,436 --> 00:22:36,322 industry, engage with us and create technological 560 00:22:37,095 --> 00:22:39,661 solutions whether it's for package delivery or whether 561 00:22:39,661 --> 00:22:40,858 it's for mail delivery. 562 00:22:41,736 --> 00:22:44,131 Fascinating examples all. I appreciate those p... And 563 00:22:44,450 --> 00:22:45,648 among innovations, I've also, 564 00:22:46,526 --> 00:22:49,097 learned that Usps has implemented has been digital 565 00:22:49,097 --> 00:22:51,814 twins to track parcels and packages. Can you 566 00:22:51,814 --> 00:22:53,812 talk a bit about the the the use 567 00:22:53,812 --> 00:22:55,010 of digital twins in that way? 568 00:22:55,824 --> 00:22:58,482 Oh, sure. So every package 569 00:22:58,861 --> 00:23:00,300 that touches our system, 570 00:23:00,699 --> 00:23:01,199 we 571 00:23:01,818 --> 00:23:03,677 basically create a digital 572 00:23:04,296 --> 00:23:05,549 representation of of the pack. 573 00:23:06,225 --> 00:23:08,608 The journey starts with a notice from our 574 00:23:08,608 --> 00:23:10,912 shipping partners telling us that a product has 575 00:23:10,912 --> 00:23:11,547 been offered. 576 00:23:12,183 --> 00:23:13,874 It's in the fulfillment process 577 00:23:14,264 --> 00:23:16,495 and it'll be tender shortly to the postal 578 00:23:16,495 --> 00:23:19,604 service. Right? So there's there's your first event. 579 00:23:19,843 --> 00:23:23,386 Right? Then continuing through acceptance of a package 580 00:23:23,524 --> 00:23:26,074 whether it's a physical scan performed by an 581 00:23:26,074 --> 00:23:28,942 employee or a passive scan that's performed by 582 00:23:28,942 --> 00:23:31,252 1 of our state of the art package 583 00:23:31,252 --> 00:23:31,752 orders 584 00:23:32,144 --> 00:23:35,012 there you get more events. Right? When that 585 00:23:35,012 --> 00:23:38,358 package then gets loaded on to transport, you 586 00:23:38,358 --> 00:23:41,790 get wet crumbs from, you know, your vehicles 587 00:23:41,790 --> 00:23:42,846 as they're transporting 588 00:23:43,298 --> 00:23:45,601 our packages through surface. We get 589 00:23:46,633 --> 00:23:48,873 notifications from my air carriers. Right? And then, 590 00:23:48,953 --> 00:23:51,744 of course, as the last mile intelligence when 591 00:23:51,744 --> 00:23:54,057 it reaches the post office when it's out 592 00:23:54,057 --> 00:23:56,608 for delivery when it's in the vehicle and 593 00:23:56,608 --> 00:23:59,335 then when it's delivered. All of these events 594 00:23:59,335 --> 00:24:01,270 are captured as a digital 595 00:24:01,967 --> 00:24:03,663 representation so that we can 596 00:24:04,041 --> 00:24:06,216 have a complete knowledge 597 00:24:06,673 --> 00:24:07,571 in intelligence 598 00:24:07,884 --> 00:24:10,035 out the whereabouts of a package. And the 599 00:24:10,035 --> 00:24:13,460 value is twofold. It's internally to make sure 600 00:24:13,460 --> 00:24:16,429 that we are processing it, efficiently correctly 601 00:24:17,218 --> 00:24:20,078 promoting the service excellence that our market wants. 602 00:24:20,634 --> 00:24:22,485 And then also advising 603 00:24:23,018 --> 00:24:24,131 as you know by now, 604 00:24:25,021 --> 00:24:25,521 customers 605 00:24:26,295 --> 00:24:28,843 because there is an incredible need to know 606 00:24:28,843 --> 00:24:30,754 exactly where the package is and when it's 607 00:24:30,754 --> 00:24:32,585 gonna show up at the door. And if 608 00:24:32,585 --> 00:24:35,776 they have been any reasons for non delivery 609 00:24:35,776 --> 00:24:38,634 or, you know, the persons moved or whatever. 610 00:24:39,269 --> 00:24:41,704 So, yeah. I mean, and we're getting 611 00:24:42,140 --> 00:24:44,755 we're spending a lot of investments on really 612 00:24:44,755 --> 00:24:46,205 getting better at 613 00:24:47,132 --> 00:24:47,632 understanding 614 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,203 locations. Of our assets because that brings a 615 00:24:51,203 --> 00:24:54,074 lot of value, and especially in in as 616 00:24:54,074 --> 00:24:56,228 we wanna promote service excellence, 617 00:24:56,866 --> 00:24:58,381 it's really, really critical. 618 00:24:59,911 --> 00:25:02,223 Fascinating example, again, I really appreciate you sharing 619 00:25:02,223 --> 00:25:03,818 a bit more about the the way in 620 00:25:03,818 --> 00:25:06,210 which you thought about that. I... Another area 621 00:25:06,290 --> 00:25:07,167 I know that you've put a lot of 622 00:25:07,167 --> 00:25:09,277 thought into is role a tech and digital 623 00:25:09,654 --> 00:25:12,924 play and enhancing employee experience. Can you talk 624 00:25:12,924 --> 00:25:14,838 a bit about the conclusions you've drawn and 625 00:25:14,838 --> 00:25:17,252 as a result, some of the solutions you've 626 00:25:17,310 --> 00:25:20,517 defined order to, to aid that employee experience? 627 00:25:21,075 --> 00:25:23,389 You know, when I think about employee experience, 628 00:25:23,549 --> 00:25:24,926 it's twofold full. It's 629 00:25:25,239 --> 00:25:28,253 us as a Cio group making sure that 630 00:25:28,253 --> 00:25:31,585 we have the right technologies for every employee 631 00:25:31,585 --> 00:25:33,770 in our force, but it's also 632 00:25:34,546 --> 00:25:36,162 how do you keep the Cio 633 00:25:36,538 --> 00:25:39,647 employees engaged and excited. And, you know, we 634 00:25:39,647 --> 00:25:42,448 spent a lot of energy on both both 635 00:25:42,448 --> 00:25:43,642 sides of the coin there. 636 00:25:44,994 --> 00:25:47,755 We are... We believe in strongly and invest 637 00:25:48,034 --> 00:25:49,712 in the development of our employees. 638 00:25:50,351 --> 00:25:52,827 When we first started this journey, we actually 639 00:25:52,827 --> 00:25:54,265 created digital badges. 640 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,440 Where we did an assessment of the skill 641 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,920 sets that were lacking in our organization, and 642 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:01,660 then we 643 00:26:02,039 --> 00:26:03,100 identified courses 644 00:26:03,813 --> 00:26:06,830 and we created almost curriculum for our employees, 645 00:26:07,069 --> 00:26:09,372 and we posted it and said, go forth 646 00:26:09,372 --> 00:26:11,356 and have fun, you know, whether it's a 647 00:26:11,356 --> 00:26:11,650 cloud 648 00:26:12,327 --> 00:26:15,775 certification whether it's a data scientist whether it's 649 00:26:15,912 --> 00:26:16,412 algorithms, 650 00:26:17,745 --> 00:26:18,223 statistics, 651 00:26:18,860 --> 00:26:21,171 math, lots of math. And so we put 652 00:26:21,171 --> 00:26:24,836 this out and said, okay, folks, we're all 653 00:26:24,836 --> 00:26:27,161 for it. And and that was very exciting 654 00:26:27,216 --> 00:26:29,455 because... And then we also toll folks, you... 655 00:26:29,614 --> 00:26:32,161 You're not limited to these courses if you 656 00:26:32,161 --> 00:26:34,866 find courses you like. The only requirement is 657 00:26:34,866 --> 00:26:36,973 that you come back and tell. And maybe 658 00:26:37,032 --> 00:26:38,011 enhance our curriculum. 659 00:26:38,548 --> 00:26:41,261 We do offer a lot of training, a 660 00:26:41,261 --> 00:26:42,080 lot of Sandbox 661 00:26:42,457 --> 00:26:42,957 opportunities. 662 00:26:43,749 --> 00:26:45,584 I talked to you about the tech that 663 00:26:45,584 --> 00:26:46,324 has been 664 00:26:46,941 --> 00:26:48,058 super successful, 665 00:26:48,537 --> 00:26:51,581 not only do we encourage outside vendors to 666 00:26:51,581 --> 00:26:54,276 come in, but we also encourage people from 667 00:26:54,276 --> 00:26:56,495 our own organization. If you have a topic 668 00:26:56,495 --> 00:26:58,342 you wanna talk to people about 669 00:26:58,969 --> 00:27:02,005 have added. Come on We continuing to draw 670 00:27:02,005 --> 00:27:03,224 over 500 671 00:27:03,283 --> 00:27:05,734 participants from our group, and we've covered a 672 00:27:05,854 --> 00:27:08,012 wide range of topics, you know, whether it's 673 00:27:08,092 --> 00:27:09,371 Ai, machine learning, 674 00:27:10,090 --> 00:27:12,168 devs sec ops, Ka, you name it, 675 00:27:13,047 --> 00:27:14,885 you know, there's been a tech chat on 676 00:27:14,885 --> 00:27:18,021 it. We're really creating a culture of empowerment 677 00:27:18,473 --> 00:27:19,926 transformation, agility, flexibility. 678 00:27:20,378 --> 00:27:23,434 We are also making sure that our 679 00:27:23,810 --> 00:27:26,838 organization is exposed to to the business side. 680 00:27:26,998 --> 00:27:29,308 So in our tech chats, we have tech 681 00:27:29,308 --> 00:27:31,554 chats. And then we have Cio chats. And 682 00:27:31,554 --> 00:27:34,842 in the Cio chats, we actually invite other 683 00:27:34,900 --> 00:27:38,683 leaders in our organization to explain their business 684 00:27:38,741 --> 00:27:41,215 to the Cio team. So that's also been 685 00:27:41,215 --> 00:27:44,966 very useful because as people build, it's important 686 00:27:44,966 --> 00:27:47,054 for them to to understand the big picture 687 00:27:47,054 --> 00:27:48,988 where all the technology 688 00:27:49,444 --> 00:27:49,922 progress, 689 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,791 what kind of value it's driving. We've done 690 00:27:52,791 --> 00:27:53,943 a lot to recognize 691 00:27:54,319 --> 00:27:57,105 employees, we we have a Cio or newsletter 692 00:27:57,105 --> 00:27:58,618 where we actually promote. 693 00:27:59,494 --> 00:28:01,347 Anytime someone puts out a project 694 00:28:01,659 --> 00:28:03,995 you know, we do a lot but promoting 695 00:28:04,134 --> 00:28:04,852 the stories. 696 00:28:05,651 --> 00:28:07,567 On the side of, you know, promoting, 697 00:28:08,205 --> 00:28:10,701 we've really done a lot of work in 698 00:28:11,254 --> 00:28:16,121 growing our endpoint experience for our employees. We 699 00:28:16,121 --> 00:28:18,196 have a helped test that used to have 700 00:28:18,196 --> 00:28:21,237 a average wait time in line was I 701 00:28:21,237 --> 00:28:23,864 don't know. 2 hours, 3 hours, and now 702 00:28:23,864 --> 00:28:25,377 it's, you know, under 10. 703 00:28:26,173 --> 00:28:28,183 Not where we it to be, but really 704 00:28:28,183 --> 00:28:28,663 moving. 705 00:28:29,701 --> 00:28:32,419 We're trying to strive to be the organization 706 00:28:32,419 --> 00:28:35,695 that a person never has a problem with 707 00:28:35,695 --> 00:28:36,195 their 708 00:28:36,825 --> 00:28:38,117 experience their technology 709 00:28:38,568 --> 00:28:41,263 experience to do their job. We've really crept 710 00:28:41,263 --> 00:28:43,665 done a lot to make our supervisors 711 00:28:43,973 --> 00:28:45,028 and managers 712 00:28:45,798 --> 00:28:47,410 mobile with their technology. 713 00:28:47,783 --> 00:28:50,560 And, yeah. So there's been a lot of, 714 00:28:50,799 --> 00:28:52,721 very proud of the walk that my team 715 00:28:52,721 --> 00:28:53,915 has done in this space. 716 00:28:54,790 --> 00:28:56,221 Rightfully so. Rightfully so. 717 00:28:56,937 --> 00:28:59,739 We've talked about numerous trends through this conversation. 718 00:28:59,898 --> 00:29:02,925 Those associated with data, Apis, the cloud. We 719 00:29:02,925 --> 00:29:04,758 we talked about digital twins a few moments 720 00:29:04,758 --> 00:29:07,068 ago, among other topics. As you look to 721 00:29:07,068 --> 00:29:07,546 the future, 722 00:29:08,357 --> 00:29:10,823 pre... Are there other trends that particularly excite 723 00:29:10,823 --> 00:29:13,687 you, whether technology or or other trends beyond 724 00:29:13,687 --> 00:29:13,767 them? 725 00:29:14,562 --> 00:29:17,755 The first trend in our organization is the 726 00:29:17,755 --> 00:29:20,534 delivering for America plan. I am really excited 727 00:29:20,534 --> 00:29:23,289 about what Lewis is doing. I think just 728 00:29:23,808 --> 00:29:27,020 the way red withdrawing the entire network to 729 00:29:27,397 --> 00:29:29,253 be so efficient, so 730 00:29:29,870 --> 00:29:30,348 optimized, 731 00:29:31,305 --> 00:29:34,933 really promoting excellence and then long term viability 732 00:29:35,153 --> 00:29:36,112 of our organization, 733 00:29:36,911 --> 00:29:39,388 very important trend in our organization. And it's 734 00:29:39,388 --> 00:29:42,106 almost like a fever now in our organization 735 00:29:42,106 --> 00:29:44,059 for folks to read take 736 00:29:44,598 --> 00:29:46,996 ownership of their portion of the delivering for 737 00:29:47,155 --> 00:29:49,553 America plan and really grow it out. It's 738 00:29:49,553 --> 00:29:52,111 what we're doing in our organization for sure. 739 00:29:52,350 --> 00:29:54,998 I am also like everyone else, I'm actually 740 00:29:54,998 --> 00:29:58,108 very excited about Ai and ml. We have 741 00:29:58,108 --> 00:30:00,421 brought it into our organization in a big 742 00:30:00,421 --> 00:30:01,697 way in many areas. 743 00:30:02,828 --> 00:30:04,204 And I think the possibilities 744 00:30:04,660 --> 00:30:08,005 are endless. We are now looking at... I 745 00:30:08,005 --> 00:30:09,301 mean, we've harness 746 00:30:09,996 --> 00:30:10,474 this 747 00:30:10,952 --> 00:30:13,433 machine learning our Ai in many, many areas, 748 00:30:13,672 --> 00:30:16,534 1, you know, whether it's customer service excellence 749 00:30:16,534 --> 00:30:17,011 of 750 00:30:17,726 --> 00:30:19,340 using natural language processing, 751 00:30:19,889 --> 00:30:21,009 for our help tasks, 752 00:30:22,129 --> 00:30:24,289 definitely using many different, 753 00:30:25,009 --> 00:30:27,490 Ml models for predicting delivery. 754 00:30:28,224 --> 00:30:30,539 I think there is a tremendous opportunity for 755 00:30:30,539 --> 00:30:31,917 using that for really 756 00:30:32,295 --> 00:30:34,392 optimizing our processing and logistics 757 00:30:34,849 --> 00:30:35,169 operations, 758 00:30:35,807 --> 00:30:38,776 you know, getting a lot my intelligence on 759 00:30:38,776 --> 00:30:39,276 volume 760 00:30:39,653 --> 00:30:40,951 predictions and workload 761 00:30:41,329 --> 00:30:41,648 predictions, 762 00:30:42,526 --> 00:30:45,654 I think the possibilities are endless there. On 763 00:30:45,654 --> 00:30:47,431 the business of the Cio, 764 00:30:47,889 --> 00:30:50,923 I think that is also where we have 765 00:30:51,402 --> 00:30:53,717 started playing. If you look at the entire 766 00:30:53,717 --> 00:30:57,000 software development life cycle, I think whether it's 767 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,288 called creation, whether it's code understanding, 768 00:31:00,983 --> 00:31:04,345 legacy code understanding, whether it's code test saying, 769 00:31:05,464 --> 00:31:06,684 we've actually started 770 00:31:07,144 --> 00:31:08,825 playing around a lot with that. 771 00:31:09,625 --> 00:31:12,424 And that's actually folks are really excited about 772 00:31:12,424 --> 00:31:13,325 that because 773 00:31:13,799 --> 00:31:17,176 we have a we have about 900 legacy 774 00:31:17,795 --> 00:31:18,035 applications. 775 00:31:18,834 --> 00:31:19,334 And, 776 00:31:19,793 --> 00:31:22,110 you know, for the ones that, and we're 777 00:31:22,110 --> 00:31:24,296 not marked recognizing all of them. We're modernizing 778 00:31:24,512 --> 00:31:26,419 them based on a priority of the d 779 00:31:26,578 --> 00:31:29,462 D that's delivered for America plan. But 780 00:31:30,488 --> 00:31:32,954 as we modernized, we're harnessing a lot of 781 00:31:32,954 --> 00:31:33,454 these 782 00:31:34,068 --> 00:31:37,091 technologies to understand what the legacy code is 783 00:31:37,091 --> 00:31:39,809 because like everyone else. I'm sure we don't 784 00:31:39,809 --> 00:31:42,851 have great practices in in in 785 00:31:43,384 --> 00:31:45,489 documentation and all of this. So let technology 786 00:31:45,706 --> 00:31:47,219 do it for you. The other area where 787 00:31:47,298 --> 00:31:49,471 I'm really excited about it it is in 788 00:31:49,687 --> 00:31:51,063 organizing our data 789 00:31:51,439 --> 00:31:54,723 because we are an organization that just has 790 00:31:54,723 --> 00:31:55,223 an 791 00:31:55,602 --> 00:31:58,879 growing an unlimited amount of data? And how 792 00:31:58,879 --> 00:32:01,436 do you harness that? And how do you 793 00:32:01,436 --> 00:32:04,642 really drive the value from the data. I 794 00:32:04,642 --> 00:32:08,300 think that's another area where And Ml plays 795 00:32:08,300 --> 00:32:09,174 a huge role. 796 00:32:09,731 --> 00:32:11,344 So, yeah. I 797 00:32:11,813 --> 00:32:13,800 I'm I'm 1 of those that loves to 798 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,287 jump into new technologies, so 799 00:32:16,899 --> 00:32:18,171 I'm having a field day. 800 00:32:18,886 --> 00:32:20,237 You're at the right place. It sounds like. 801 00:32:20,729 --> 00:32:22,008 I will also ask P. 802 00:32:22,807 --> 00:32:25,284 As you reflect on your career, especially the 803 00:32:25,284 --> 00:32:27,761 your your career with Usps and the heights 804 00:32:27,761 --> 00:32:28,400 that you've reached, 805 00:32:29,294 --> 00:32:30,734 have been some of the different speakers along 806 00:32:30,734 --> 00:32:32,654 the way that it helped propel you to 807 00:32:32,654 --> 00:32:34,974 now your current post as chief information officer. 808 00:32:35,855 --> 00:32:36,914 I think curiosity. 809 00:32:37,628 --> 00:32:40,797 I always question the work I'm doing. So 810 00:32:40,955 --> 00:32:43,015 I I look at outcomes to see am 811 00:32:43,095 --> 00:32:44,228 I making a difference? 812 00:32:44,855 --> 00:32:47,414 I'm 1 that really loves change. 813 00:32:48,215 --> 00:32:50,455 And so I give this piece of advice 814 00:32:50,455 --> 00:32:52,630 to folks that if you ever come into 815 00:32:52,630 --> 00:32:55,690 your job and you feel that you're stealth 816 00:32:55,990 --> 00:32:56,789 or you're like. 817 00:32:57,430 --> 00:33:00,549 You're not moving at it, you're bored or 818 00:33:00,549 --> 00:33:02,484 it's just I don't wanna do this for 819 00:33:02,484 --> 00:33:03,125 another day, 820 00:33:03,845 --> 00:33:06,184 then seek to change. So, 821 00:33:06,565 --> 00:33:08,898 you know, this organization... I've stayed here for 822 00:33:08,898 --> 00:33:11,865 34 years because it's really allowed me to 823 00:33:12,002 --> 00:33:13,139 really jump careers 824 00:33:13,992 --> 00:33:15,424 on and on. You know, it's a it's 825 00:33:15,424 --> 00:33:18,542 a unique organization where someone who has a 826 00:33:18,542 --> 00:33:21,481 technology background like me, then jumped on to 827 00:33:21,481 --> 00:33:23,943 sales. I worked in the sales and product 828 00:33:23,943 --> 00:33:26,539 development group. And then, you know, I 829 00:33:26,976 --> 00:33:28,721 I learned the business side and then, you 830 00:33:28,721 --> 00:33:30,785 know, went back to technology. So I think 831 00:33:30,785 --> 00:33:33,244 that that is really important is when you 832 00:33:33,244 --> 00:33:35,406 feel like around day and you're stuck, 833 00:33:36,361 --> 00:33:38,588 drive yourself to bring change, which I did. 834 00:33:38,827 --> 00:33:40,282 And I always volunteered, 835 00:33:40,737 --> 00:33:42,646 you know, whenever there was anything to do, 836 00:33:43,059 --> 00:33:44,409 I would just say I'll do it. You 837 00:33:44,409 --> 00:33:46,872 know, even if it wasn't mine to do. 838 00:33:47,190 --> 00:33:49,414 And then this is what my dad taught 839 00:33:49,414 --> 00:33:51,082 me, which It sticks to me. Is it's 840 00:33:51,082 --> 00:33:54,123 like, Any job we're doing is worth doing 841 00:33:54,123 --> 00:33:56,433 well. So always put your best foot forward. 842 00:33:56,672 --> 00:33:57,788 Even if it's boring, 843 00:33:58,679 --> 00:34:00,592 you know, if you're taking the time to 844 00:34:00,592 --> 00:34:02,187 do it, you might as well do the 845 00:34:02,187 --> 00:34:04,600 best you can. Then, you know, in an 846 00:34:04,738 --> 00:34:07,105 organization like ours, it's very easy to 847 00:34:07,542 --> 00:34:08,679 use the word bureaucracy. 848 00:34:09,295 --> 00:34:12,161 And I coined the phrase for myself. I 849 00:34:12,161 --> 00:34:15,028 said, you know, you are the bureaucracy you 850 00:34:15,028 --> 00:34:15,426 experience. 851 00:34:15,919 --> 00:34:18,068 And by that, I mean, if you really 852 00:34:18,068 --> 00:34:20,457 wanted to break down the barriers you could. 853 00:34:21,173 --> 00:34:23,106 And so don't blame the bureaucracy. 854 00:34:23,641 --> 00:34:26,037 And that I've invested in myself. I've, you 855 00:34:26,037 --> 00:34:27,941 know, gone to school a lot. I love 856 00:34:27,941 --> 00:34:29,131 going to school. So, 857 00:34:29,845 --> 00:34:30,242 you know, 858 00:34:31,368 --> 00:34:33,674 we used to we take a team to 859 00:34:33,753 --> 00:34:35,821 Silicon Valley almost every year. We haven't done 860 00:34:35,821 --> 00:34:37,889 it for a bit. Was very exciting because 861 00:34:37,889 --> 00:34:40,672 you just think differently when you meet people 862 00:34:40,672 --> 00:34:43,394 that are in... That are 4 runners in 863 00:34:43,394 --> 00:34:44,510 their space. 864 00:34:45,704 --> 00:34:47,718 I think the most important thing 865 00:34:48,174 --> 00:34:50,245 for me is developing people. 866 00:34:51,139 --> 00:34:54,839 Building high performance teams. I think that is 867 00:34:55,219 --> 00:34:55,719 really 868 00:34:56,099 --> 00:34:58,820 where the teamwork is really important. 869 00:34:59,394 --> 00:35:01,954 And how do you build high performing teams? 870 00:35:02,594 --> 00:35:03,734 I think my 871 00:35:04,114 --> 00:35:04,355 organization, 872 00:35:05,315 --> 00:35:08,537 my direct reports, it's it's a wonderful comrade 873 00:35:08,909 --> 00:35:10,970 now. It's just... I think we've got a 874 00:35:10,970 --> 00:35:11,470 really 875 00:35:11,842 --> 00:35:14,869 high performing group, you know, and you we 876 00:35:14,869 --> 00:35:17,406 couldn't be if we we couldn't do it 877 00:35:17,406 --> 00:35:19,467 if we had... With the amount we have 878 00:35:19,467 --> 00:35:22,679 to deliver. We've got to have that ins 879 00:35:23,056 --> 00:35:24,913 need for excellence and drive 880 00:35:25,530 --> 00:35:28,642 and to really look at spending your time 881 00:35:28,642 --> 00:35:31,682 on things that are meaningful to the organization. 882 00:35:32,557 --> 00:35:35,658 Very well put. Well, you you spoke earlier 883 00:35:35,658 --> 00:35:37,567 about the importance of learning, and now the 884 00:35:37,567 --> 00:35:39,885 fact that curiosity is among the secrets to 885 00:35:39,885 --> 00:35:41,473 your success. I I know you're also a 886 00:35:41,473 --> 00:35:44,015 reader and consumer of content would be, an 887 00:35:44,015 --> 00:35:45,445 interest of learning among other reasons. 888 00:35:46,414 --> 00:35:48,327 Wonder... Is there anything you've recently read or 889 00:35:48,327 --> 00:35:50,401 listened to and or watch that you would 890 00:35:50,401 --> 00:35:51,597 particularly recommend, P? 891 00:35:53,032 --> 00:35:53,510 Oh, boy. 892 00:35:54,148 --> 00:35:56,474 I listened to a lot of podcast. I 893 00:35:56,474 --> 00:35:58,964 think I was telling you earlier that Friedman 894 00:35:59,021 --> 00:36:01,807 podcast are very interesting to me. Let's. 895 00:36:02,762 --> 00:36:02,922 Yeah. 896 00:36:03,574 --> 00:36:06,531 And then I read... I recently read a 897 00:36:06,531 --> 00:36:08,929 book that was really interesting. I think it 898 00:36:08,929 --> 00:36:10,927 was called the chip wars. 899 00:36:11,885 --> 00:36:12,125 Yes. 900 00:36:12,939 --> 00:36:14,612 Was it Chip wars? Am I saying the 901 00:36:14,612 --> 00:36:16,206 name right? Did you think have ship war. 902 00:36:16,445 --> 00:36:18,675 That this 1? Chip war. Right. Right. Right. 903 00:36:19,074 --> 00:36:20,768 I found that book fascinating. 904 00:36:21,384 --> 00:36:21,782 I mean, 905 00:36:22,753 --> 00:36:23,492 the whole 906 00:36:24,266 --> 00:36:27,213 chip story. I'm, it's fascinating and a bit 907 00:36:27,213 --> 00:36:27,850 scary too. 908 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:30,159 Yeah. 909 00:36:31,289 --> 00:36:34,235 But III do like podcasts a lot. And 910 00:36:34,394 --> 00:36:36,146 I listen to a lot of them. I 911 00:36:36,146 --> 00:36:38,398 like to listen to. I haven't found 912 00:36:39,013 --> 00:36:39,513 enough 913 00:36:39,984 --> 00:36:42,472 in the spaces that I'm looking for, but 914 00:36:42,768 --> 00:36:45,393 Friedman podcast is really good. I do enjoy 915 00:36:45,393 --> 00:36:45,893 his. 916 00:36:47,078 --> 00:36:48,583 Wonderful. Well all the great recommendations. 917 00:36:49,297 --> 00:36:51,674 And and moreover, a great conversation at Boot 918 00:36:51,674 --> 00:36:53,180 pre I really appreciate you taking your time 919 00:36:53,180 --> 00:36:54,945 with me today. Sure a good about your 920 00:36:54,945 --> 00:36:55,445 journey 921 00:36:55,824 --> 00:36:57,824 across your time at the Usps, as well 922 00:36:57,824 --> 00:36:59,984 as the the recent journey under your leadership 923 00:36:59,984 --> 00:37:01,905 as chief information Officer has been a great 924 00:37:01,905 --> 00:37:02,065 conversation. 925 00:37:02,797 --> 00:37:04,389 It was great to be here, and thanks 926 00:37:04,389 --> 00:37:05,663 for inviting me to speak.