Stacking Up for a Holistic Service Delivery

AT A GLANCE:

The Singapore Government Technology Stack (SGTS) is a set of platform tools that improves the agility, quality and cost-effectiveness of digital service development and deployment across the Whole-of-Government (WOG). By using centrally managed common services, SGTS users enjoy improvements in compliance with policy and cybersecurity standards. Even better, these services come at a lower development cost and do not require extensive digital infrastructure! To maximise service delivery, the SGTS team needed a holistic understanding of the needs of all stakeholders. For that, Sheikh M Shaheed turned to GovTech Digital Academy (DA).

BACKGROUND:

For the Government Digital Services (GDS) Central’s Product Management Pillar in GovTech, service delivery goes beyond sales. Solutions Consultants from the SGTS Customer Success arm work closely to support their customers throughout the platform adoption journey! This role is not for the faint-hearted as it requires technical expertise, communication skills and a customer-centric mindset. However, Sheikh, a Solutions Consultant from GDS Central, did not yield.

In his day-to-day operations, Sheikh facilitates alignment between the strategic goals of the SGTS team and their customers’ IT management and engineering teams. With his prior experience in software engineering, he guides customers in navigating issues, challenges and obstacles in adopting the platform and its practices. He is inspired by the open-source culture of software development that allows sharing and borrowing of codes to create tools built upon the existing code base. This emboldened him to set about expanding his capabilities.

NEED FOR UPSKILLING:

Sheikh’s role in customer success keeps him focused on the needs and goals of his customers. While he achieved advanced technical expertise early in his career, it is crucial for him to keep abreast of new concepts and technologies to stay competitive in the constantly evolving field of technology. He realised that staying connected with developers and gathering feedback on their needs and perceptions would enable him to better support, guide and advocate for his customers. As such, he took his next natural step—upskilling with DA.

LEARNING JOURNEY:

 

Situation

As a Solutions Consultant for SGTS, it was imperative that Sheikh understood the operational needs of developers who actively built apps using SGTS. This technical knowledge would allow him to balance the needs of both developers and customers, thereby ensuring that SGTS products are aligned with their customers’ needs.

 

Task

Sheikh saw this situation as an opportunity to expand his technical understanding of their products. It was his firm belief in the value of SGTS tools that drove him to expand his capabilities so that he could further support his customers in achieving their organisational goals. That was when he realised that the best way to go about upskilling was to enrol in DA programmes, which are designed to provide hands-on experience that can be directly applied in the WOG context.

 

Action

Sheikh attended Certified Scrum Product Owner to expand his understanding of the Scrum framework and how to manage product backlogs, prioritise tasks and collaborate with stakeholders effectively. To explore principles of software architecture and how to evaluate and improve their products, he took Evaluating Software Architecture. He also attended Operation Management Essentials for Application Services to learn how to apply principles of operation management to manage their products effectively. Now that he understands considerations such as scalability, performance, maintenance, deployment, monitoring and troubleshooting, he is equipped to prioritise the needs of developers in their product roadmap.

Results

With a better understanding of the developers’ needs, the team was able to become more collaborative and productive. They were also empowered to shorten the customer migration period of their Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) toolchain! A migration of this scale would usually be a two-year endeavour, but they were able to complete full migration of their current customers in under 11 months!

Not a minute was wasted during Sheikh’s upskilling journey as he even used his break times during the DA programmes to form relationships with the other attendees! He was also given opportunities to establish rapport with their customers by sharing stories about how their SGTS products can support their strategic goals. 

 

 

“I found the GovTech Digital Academy to be an excellent resource for upskilling my competencies. The knowledgeable facilitators and exposure to practical components that can be easily applied to the workplace makes these programmes valuable investments. As someone who has attended multiple programmes, I highly recommend the GovTech Digital Academy for anyone looking to stay updated on the latest knowledge, create new relationships, establish rapport with other attendees and share your experiences with facilitators and fellow public officers."

Sheikh M Shaheed
Solutions Consultant, SGTS Customer Success, GDS Central, GovTech

NEXT STEPS: 

Sheikh is looking to elevate his skills by exploring programmes in Strategic Product Management, Technical Product Management and DevOps Development to add value to GovTech and the Singapore Public Service. 
 

EMBARK ON YOUR LEARNING JOURNEY: 

Through thoughtful consideration of the needs of his team and his customers, Sheikh identified areas where upskilling would improve his service delivery.

Keen to embark on your own learning journey?

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