By Joe Garvey

Head shot of man
Ron Carlee

bet8体育娱乐入口斯特罗姆商学院和诺福克市之间的合作关系最近达到了一个里程碑.

The city’s Agile Academy, the flagship program of Agile Team Norfolk, celebrated the graduation of its 10th cohort at the Slover Library on March 23. The program, developed by ODU in 2018, is designed to enhance the efficiency, 诺福克市提供服务的有效性和公平性. With these new graduates, 近700名城市雇员接受了培训,并参加了改善工作场所和造福城市居民生活的项目.

“They are people deeply committed to public service,” said Ron Carlee, ODU公共服务学院的临床助理教授和开发的主要人员, 敏捷项目的展示和管理. “他们被迫与低效率、无效和不平等作斗争. 他们渴望发展新技能以应用于改进项目. 他们致力于为城市的组织和诺福克人民的生活带来积极的影响.”

本届毕业班共批准了来自13个城市部门的23个项目. 他们正在解决的问题包括简化停车服务人员的安排, 加强对工务人员的计算机培训, 为6个月或以下的被遗弃或成为孤儿的猫提供更好的照顾,为它们提供更好的生存机会,并改进坑洼发现和报告系统.

The program is getting results. Betty Meyer,敏捷团队Norfolk的协调员和项目经理 Norfolk Civic Lab, 回想起以前的一个项目,通过简单地确保在适当的网站上提供明确的说明,可以减少至少50%的许可文件的返工.

“I hear the little, 我们每天都要忍受的事情,不需要花费太多精力或金钱,就能让合适的人聚在一起找出解决方案,诺福克副城市经理凯瑟琳·怀特塞尔说. 这些都是敏捷设计要解决的问题.

A project from 2022 解决了填补难以填补的入门级职位和为居民提供自给自足的问题.

“我们所面临的挑战之一是弄清楚我们如何才能更高效地做事,以确保这一点, with the resources we have, we get as big a bang for our buck as we can,” said Meyer, 谁获得了ODU的学士和博士学位.

城市经理Larry“Chip”Filer说,敏捷培训从城市领导开始.

“Then as we started doing the cohorts, we realized, ‘哇, 我们需要在城市的各个层面进行整合,’” he said. ”,, in fact, 一些最好的想法来自那些在第一线的人, dealing with something every day. 我们真的很高兴我们能够在政府的各个层级中推行这一计划.”

The Agile Academy, which is conducted twice a year, 是否基于团队导向的持续改进的心态, customer-focused and data-informed. 该学院在9周内进行40小时的培训. 活动结束时,参与者向Filer和他的副手提交改进项目建议,以获得他们的批准.

The program applies concepts from Agile software development 公共行政对城市雇员的工作:团队合作, critical thinking, program evaluation, performance management, project management and equity. Class size is limited to 30 people. 经主管批准,任何员工都可以参加.

ODU的其他负责人是Aaron Arndt, chair of the Thurmond School of Professional Sales and Negotiations and professor of marketing; Vickie T. Carnegie, lecturer in the Strome College’s School of Public Service; and Tancy Vandecar-Burdin, director of ODU’s Social Science Research Center.

The program’s roots date to 2016, when Whitesell, then Virginia Beach’s director of strategy, transparency, innovation and resiliency, 请卡里帮助实施一个类似于丹佛峰学院的创新项目.

怀特塞尔于2017年来到诺福克担任副城市经理, 她“让我想办法实施这个项目, this concept of a culture of innovation,” Meyer said.

卡里在地方政府工作的背景——他曾担任夏洛特市的城市经理, North Carolina; county manager for Arlington, Virginia; and chief operating officer for the International City/County Management Association – made him an ideal choice to lead this effort, Meyer said.

“Parks and rec – he’s done that. Libraries – he’s done that,” Meyer said. “It’s not just delivering the skills, 这是一个能够将它与敏捷参与者每天所做的事情联系起来的问题. That’s so important.”

“What Dr. Carlee在过去五年中所做的不仅仅是我们的员工愿意参与和创新, 而是真正制定了一个如何有效地做到这一点的路线图,” Filer added.

ODU和该市之间最初的三年谅解备忘录在2021年又延长了三年, running through June 30, 2024.

迈耶希望该项目可以扩大到每年三次培训.

“We’re looking forward to the future,” she said. “我们正在利用培训来帮助改善住院医生的生活. That’s what it’s all about.”

上图:本届毕业班共通过了来自13个城市部门的23个项目. Photo courtesy of the City of Norfolk