WIESBADEN, Germany – It sounds like a Hollywood script – a large, world-class organization assembles a team of specialists adept in unique technological skill sets to confront an ongoing challenge.
And while the term “hacking” usually evokes images of hooded figures in dark rooms, the opposite was true for the tech-savvy masterminds gathered in a spacious, well-lit conference area at Installation Management Command-Europe headquarters here Aug. 19-22 for its first Innovation Forum, or “Hackathon.”
The event was more aligned to the concept of “life hacking,” which identifies innovative techniques and strategies to solve problems and streamline activities to create efficiency and productivity.
As such, IMCOM-E put out a call in July to its nine garrisons to nominate their best data analytics specialists, cloud computing professionals and coding experts to form a region team to tackle command-wide issues to simplify processes and improve quality of life. They came from Italy, Poland, Belgium and other countries, but the only languages they needed to be fluent in were Python, JavaScript, SQL and Power Fx.
The 14-member team’s recommendations to improve efficiencies focused on a human resources issue related to the awards system process and the proposed solution was designed so it can be further developed as a framework for other HR solutions related to Overseas Tour Extensions (OTEX), Living Quarters Allowance (LQA), and in/out processing. The team’s suggestions will now be implemented on a small-scale trail basis to test the revised procedures and measure results.
“I can’t reveal specifics without an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), and you probably wouldn’t understand the logic schemes and conditional effects anyhow,” said Coder Trinity X using a voice modulator from behind a haze-filtered glass partition, “but we were easily able to infiltrate the systems and manipulate the input parameters to skew the outcomes toward our desired results.”
Well, like with any big-screen adaptation, maybe that scenario didn’t exactly happen, but it’s based on true events, as Michele Friedrich, a Plans, Analysis and Integration Office specialist from USAG Stuttgart, did say the team’s efforts were successful in finding ways to help streamline processes and reduce time constraints.
“We did successfully develop a tech solution after day two,” she said. “The process for submitting awards will end up as a PowerApp and be much easier to submit and track. The PowerApp will save time and allow for tracking and streamlining of honorary awards for civilians and local nationals across IMCOM-Europe.”
“This is part of establishing a community of practice to find innovations and develop practical solutions to better deliver services in unique ways in a collaborative, unconstrained environment,” said IMCOM-E Director, Tommy R. Mize. “It unleashes the power of creativity to think beyond the problem and change the culture of how we view a problem set to move things forward faster in the absence of policy restrictions. Our people can generate ideas from different perspectives because we’re not just the providers of the services, but we are also users and customers of the processes.”
The Innovation Forum’s hackathon began with a preview for general audiences that was released via a warning order discreetly classified as “Unclassified” using standard military jargon and acronyms like “Alpha Time Zone” and “FRAGO,” while outlining three phases of “mission execution.” Of course, any potential blockbuster idea needs an enigmatic boss leading a catchy nick-named operations cell – in this case so innovative that it has two distinct designations: Jedi Cell and BEACON.
Enter one Col. Kirk Alexander, new IMCOM-E Deputy Region Director, who oversees the knowledge management and data analytics staffers from within covert sections of G-3, G-4, G-5, and G-6, that operate within a PG-13 environment and make up the Jedi Cell, or aforementioned “Built Environment and Analytics for Community Operations and Networks” team.
“IMCOM-E supports an environment that facilitates rapid innovation and allows for creative thinking to improve processes, break barriers, automate customer service and train the workforce using technology, data analytics, applications, and AI,” Alexander explained.
“The purpose of the hackathon,” he continued, “is to harness the technological experience, expertise, and capability that already exists within our organization to generate solutions to ongoing challenges in an environment free of limitations. It’s more than just about data analytics – it’s about allowing folks to think big.”
Cue Morgan Freeman-like voice over reading from the Hackathon WARNORD: “The present operational environment continues to evolve at all levels that routinely influence full-spectrum operations and require data-driven decision making. As a result, our processes must continue to evolve and adapt to this ever-changing environment with an emphasis on evaluating and improving our data-driven decision-making processes.”
To accomplish that, while the boss provides guidance and direction, there’s always a project leader (or three) working hard behind the scenes to make the whole thing run smoothly, and in this case it’s Taylor Wilson, Andrew Wiechkoske, and Luís Mitchell Jr., knowledge managers and data analysts on the IMCOM-E staff.
“We are the proponent for taking this vision and supporting leadership in identifying the overall governance process to include resourcing, educating, training, recurring, problem identification, and prioritization,” said Wilson.
“I hope this event establishes a free-to-join cohort of citizen developers, scientists, engineers, and everything in between, so long as it’s data-driven,” Wiechkoske added. “All that is needed is curiosity and a want to move IMCOM-E into the 21st century using tech.”
Another participant believes the Innovation Forum’s initial hackathon event can benefit programs and processes at all garrisons across the region in the future.
“I feel this inaugural session demonstrated the power of bringing minds from different areas of expertise together to tackle a collective problem,” said Jaime Belmont, a PAIO specialist from USAG Rheinland-Pfalz. “We didn’t need to only have people who were talented in data/IT involved - we needed our process folks, designers, leaders, analysts, and communicators to develop and deliver a cohesive product.
“The team that was assembled for the first session,” she continued, “was able to build an app, an SOP, a logo and title, notification automation and program health reports in two days that the G1 felt was ready to pilot and deploy. Without having multiple points of view to generate that 360-degree outlook on what right looks like and where potential issues may arise, we would not have had the collective success that we did.”
Belmont added that the solution deployed was a combination of many enterprise tools available – SharePoint Lists, Forms, Power Automate, Power Apps and Power BI.
While the success of this premiere may not be measured by an opening weekend gross, the producers of this franchise, however, envision many future sequels.
“As our people go back to their garrisons they will continue to collaborate and we plan to bring our experts together on a recurring basis to analyze ways to improve our services,” said Mize. “This program will be the engine that drives innovation across the region.”
As part of future on-location productions in Wiesbaden, the command has an open casting call out to the IMCOM-E workforce for those knowledgeable in data structure and algorithms, frontend and backend web development, databases, mobile app development, machine learning, coding languages, full stack software development tools, and related skill sets. Those interested can check with their garrison command teams for nomination procedures.
“I would encourage anyone with an interest in creative problem solving to attend the sessions that come next, in whatever capacity you can contribute to the effort,” added Belmont. “I personally felt that I would not be able to contribute much at all because I am not a coder, not a data nerd – I do enjoy puzzles, analytics, and integration which ended up bringing more to the table than I thought it would. Don’t let lack of IT experience limit your participation.”
That sentiment was echoed in the extended-cut director’s version by participant Rebecca Gallagher, a security manager from USAG Poland: “Collaboration is key. The hackathon highlighted the importance of cross-functional collaboration. By involving stakeholders from different areas, we were able to identify pain points and develop solutions that address real-world needs. Future hackathons could benefit from broader participation to ensure solutions are universally applicable and address diverse needs.”
“There is a lot of talent out there that does not need to be constrained to a single garrison or installation,” added Collin Guy, IT Director at USAG Bavaria. “I’m motivated by the fact that leadership sees the value in this work and facilitated an event where we could descope from our home stations and solve for a problem that all garrisons face, but perhaps they don’t have enough personnel, time, or experience to develop a solution on their own.”
“This effort involves everyone,” explained Mize. “It’s not just the initial group that attended this first event. It’s about changing the culture across our enterprise. Anyone who is sitting out there at their desk, working on a function and wondering ‘why am I doing it this way?’ can provide input and ideas. The only two things to consider are does it make it better for those we serve and does it make it better for those providing the service?”
“We don’t want people to worry about the costs, policy or resource constraints – those are things that can be worked out,” he added. “We want ideas.”
Scrolling credits:
Producer: IMCOM-Europe
Director: Tommy R. Mize
Associate Directors: Col. Kirk Alexander, Benjamin Witt, Taylor Wilson, Andrew Wiechkoske, Luís Mitchell Jr.
Starring (in alphabetical order by garrison):
Eric Archambault (USAG Ansbach)
Collin Guy (USAG Bavaria)
Hanna Kircheis (USAG Bavaria)
Christine Quijote-Oakes (USAG Benelux)
Anthony Abruscato (USAG Italy)
Bethany Huff (USAG Poland)
Rebecca Gallagher (USAG Poland)
Leopoldo Guerrero (USAG Poland)
Michael Birlin (USAG Rheinland-Pfalz)
Jaime Belmont (USAG Rheinland-Pfalz)
Michele Friedrich (USAG Stuttgart)
Tiara Haynes (USAG Stuttgart)
Kevin Hamilton (USAG Wiesbaden)
Esther Otis (USAG Wiesbaden)
IMCOM-E Supporting Cast:
Urania McCormick
Aaron Matsumoto
Christina Overstreet
Charlotte Justen
Enrique Rivera
Omar Primicias
Rick Hamby
Megan Miccio
Backgrounds, Set and Costume Design: U.S. Army
…
Post-credits scene:
“… and that’s how it works. I know that was a lot of specific technical information and detailed data subsets, but it’s important that you highlight all of that to explain the...” – Bethany Huff, USAG Poland.
Any similarities to anything similar are purely coincidental. The only animal harmed during production was a gel-filled, porcupine stress ball. No rights reserved. MMXXV.
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