As corporate chief strategist with the Ontario Ministry of Government Services (MGS), Rob Dowler is responsible for developing government-wide IT strategies and policies. Dowler recently spoke with senior writer Lisa Williams about I&IT procurement within MGS; his take on open source software, Facebook and going back to school; and how he stays in shape with distance running.
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Open source and common componentsQ. There's been a lot of hype around social networking software; yet collaborative tools like Facebook, for one, has been quashed as a tool in the government workplace. What's your take on this issue?
A. Most analysts agree that the role of the Web is expanding, from Web 1.0 which was focused on e-commerce to Web 2.0 which is introducing new services focusing on people and collaboration.
Ontario has used I&IT resources for many years to support collaboration and consultation among staff and with the public. Through our CCAS program, we offer our own Collaboration Tool Service (CTS), which cluster and ministry staff can make use of.
This service enables staff to share, communicate and collaborate with co-workers or colleagues from other OPS offices, regardless of location. It includes a discussion board, document sharing, instant messaging, who's online, linking to personal calendars, e-mails, and address books, issue tracking, interactive polling and shared bookmarks. CTS was developed and refined over a series of highly successful, cross-ministry pilots using open source Plone/Zope technology.
Ontario, like many other organizations, sees the value in private sites such as Facebook or MySpace, but they are primarily social networking tools, for personal rather than business use. Through applications like CTS, and related Web 2.0 practices like wikis or blogs, we hope to work with clusters and ministries to improve our ability to work collaboratively across organizational boundaries or to span geographic distances.
Facebook ban a knee-jerk reaction, say experts
Q. I understand you've successfully completed Harvard University's Strategic Management Program. You also have an extensive management background and you've won the IPAC Award for Innovative Management. What is it about executive management studies that appeals to you?
A. Staying in touch with business and policy schools is a great way to stay current. I've helped out as a guest lecturer at Queens, U of T (Toronto) and Ryerson University. Most recently, I've been working with the MBA students at the Rotman School of Management, on their integrative management challenge.
I have also managed to get back to school as a student every five years or so. Over the years, I've completed executive programs at Schulich (at York University), Queens and Harvard. It's a great way to develop new skills and gain new perspectives from international classmates.
Q. You've won a number of prestigious awards, and what interested me was the U.S. Consumer Agency Achievement Award. What specific work were you being recognized for and how did it come about that this was recognized by a U.S. agency?
A. In my previous job, I was assistant deputy minister responsible for Ontario's consumer protection program, among other things.
The U.S. and Canada both had a significant problem with criminal telemarketing "boiler-rooms," which preyed on seniors north and south of the border. The problem became so acute that it was the subject of a meeting between then President Clinton and former Prime Minister ChrC)tien.
We received the award from the U.S. National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators, as well as the Ontario Amethyst Award for setting up a cross-border strategic partnership, which was able to close down 38 boiler-rooms and return over $1.2 million to consumer victims in its first few months of operation.
It was a great learning experience, working with great people at three levels of government in Canada as well as two U.S. federal agencies.
Q. You're also a triathlete, canoeist and runner, having completed the Boston Marathon and the Canadian Half Ironman. Why is that something you wanted to tackle?
A. Distance running and triathlons are a great way to stay in shape and a good excuse to get together with friends during "conversational" training runs. As I get older and busier, there seems to be more conversation and less training.
Lisa Williams is senior writer with InterGovWorld.com. She can be reached at lwilliams@intergovworld.com
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