Ms Jillian Chan, Senior Manager (Digital Strategy and Architecture / Strategy and Planning), Senior Manager (Technology Office), Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
“Design thinking, when done well, can help to save a lot of time on developing and reiterating solutions that users actually do not like”, says Ms Jillian Chan, Senior Manager (Digital Strategy and Architecture / Strategy and Planning), Senior Manager (Technology Office), who was part of 15 employees from The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) that attended a three-day Service Design Course from April to May 2022. This course is offered by GovTech Digital Academy (DA), a ‘Practitioner-for-Practitioner’ academy set up to groom future-ready digital leaders and officers to accelerate public sector’s digital transformation to support the Smart Nation initiative. NUS-ISS is appointed by GovTech as its Operations Partner of DA since its inception in 2021.
“I have picked up several practicable applications through the course and no longer think of design thinking to be idealistic and theoretical,” she adds.
Delivered by NUS-ISS lecturers, the training was customised to include Design Sprints to upskill the team in facilitation techniques as tailored to the needs requested by CAAS.
CAAS Deputy Director (Digital Transformation), Ms Chee Yen Ting, who is also an alumna of NUS-ISS’ Master of Technology in IT Leadership* (now known as Master of Technology in Digital Leadership) arranged for her team to take up the course based on her positive learning experience and ability to learn relevant skills.
Beyond Service Design, this was followed by 12 coaching sessions distributed across three 5-member teams, as they took on different challenges to reinforce skillsets taught during the three day course. Read on as we sat with Jillian to find out more on her learning experience:
1. How was your personal experience with the service design course?
Jillian: It was a very enriching experience filled with design thinking facilitation methodologies. We began with a brainstorming session to come up with many ideas. It took discipline and focus to narrow down ideas to one single standout concept which we prototyped and tested on for a problem statement. The instructors and facilitators were down-to-earth, making theoretical concepts easy to understand and apply. This allowed my teammates to readily engage and immerse ourselves actively during the course, as we had fun and bounced off ideas with one another.
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Class in action during their design sprint, led by Chief, Ms Lim Wee Khee, Senior Lecturer and Consultant Mr Eugene Wong and Ms Vivien Chan, Lecturer and Consultant from the NUS-ISS Digital Innovation and Design Practice team.
2. How has the course benefitted you in your job role and organisation at CAAS?
Jillian: My greatest takeaway is to apply design thinking and sprints as a way to solve problems in a user-centric and well-rounded manner. Not only is it a useful course for staff and management alike, I learnt to not jump to solutions quickly, to focus on identifying user needs in depth before solving problems especially in today’s fast paced, result oriented, indigestion work culture. Plus, to think out of the box and tap on a pool of diverse knowledge.
3. Share an example on how the skills and knowledge gained during your learning journey will be applied to your current workflow and operations in CAAS?
Jillian: The skills I have picked up are useful in digital transformation initiatives where users are at the heart of the solution and problems can be complex and multi-faceted. Through the course, I am now attuned to the need for clear prioritisation based on user needs so as to achieve great impacts and outcomes. For example, improving end-user IT services for CAAS staff – we need to understand the user journey in depth, need to empathise with user at each stage of process, propose and iterate on solutions quickly but meaningfully.
4. How do you view NUS-ISS's role in your future training and development?
Jillian: I am keen to take up other courses in digital strategy & leadership, cybersecurity, digital innovation & design such as UIUX design.
5. What is your advice for future participants?
Jillian: Take a step back, look at the intent and bigger picture, focus on the customer and the problems you are trying to solve – before jumping into finding solutions and problem-solving. Let your creative juices flow – learn to be a ‘kid’ again in terms of being curious, ask why and be open to new ideas and testing out solutions.
For more information on NUS-ISS' Executive Education Programmes in Digital Innovation and Design, visit here.
For more information on GovTech Digital Academy corporate classes for public officers, visit here.