Centers of Excellence - Data Science
Client: The Veterans Affairs
The Challenge:
The Veterans Affairs has over 30,000 data science professionals employed within their ecosystem. However, the organization lacked a common understanding of the capabilities and skills required of their team members, as well as a systematic approach to identifying upskilling needs.
The Solution
I partnered with key stakeholders to develop a comprehensive framework for the Veterans Affairs approach to learning and development. The framework included a plan to both stand up the L&D functions, as well as to operate the function going forward in a way that identifies the needs of both the organization and individuals.
The Results
While the organization lack a systematic approach to L&D, a lot of learning efforts occurred throughout the Veterans Affairs ecosystem. We planned and executed interviews with a variety of team leads and individual contributors to understand what was working and what opportunities for improvement existed. Ultimately, we were able to position the VA’s Data Science Center of Excellence at the center of a “wheel and spoke” structure. The Center would serve as a source of best practices, as well as a coordinator between the needs of individuals and the organizational training opportunities that existed throughout the system. For the first time, the Veterans Affairs had a window into the vast efforts that were occurring around data science, and an approach to connecting these efforts in a way that support innovation and efficiency.