Photo By Tech. Sgt. Jordyn Fetter | Airmen participate in the Defense Executive Technology Entrepreneur Course hosted by...... read more read more
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AFWERX hosted the Defense Executive Technology Entrepreneur Course in partnership with Dcode at the Austin Hub March 25-28.
The course was held to offer Air Force personnel from locations across the world the chance to learn how to identify opportunities for innovation within their organizations, adopt different technologies, and collaborate with the private sector.
“We’re driven to disrupt the status quo and drive innovation within the Air Force, which is only possible if we enable Airmen to explore ideas that have the potential to increase mission effectiveness,” said Matthew Scott, AFWERX Austin director. “As a result of our drive to realize that purpose, AFWERX partnered with Dcode to develop a workshop that gives our personnel the tools to develop and implement improved processes and technologies in their units.”
Spanning the course of three days, the workshop covered topics like culture transformation, user-centered design, technology-based solutions, and rapid procurement.
“The latest DETEC in Austin, Texas, focused on helping people, who may or may not have the background experience, understand how innovation works and how to overcome barriers,” said Meagan Metzger, Dcode CEO. “We shared foundational knowledge to develop and evaluate innovative ideas, move those ideas into execution, learn how to tap into a broader network of innovators, and prepare the innovative ideas to be taken to scale.”
Learning objectives included understanding emerging technologies and the implementation process, enabling culture change and leveraging the current workforce and resources, facilitating the rapid adoption of tech, scoping and delivering prototypes that launch in two to three months, and effectively collaborating with private sector leaders.
“A lot of times waiting for ideas to come to fruition takes a year, two years, and the planning process is really long.” said Master Sgt. Andrea Jordan, 436th Contracting Squadron business operations director. “Innovation is supposed to be about doing things a lot quicker and sometimes we get set in our ways because that’s what’s comfortable—now it’s time to get uncomfortable to learn these processes, get these things in the hands of the end user and understand what their issues are and try to get to ‘yes’ a lot quicker than we have been.”
Due to cultural, procedural, and bureaucratic barriers, Airmen often don’t know where to start when exploring how to implement an idea in their units and are discouraged when they attempt to do so.
“We work at [the] operational [level], so a lot of these things we don’t see on a daily basis—in fact, most of it we don’t,” said 1st Lt. Nixie Mistri, 16th Contracting Squadron simplified acquisitions flight chief. “To be exposed to this information and to then go and see how I can implement this in my unit would make our mission partners’ lives so much easier. We’re just not exposed to this information, so coming out here, hearing it, taking notes, going back, is going to be really useful.”
By leveraging courses like DETEC that demonstrate how to develop, assess, and execute these innovative ideas with the help of connections throughout the Air Force innovation ecosystem, AFWERX and other units can show Airmen how to accomplish the innovation process effectively.
Dcode usually hosts courses for Department of Defense leadership but partnered with AFWERX to develop this program that hones in on the power of the Airmen doing the hands-on work in squadrons across the service.
“Some of the best innovators are the people in the field, on the ground, and those are the same people running up against bureaucracy, legal, and other barriers,” Metzger said. “Understandably, the people with the good ideas might eventually give up and leave the organization or simply stop trying to push for change. Training like DETEC is exciting because it equips those people to address the areas they see huge opportunity in for the Air Force.”
| Date Taken: | 04.10.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.15.2019 11:10 |
| Story ID: | 318123 |
| Location: | AUSTIN, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 195 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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