Page 46 - FCW, October 2017

Harrell credits his expertise with having been on both sides of the procurement equation. He previously served as the virtual community manager for the President’s Daily Brief staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and now serves the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, NASA and the intelligence community, among other agencies, through his job as director of federal at Jive.
“The cool thing for me is I used to be a former customer,” he said. “Now, to go out in the field and see what the federal government is working with — that’s the fun part for me.”
Beyond his knowledge and expertise, “he’s someone who really focuses on relationships and business problems,” Steele said, “and the reason he’s so successful is he really spends the time trying to understand what the customer’s pain point is.”
— Chase Gunter
Fortunately, Krishna “exudes the necessary confidence,” which is especially important as the IRS transitions to agile development.
In her five years at the IRS, Krishna has facilitated efforts to modernize the agency’s taxpayer data system, helped develop more than 10,000 business requirements for three projects related to the Customer Account Data Engine, played a lead role in crafting a playbook for agile IT development, and served as a bridge between the agency’s leaders, business team and contractors.
Patrick Bolton, management
and business consulting lead at Integrated Systems, said Krishna leads the requirements development process for over 16 CADE-2 projects, providing day-to-day guidance and support, implementing change management strategies and inserting best practices along the way.
“She truly has been the glue between the business and the technology \[units\], working with the executive leadership, developers and business owners, all the way down to the end users,” Bolton said.
One trait consistently cited by colleagues is Krishna’s ability to build relationships at multiple
levels of an organization. She can identify concerns from rank-and-file employees and relay on-the-ground realities to agency leaders if a project appears to be going off-track.
“That takes a lot of work and insight to think big picture when you’re still thinking tactical and focusing on a specific business need,” Bolton said.
— Derek B. Johnson
Laura Larrimore
Senior Digital Strategist
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Public-facing platforms can go beyond facilitating transactions to offering agencies the opportunity to connect with Americans in a more meaningful way.
At the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, “we want to express humor and to let the public know there are people who are behind the scenes,” said Paul Rosenthal, USPTO’s acting chief communications officer.
Laura Larrimore is a linchpin
of those efforts. When it comes to coordinating digital communications, launching creative messaging campaigns and handling website governance, “Laura is an absolute rock star,” Rosenthal said.
She spearheaded the “People
of PTO” social media campaign
— similar to the “Humans of New York” viral hit — to showcase
the human side of those who handle intellectual property. And she tapped into the agency’s vast archive of patent applications for the #creepyIP campaign to spotlight creative (and spooky) intellectual property throughout the month of October.
“If it’s nerdy and strange, our agency is usually pretty into it,” Larrimore said.
Other people have also taken notice of her skills. The Commerce Department, USPTO’s parent agency, asked that Larrimore
take a lead role on the social media handoff during the recent
Priya (Ishu) I. Krishna
Information Technology Specialist and CADE-2 Requirements Program Manager
Internal Revenue Service
Although the vital work of developing business requirements for IT is often mundane, that doesn’t mean the job is without its pitfalls.
“Requirements can be somewhat controversial because everyone comes to the table with their own ideas about how it should be done,” said Debra Ware, a program manager at IRS contractor Integrated Systems.
26 October 2017 FCW.COM