To those who work within Hawaii’s tech community, the high caliber of local skill and talent comes as no surprise. But to others less familiar, the many examples of innovation and outright digital triumphs are not always so apparent.
For starters, state government, Hawaii’s largest employer, has had its own challenges with antiquated technology and efforts to modernize. When Gov. David Ige last year asked me to serve as state chief information officer, I admit to being surprised that the majority of the executive branch was still using an aging version of Lotus Notes for email, and any talk of signing documents electronically might as well have been a proposal to travel at the speed of light.
Less surprising was the stark reality faced across all sectors in Hawaii — public and private alike — that attracting and retaining skilled information technology (IT) workers continues to be difficult, particularly given the cost of living in paradise.
These were both the catalyst and recipe for success of Hawaii’s first state hackathon. Held from Aug. 27 to Sept. 24, the “Hawaii Annual Code Challenge” (HACC) served two purposes:
>> To enlist our tech community in developing innovative solutions to longstanding state challenges; and
>> To give individuals within that community the opportunity to showcase their skill and gain experience working on large enterprise systems that few other entities besides government can provide.
The latter is especially important. Like other industries, growing and maintaining a skilled IT workforce is critical to the Hawaii of tomorrow. It also puts our state in a better position to respond and take advantage of cyclical economic opportunities.
A slight twist on a traditional hackathon, the HACC took place over a month, not the usual overnight or weekend period, to provide maximum opportunity for participants to engage state personnel about fundamental processes, as well as procedural barriers to efficiency. Often, technology is the easy part.
Several state departments presented their “challenges” to the teams of coder participants, including the departments of accounting and general services, agriculture, health, and public safety, plus the office of the governor — each working with coders over the four weeks and making necessary data sets available. Also invaluable were our community partners such as the High Technology Development Corporation, Hawaii Open Data, DevLeague, XLR8UH, Sultan Ventures, Blue Startups and Empowered Presentations.
On Sept. 24, 27 teams of coders and other innovators converged on Aloha Tower eager to present their solutions to the HACC judges panel. The turnout was about three times a typical hackathon.
Receiving top honors were solutions aimed at addressing homelessness, improving the scheduling process for state correctional facility visitations, identifying locally grown or produced products, and providing resources to local college-bound students (see HACC.hawaii.gov).
The HACC was an example of thinking outside of the box by all involved. It infused innovation, collaboration, and rapid and agile prototyping, which has excited many of our IT professionals and operational business units within government. Proof concepts that are quickly translated to technical prototypes will allow departments and funding agencies to better visualize solutions and perhaps lead to shorter cycles of implementation to accelerate government IT modernization.
Speaking of modernization: I’m happy to report that the majority of the executive branch transitioned to Office 365 for email over the last year. And, after the governor’s office piloted electronic signature capability one year ago, there have been more than 65,000 eSign transactions (and counting) across departments, significantly improving government efficiency.
As for the HACC, if nothing else, I took away two things: that Hawaii has a talented and committed tech community second to none; and that success should be repeated. The second HACC is set for Aug. 26, 2017.
Todd Nacapuy is the chief information officer of the state of Hawaii.
