At Interface Magazine, we talk a lot about humanising technology. In our previous discussions with IT experts at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it’s become clear that this is an organisation that values the American people it serves, and how technology can help them. As part of USDA’s 2024-2026 AI Strategy, leadership and task force teams led by OCIO’s Enterprise Data Management Center, Fátima Terry, USDA’s former Digital Service Deputy Director, experienced first hand how AI was massively transforming the federal government and the future of servicing the American people.
Terry began her career as an Industrial Organisational (IO) Psychologist. At its core, this is someone who simply understands people in the workplace and seeks to improve the effectiveness, health, and well-being of employees and organisations. As a first generation immigrant, Terry was very much in charge of carving out her own path. This made the decision of what direction to move in a challenging one, leading her to talk more with mentors across the psychology and academic community.
Eventually, this led her to pursue a Master’s in IO psychology. “It was all about understanding business, people, and how they combine in a healthy way to grow, enhance, and positively influence an organisation’s impact,” she explains. “That requires connecting with and valuing people to be able to help them, which has always been my passion.”
Creating the USDA Digital Service Team
When we spoke to Arianne Gallagher-Welcher, the conversation was around the USDA OCIO (Office of the CIO), of which the USDA DS is a segment. The USDA DS is based on a 2021-2022 project led by USDA Senior Advisors for Delivery. This work included a great deal of data-driven and human-centred design practices, which resulted in better technology, efficiency, and programmatic outcomes. In 2022, the OCIO proposed an expansion of this concept that would incorporate goals and strategies outlined in the USDA IT Strategic Plan.
As a result, the USDA DS was authorised towards the end of 2022. Gallagher-Welcher joined the OCIO around this time and mapped out the design and processes for the DS office, bringing in top tech talent in order to systematically remove organisational roadblocks and progress technological transformation within USDA. In Spring 2023, the USDA DS was tasked with taking over the IT Workforce Program portfolio, which is an essential enabler to advance the strategic direction and priorities under USDA’s IT Strategy and Workforce Strategy. The result was adding new people to the team, including Terry.
“Our mission – alongside the execution, implementation, and advancement of digitisation within the government – was to hire the best of the best in technology experts,” Terry explains. “People who can come in, advise, and guide us. When it comes to changing cultures and mindsets, we have to be mindful to get it right. At the end of the day, whoever these experts impact in terms of their leaders, supervisors, teams, projects – it’s really a part of an effort to help advance and support everyone at the Department and the American people we serve. They could be completely disbanding a legacy system or platform, implementing a new one, or figuring out how to connect one with others,” Terry explained.
Sharing a Vision
For Terry and the team, the focus was on cross-pollinating knowledge while executing a shared vision. Having a steady rotation of experts coming in to expose how the Digital Services team does things, sees things, and implements things has allowed everyone to have a clearer idea of their own direction and goals.
“We could then mirror or create new things based on that infrastructure, there were beams we’re setting into the floor so that folks can create on top of them,” says Terry. “I found it really exciting, because we didn’t know what we’re going to get until we’re building.”
All of this speaks to something we discussed in-depth with Gallagher-Welcher back in February 2024 – that the OCIO (and, by extension, the USDA DS) is driving innovation across the entirety of the USDA. It’s a necessary evolution for the organisation, and one that’s in the best possible hands.
