Monday, July 5, 2010
It's been nearly 3 months since BP's offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon sank and created the largest oil spill in US history in the Gulf of Mexico. To combat this problem, more than 20,000 federal, state and local government personnel continue to work together to find a solution. With arguably one of the most complex responses to a massive disaster, how are all these people working together to solve this problem? There are a few lessons on collaboration that we can learn from the US response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
With all the people involved at various points in the process, from capping the well, to capturing the oil off the water, to protecting the coastline, there is a huge amount of information that is being created. To make sure that all the human effort is being spent in the most productive way, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said in a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable that "All of the federal, local and state agencies and private-sector entities involved in the effort are integrating their data to derive the most effective response." Lesson learned - during a major crisis, it's tempting to charge head long into fixing the problem. But, it's important to create an infrastructure that allows everyone to share what they've learned and what they know, so that the larger effort can proceed as efficiently as possible.
Since the beginning, the US Government has been pushing the "transparency" agenda. For the Government, their stakeholders are their citizens, and they're going to tell us what they know, as they begin to know it. As with most government projects, there will always be conspiracy theories and cries of "cover ups," but, for the most part, the collaborative response to the BP oil spill has "signified a new era of cooperation between the private sector and government agencies," as "all agencies involved are trying to be as transparent as possible, updating their websites and releasing information to the public." The lesson learned here is that it doesn't always matter so much if you have good news or bad news to share with your stakeholders, so long as you give an accurate telling of the news and are committed to a successful outcome. Getting caught flatfooted without having the information - that's the worst case scenario.
There's a difference between wanting to keep team mates and stakeholders up to date with information and coordinated, and being able to do that when there over 20,000 people involved. Luckily, internet technology continues to provide more and more opportunities to change the way things are done, and the response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf is no exception. In terms of pure communication tool the internet has been a huge ally to people who use things like Twitter feeds and live video chats on YouTube to get their message broadcast to the highest numbers of people possible. But, one of the more impressive uses of technologies that has been born from this oil spill is the Interactive Federal Oil Spill Map, which integrates data feeds from all the various agencies in a real time map. The map is a one-stop source that consolidates all the important data elements and projections, such as the trajectory of the oil spill, where the oil has come ashore, which fishing grounds are closed, impact on fish and game, and seafood safety. Lesson learned - use new technology make it as easy as possible for the team and stakeholders to understand the information that's relevant to them, rather than making them go on a scavenger hunt to find it.
It's hard to imagine the scope of a problem like this when it's reduced to headlines on the nightly news or a few numbers and charts, but the coordination of this massive response is providing a wealth of data on how to collaborate with a large team.
