Geospatial Technologies and

Leadership

Todd S. BacastowProfessor of Practice for Geospatial Intelligence

John A. Dutton e-Education InstituteThe Pennsylvania State University

October 5, 2008

Popular Mechanics, 1954???

Lesson: Things are often not always as they appear!

Picture submitted to an image modification competition in 2004, taken from an original photo found on U.S. Navy web site of a submarine maneuvering room console mock-up at the Smithsonian Institute in 2000.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp

GIS as it appears to the GP

But the:• Things are changing

Viewpoints Description

#1 - Technical Physical implementation.

#2 - Engineering Hardware and software components and infrastructure used in the system.

#3 - Services Interaction between components linked by communication networks, interfaces, operations, and rules.

In transition

Visualization

Spatial Analysis

Present/Future

Data Entry

&Conversion

Data Entry & Conversion

Spatial Analysis

Past/Present

Visualization

Implications

Past/Current

Data:

• Maps of how it was

• Static data sets

Current/Future

Analytics:

• Real time display of how is and how might be

• Continuous sensor-derived data

Why the change?

• Technology

Bell Eagle Eye UAV

9:15 am 10:15 pm4:30 pm

Population density (green is high) at different times during the day tracked by cell phone data. Rome, Italy, July 10, 2006.

Source: The Economist, March 10-16, 2007 p. 20.

Why the change?

• Doctrine of use– Persistent Surveillance

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike

GIS as it appears to the non-GP

Viewpoints Description

#1 - Information information (and information processing).

#2 - Services Interaction between components linked by communication networks, interfaces, operations, and rules.

#3 - Enterprise Business perspective, purpose, scope and policies.

• The non-GPs are the drivers of change!

© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium Interoperability Institute, Inc.

Viewpoints Description

Enterprise Business perspective, purpose, scope and policies.

Information Information and information processing.

Services Interaction between components linked by communication networks, interfaces, operations, and rules.

Engineering Hardware and software components and infrastructure used in the system.

Technical Physical implementation.

All are valid views

StateGovernment

Users

InternationalUsers

FederalGovernment

Users

CommercialUsers

CivilCommunity

Users

Citizens

IndigenousCommunity

Users

LocalGovernment

Users

AcademicUsers

BusinessProcesses

LocalGovernments

Other Standards-based Portals

BusinessProcesses

BusinessProcesses

Federal Government

State Government

BusinessProcesses

CommercialProviders

AcademicProviders

IndigenousGroups

Enterprise Information

Portal

A few observations!

Observation #1

• Large multi-stakeholder geospatial systems (LMGS) are a constantly changing, people-focused, self-generating network– Much like a living organism– The “life” is in the informal

networks, or communities of practice

• LMGSs are a network of continuously evolving infrastructures that are not owned and controlled by a singular organization.

• They are sponsored and supported by a community of stakeholders.

Observation #2

• You cannot direct the development of a LMGS organization; you can only influence it for limited periods of time in small and local ways.

• Participants choose what to pay attention to and how to respond when the event is meaningful to them.

Observation #3

• A successful LMGS contains both designed and unplanned parts.

• The challenge is to find the right balance between the creativity of the unplanned emergent elements and the stability of designed parts.

Observation #4

• Leadership in LMGSs is key• Effective leadership is often

the antithesis of good (usual) management practice

Observation #5

Management as usual

• Henri Fayol (1841-1925)• 5 functions of effective

management:– Planning– Organizing– Commanding– Coordinating– Controlling

• Great influence on military-like organizational structures

Effective LMGIS Leadership

• 3 key leadership functions:– Promote parallel thinking– Create a climate for innovation– Promote a systems perspective

LMGS Leadership paradoxes

• Effectiveness is often inversely proportional to busyness.

• The most important results are largely unnoticed and unappreciated.

• The more control the leader has, the less effective they are.

• Oftentimes doing nothing is best. • Them doing something poorly is sometimes

better than the leadership doing it well. • If a decision is liked this week, it will not be

next week; if it’s liked by this organization, it will not work in the next.

• The leader’s individual successes guarantee nothing.

• The more the leader protects their job, the less secure they are.