It’s been a while since I started my current role at California Health & Human Services Agency, as a Product Owner for the Agency Data Hub, but I haven’t really had the opportunity to share until very recently.
I wanted to share this update because I finally have the time and energy to look back and reflect, and I am grateful and amazed at the journey I’ve been on for the past four years. A single post cannot begin to capture that journey, or the three years before it… I’ll need to write a book. Someday.
Four years ago I was asked to help build a “Research Data Hub” to improve the experience researchers have gathering and using sensitive data to inform policy makers with insights drawn from that data. Nothing like this happens quickly in an organization as large at the CalHHS Agency. We are now on the cusp of having a service we can offer within the Agency.
During that four years, we built the data and technology infrastructure for the MyChildcare.ca.gov web side in April 2020 (earned a nice award, with my name on it, but really it was for the team!), created an All-Hazards Dashboard that now provides near-real time situational awareness to Agency leaders and CalOES, and now we’re building an Equity Dashboard to help Agency and Department leaders identify communities that may be left behind or are missing out on services for which they are eligible. That’s just the very abbreviated version, and doesn’t include all of the amazing people that I’ve worked with.
The Dashboards are being built by two very capable product owners, with capable teams. My contributions there are more modest in the form of coaching the POs and scrum masters and providing data architecture guidance. My early role has been split into several people, leaving me with a little more room to pause and reflect (finally!). My focus right now is continuing to build and manage the platform itself and getting the service and delivery model fully baked. Someday I’ll be able to step away and go on the next adventure, and I don’t want to wait another four years to get to that point!
I’ve been in the middle of this amazing milieu of product development that has been going strong for four years. It’s astonishing (to me) how lucky I’ve been to be part of a second government startup (CWDS was the first) in my seven years with the State of California. This is really why I signed up… to align my skills and occupation with my values and work on interesting and important projects.
Who knows what happens next (career or life)? I feel like I am making a difference… that’s good enough for now.
Posted by David Sanabria 
Clobbered by Technology! 