Kendra Wong, Senior Product Operations Specialist, Open Government Products (OGP), Singapore

1. How do you use technology/policy to improve citizens’ lives? Tell us about your role or organisation. 

I am in Product Operations at Open Government Products (OGP), an experimental development team that builds technology for the public good. We help accelerate digital transformation in the Singapore government by focusing on how technology can be used to improve public good. 

In Product Operations, I act as the bridge between the product team and the users. This involves a lot of user engagement and user empathy, as I engage product stakeholders to understand their priorities and voice their concerns with the product team.

I represent the users in product discussions, ensuring that the product is always focused on improving the user experience.  

On the flip side, I also become the voice of the product to users by sharing with them what the product can do for them, what is out of bounds, and what can be considered.

At the end of the day, what is important is that all stakeholders are aligned and are geared towards the same goal of bettering how we deliver public good to Singapore and Singaporeans. 

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2. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year? 

This year, my efforts have been focused on securing government communications for citizens, tackling in particular government impersonation scams.

I was part of the team that launched the gov.sg SMS channel in June 2024 to the Singapore public. We established a secure SMS infrastructure with an official sender ID.  

The goal was to create a single easily identifiable and trustworthy source for government communications via SMS, as part of combating government impersonation scams.

This marks the first step in securing official government communications channels, with more to come in the months ahead. 

For this project, I worked with a capable team of product managers, designers, and engineers to launch the product and policy within 6 short months.  

I was also grateful to have a highly-skilled, experienced team of product operations specialists to support me with the massive user onboarding exercise, as we were tasked to onboard the whole of government spanning over 100 government agencies, over 200 systems, and over 29,000 users.  

After engaging stakeholders across multiple government ministries and statutory boards to craft and implement the policy, working tightly with the product team to create a product that was secure, easy-to-use, and fit user needs, and multiple rounds of user engagement and a nationwide campaign, we got the project off the ground and running to today.  

My 2024 at work could not have been more hectic, memorable, and impactful! 

3. What was one unexpected learning from 2024? 

No man is an island - I understood this in theory, but I don’t think I fully embraced its meaning until we started the battle against government impersonation scams. 

From the engagement of multiple government bodies, to enlisting the help of various experts in their fields (be it national campaigns, user onboarding, design, security infrastructure, engineering, and so on), it is clear that the monumental effort needed to get this project off the ground was a result of everyone willingly and ably lending their expertise to the initiative.  

We could not have done this alone, and I’m excited to learn more from these talented individuals in the months ahead. 

4. What’s a tool or technique you’re excited to explore in 2025? 

The world of scams continually evolves, and it is getting harder to tell real from fake. I’m excited to learn just how much AI and deepfakes can do in this space and explore what we can do to combat this. 

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5. What are your priorities for 2025? 

• Maintain fitness and good health. 

• Develop myself professionally, especially on the technical and data fronts. 

• Cultivate a deeper understanding of myself and the people around me. 

7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators? 

Sometimes we need to take a step back and look beyond the immediate - the problems we have and the solutions we need to solve them may be right under our noses, but we need to actively create the space for it! 

8. Who inspires you today? 

As much of a cliche as it sounds, the people of OGP do.

Surrounding myself with these talented folk who have an overflowing energy for life - playing hard, exercising regularly, and going for all imaginable extracurriculars, all while creating impact day in and out at work, keeps me going too. 

This feature was made possible in partnership with Open Government Products (OGP).