Stephanie Siow, Deputy Director, Innovation & Transformation and Workforce Transformation, Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI)

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

My role focuses on building digital capabilities within the Government, enabling public officers to effectively utilise digital technologies and product thinking approaches in their daily work. Additionally, I help leaders make informed decisions on technology implementation. 

Specifically, I develop capability development strategies and guidance for the public service. Thus far, my work encompasses: 

1. Training for senior leadership: I design and deliver training programmes for senior leaders, focusing on making informed trade-offs and decisions regarding technology adoption and implementation.  

2. Product management, web development, and UX design training: I conduct hands-on training for tech policy officers, equipping them with the skills to leverage technology in problem-solving. This ensures that the Government’s digital solutions are user-centric and effectively address citizens' needs. 

3. Product Team Funding Preparation (Pilot Stage): I am currently piloting a training programme for product teams seeking funding. This initiative helps teams articulate clear problem statements, define measurable metrics, and develop compelling proof-of-concepts. By improving the quality of funding proposals, we aim to accelerate the development and deployment of impactful digital solutions.

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

This year has been a whirlwind! I'm leading a project to enhance digital intuition and technological understanding among leaders across the entire Government. We aim to demystify the world of tech for government leaders, equipping them with the knowledge and intuition needed to navigate our increasingly digital landscape. 

Our mandatory training sessions address pressing questions that are top of mind for these leaders, such as:  

1. Why are our modernisation projects often lengthy, costly, and seemingly urgent? 

2. Why don't our products always achieve the traction we anticipate? 

3. What makes us vulnerable to cyber-attacks, who are our potential adversaries, and how can we bolster our defences? 

Tackling these complex issues required extensive research, including interviews with agencies about their case studies and past experiences. We then distilled this information and conducted pilot sessions to test our content and training formats. 

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This project has been particularly rewarding as it combines my passions for people development and digital technology. By fostering a more tech-savvy leadership, we hope to lay the groundwork for more effective, efficient, and secure government services in the digital age. 

3. What was one unexpected learning from 2024? 

My most significant insight this year has been the redefinition of my "team", inspired by Keith Ferrazzi's Leading Without Authority. Traditional organisational structures often operate in silos, relying on formal authority for action. However, today's complex, cross-cutting issues demand a paradigm shift. 

This year, my work has involved a diverse array of professionals: mentors, case writers, researchers, software engineers, UX specialists, programme designers, organisers, and domain experts from across the Government. I've come to realise that all these individuals, regardless of their departmental or organisational affiliations, form part of the same ‘team’ when working towards our shared goal and mission. 

Rather than focusing on formal authority, I now anchor conversations with this broader “team” on impact and solving problems. I find that this approach has fostered more collaborative and effective problem-solving and helps transcend traditional organisational boundaries. 

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

I'm eager to investigate the deployment of AI for continuous education in the public sector.  

Several promising applications have caught my attention: 

1. Customised and adaptive learning experiences: AI could tailor educational content to individual learners, adjusting difficulty and focus based on their progress and needs. 

2. AI-powered chatbots: These could offer real-time support and explanations, providing instant assistance to learners as they navigate difficult topics. 

3. Content recommendations: AI algorithms could suggest relevant materials based on a learner's interests, performance, and career trajectory for more target skills development.  

I think that these AI-driven tools have the potential to revolutionise how we approach professional development in the public sector, creating more efficient, engaging, and personalised learning journeys for civil servants. 

5. Everybody’s talking about AI today – give us your hot take on AI and what it means for the public sector. 

AI has seen exponential growth over the past two years, and Singapore is actively promoting its use across the public sector, industries, and consumers. 

Amidst the current hype, there's a risk of AI becoming a solution in search of a problem – a “hammer looking for a nail”. We must remember that AI is ultimately a tool that needs to solve real problems and make a tangible difference. We're already seeing impactful examples across healthcare, finance, and education. 

The true measure of AI's impact is not in the number of models deployed or prototypes built, but in how it fundamentally improves citizens' lives. 

To harness the potential of AI in the public sector, I think we must increase the adoption of AI tools and develop public officers' skills. For instance, Open Government Products' Pair uses LLMs to expedite email writing, research, and idea generation. Similarly, GovTech's AIBots allow any public officer to create an AI bot in just 15 minutes. 

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6. What are your priorities for 2025? 

Our focus is on scaling up successful pilot programmes like TechUp and training for senior leaders. Working with key partners, we aim to deliver comprehensive in-house digital, data, and AI training across the entire Government and better prepare us for the digital age. 

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

1. Solve real problems that make a real difference. From my experience with public sector hackathons, sprints, and workshops, identifying the right problem is the majority of the work. When we are clear about who the target user is, what the pain point is, and what the potential impact of solving the problem is, solutions become clearer and more effective.
    

2. Embrace failure. Good ideas are built on a graveyard of failures. Our team has not only delivered successful projects but also learned valuable lessons from failures. The key is to fail quickly and cheaply, then pivot to more impactful endeavours. 
    

3. Finally, recognise that the opportunity cost of not innovating is too high. Despite uncertainties about AI and the future, we cannot afford to stand still out of fear. 

8. Who inspires you today? 

Trailblazers who bridge the gap between cutting-edge tech and practical applications like Jessica Tan (previously the Co-CEO and Execute Director of Ping An Group) and Dr Andrew Ng (founder of DeepLearning.AI and Landing AI, co-founder of Coursera, Stanford professor and the man behind Google Brain). I especially appreciate how Dr Ng democratised AI education and wants to build widespread AI capabilities.