Resources
The following are reference materials for the IT Strategy team to use.
These materials are meant to be sources of inspiration, guidance, or policies that we need to consider when crafting our strategies.
Don’t hesitate to send us proposals of books, articles, videos or even policies!
ESDC and GoC Specific Links
Tools and Services
These tools are all publicly available, meaning information should be transitory and no protected information should be sent or discussed. They are intended for informal collaboration and information sharing. For further guidance on working in the open, please refer to the following blog on Working in the Open.
| Category | Name | Description | Open source software | Software as a Service (SaaS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Network | GCCollab | Social network internal to Government of Canada, enabling collaboration between employees of various GoC departments as well as with members of the Canadian university communities. Elgg instance. | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - Channel-based | Element (formerly Riot) | All-in-one secure decentralized IM service supporting E2E encrypted messages for teams, friends and organisations. Formerly known as Riot, part of the open Matrix network. | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - Channel-based | Framateam | Free instant messaging service that allows you to communicate with your team by notifying your colleagues, keep track of your conversations and do research. | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - Channel-based | Gitter | A discussion and networking platform that helps manage, develop and connect communities by combining messaging, content and discovery. | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - Channel-based | GCmessage | Channel-based instant messaging internal to Government of Canada, enabling collaboration and discussions between employees of various GoC departments as well as with members of the Canadian university communities. Rocket Chat instance. | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - Channel-based | Rocket Chat | Communication Hub supporting channel-based discussions. Used to power GCmessage. | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - Channel-based | Slack | Channel-based instant messaging service; an account can be created using the professional email address. | No | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - One-to-One (or Many) | Jami | Decentralized and encrypted instant messaging application. | Yes | No |
| Instant Messaging - One-to-One (or Many) | Signal | Encrypted instant messaging service. | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - One-to-One (or Many) | Telegram | Encrypted instant messaging service (note: encryption is not enabled by default). | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - One-to-One (or Many) | Threema | Encrypted instant messaging service. No need to provide a phone number. | Yes | Yes |
| Instant Messaging - One-to-One (or Many) | Wire | Encrypted instant messaging service. | Yes | Yes |
| Videoconferencing | Jitsi Meet | No account needed | Yes | Yes |
| Videoconferencing | BigBlueButton | - | Yes | Yes |
| Videoconferencing | Zoom | - | No | Yes |
| Videoconferencing | Google Meet | - | No | Yes |
| Videoconferencing | Skype | - | No | Yes |
| Videoconferencing | Blue Jeans | - | No | Yes |
| Text Editor (real-time) | Framapad | Real-time collaboration for text editing, offers open and private pads; no account required for open pads. | Yes | Yes |
| Text Editor (real-time) | Wikimedia Etherpad | Real-time collaboration service for text editing, open to everyone to read and write (Doesn't offer accounts) | Yes | Yes |
| Text Editor (real-time) | HackMD | Real-time collaboration service for Markdown document editing, offers open and private notes; account not required for basic usage. | Yes | Yes |
| Task Management (Kanban) | Trello | - | No | Yes |
| Whiteboard | Miro | - | No | Yes |
| Whiteboard | Framamemo | Service offering "Post-it" type of notes | Yes | Yes |
| Mindmap | Coggle | Mindmap service; requires account. | No | Yes |
| Mindmap | Framindmap | - | Yes | Yes |
| Mindmap | Freeplane | Mindmap desktop application. | Yes | no |
| Project Management | Asana | - | No | Yes |
| Project Management | Taiga | - | Yes | Yes |
| Ad-hoc Document Sharing | Framadrop | Large files; no account needed. | Yes | Yes |
| Ad-hoc Document Sharing | Framabin | Text; no account needed. | Yes | Yes |
| Ad-hoc Document Sharing | Framapic | Images; no account needed. | Yes | Yes |
| Ad-hoc Document Sharing | Framalink | URL shortener; no account needed. | Yes | Yes |
| Survey | Framadate | Simple voting service, for dates or multiple choices. | Yes | Yes |
| Survey | Framavox | Community and decision management service, offering multiple types of voting mechanisms as well as discussion threads. | Yes | Yes |
| Forms | Framaforms | - | Yes | Yes |
| Hangout Space | Hubs by Mozilla | - | Yes | Yes |
| Development | GitHub | Decentralized version control service. | No | Yes |
| Development | GitLab | Decentralized version control service. | Yes | Yes |
| Development | Framagit | Decentralized version control service. | Yes | Yes |
| Development | VS Code | Highly customizable code editor. | Yes | No |
| Development | VS Code Live Share | Visual Studio Live Share enables you to collaboratively edit and debug with others in real time | No | Yes |
| Design | Draw.io | No account required | Yes | Yes |
| Design | Canva | Design infographics, cards, etc. | No | Yes |
| Design | XD | High fidelity mock up tool with collaborative features | No | Yes |
| Design | Figma | An interface design application that runs in the browser | No | Yes |
| Design | Sketch | An application for creating, prototyping, collaborating and converting ideas into real products. | No | No |
General
A list of interesting and useful resources for a digital organization.
| Type | Name | Description | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Podcast | Software Engineering Daily | Daily interviews about technical software topics | Software Engineering, Innovation |
| Website | DARPA | Mission is “to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security” | Innovation, Security, Organization |
| Website | Policy Horizons Canada | Federal government organization that conducts foresight. Mandate is to help the GC develop future-oriented policy and programs that are more robust and resilient in the face of disruptive change on the horizon. (specific content available on SharePoint) | Policies, Innovation, Organization |
| Website | Digital Taiwan (DIGI Taiwan) | To accelerate industrial innovation, to create smart Taiwan | Other Countries, Digital Services, Innovation |
| Website | Italy Guidelines on the acquisition and reuse of software for public administrations | Italy's Guidelines | Other Countries, Software Acquisition, Guidelines |
| Website | Australia Digital Transformation Strategy | Australia's website on Digital Transformation Strategy | Other Countries, Strategies |
| Website | US Digital Services Playbook | Website presenting the US Digital Services Playbook | Other Countries, Playbook |
| Document | Enterprise DevSecOpsReference Design (2019) | Document presenting the DevSecOps entreprise reference design for the United States of America Department of Defence. | Other Countries, DevSecOps |
| Podcast | Lex Fridman Podcast | Podcast hosted by Lex Fridman who researches human-centered AI, deep learning, autonomous vehicles & robotics at MIT and beyond | Artificial Intelligence |
| Article | An overview of National AI Strategies | Summary of 26 countries' Artificial Intelligence strategies. Canada amongst that list. | Artificial Intelligence |
| Article | Open sourcing policy models - Australian data sharing agreement with LinkedIn | FWD50 Medium Article going over how open source models are used in government to inform public policies. | Artificial Intelligence, Open Source Software, FWD50 |
| Document | Finland AI Strategy | Document presenting Finland's Artificial Intelligence Strategy | Other Countries, Artificial Intelligence |
| Video | Black Hat USA 2019 Keynote : Every Security Team is a Software Team Now par Dino Dai Zovi | Keynote speaker from Blackhat 2019. | Security, Software |
| Video | Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others | Talk summarizing the book Borrowing Brilliance by David Murray | Book Summary, Innovation |
| Video | Mastering Chaos - A Netflix Guide to Microservices | An excellent talk by Director of Operations Engineering about Microservices at Netflix | Microservices, Operations, Engineering |
| Learning Resource | AWS Certifications | A host of AWS Certifications including Solutions Architecture, SysOps Administrator, DevOps Engineer, Machine Learning Speciality, Big Data, and more. Lots of online material available to study including AWS Tutorial Series and their own documentation such as the AWS Well-Architected Framework. The most popular certification is the Associate Solutions Architecture Certification and a free online course for it can be found here. | Certification, Cloud, AWS, DevOps, SysOps, Big Data, Solution Architecture |
| Learning Resource | Certifications Azure | Offers a list of certifications and associated online training to prepare. | Certification, Cloud, Azure, DevOps, SysOps, Big Data, Solution Architecture |
| Learning Resource | MOOC | Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free online courses available for anyone to enroll. MOOCs provide an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills, advance your career and deliver quality educational experiences at scale. | Free Courses, Online Courses |
| Learning Resource | Coursera | Develop your skills with online courses, certificates and diplomas offered by the best universities and companies in the world. | Free Courses, Online Courses, Certifications |
| Learning Resource | Udemy | Online learning platform aimed at professional adults and students that has more than 50 million students and 57,000 instructors teaching courses in over 65 languages. | Free Courses, Online Courses |
| Learning Resource | Khan Academy | Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization that produces short lessons in the form of videos covering a wide variety of topics. | Free Courses, Online Courses |
| Learning Resource | Canada School of Public Service - Language maintenance tools | Second language maintenance tools offered by the Canada School of Public Service. | Second Language, Maintenance Tools |
| Learning Resource | Public Service Commission - Self-assessment tests | Public Service Commission second language self-assessment tests | Second Language, Self-assessment |
| Learning Resource | Derek Banas | Great fundamentals programming tutorials for many languages and tools including Java, PHP, Python, C++, Javascript, MySQL, and more! | Tutorials, Programming fundamentals, Java, PHP, Python, C++, Javascript, MySQL |
| Learning Resource | 3Blue1Brown | Combination of math and entertainment. The goal is for explanations to be driven by animations and for difficult problems to be made simple with changes in perspective. Has videos on blockchain, and Neural Networks, for example. | Math, Logic, Entertainment, Blockchain, Neural Networks |
| Learning Resource | Brilliant | Brilliant creates a culture of learning around inquiry, curiosity, and openness to failure. All courses are written with these principles of learning in mind. Has great courses from mathematical foundations to quantum computing and neural networks. Has a mobile application as well. | Learning, Research, Curiosity, Openness to failure, Math, Quantum Computing, Neural Networks |
| Report | World Economic Forum - Accelerating Workforce Reskilling for the Fourth Industrial Revolution | 35% of the skills demanded for jobs across industries will change by 2020 | Learning Culture, High Performing Organization, Strategy |
| Report | Learning Culture, High Performing Organization, Strategy | ||
| Report | LinkedIn Workplace Learning & Development Report 2018 | Survey of approximately 4,000 professionals regarding learning and development in the workplace. "The #1 challenge for talent development is getting employees to make time for learning" | Learning Culture, High Performing Organization, Strategy |
| Report | U.S. L&D Report: 2019: Learning Trends and Benchmarks | Learning trends in the workplace. Link to PDF without registration. | Learning Culture, High Performing Organization, Strategy |
| Article | HR Certification Institute - 6 Guidelines for Building a Learning Culture | Learning Culture, High Performing Organization, Strategy | |
| Article | Eight Steps to Build a Learning Culture in Your Organization | Learning Culture, High Performing Organization, Strategy |
Books
List of books read by the team members and used for their work. Some of the books listed have also been introduced to the team by other public servants as well as from the members of the public.
| Title | Author | Published | Publisher | Language | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossing the Chasm | Geoffrey A. Moore | 2014 | HarperCollins Canada | English | Scaling up and technology adoption for startups |
| Good Strategy Bad Strategy | Richard Rumelt | 2011 | Publisher | English |
Clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy. A good summary of the book can be found here Also available as an audiobook |
| Accelerate | Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim | 2018 | IT Revolution | English |
The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations Also available as an audiobook |
| Project Retrospectives | Norm Kerth | 2001 | Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated | English | |
| An empirical analysis of the levers of control framework | Sally K. Widener | 2007 | Elsevier | English | |
| Implementing performance measurement innovations: evidence from government | Ken S. Cavalluzzo and Christopher D. Ittner | 2004 | Elsevier | English | |
| Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking | Gerald M. Weinberg | 1992 | Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated | English | Tackles the first requirement for developing quality software: learning to think correctly – about problems, solutions, and quality itself. |
| The Phoenix Project | Kevin Behr, George Spafford, Gene Kim | 2013 | IT Revolution | English |
A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win. Part 1 available as an audiobook |
| The DevOps Handbook | Gene Kim, Jez Humble, John Willis, Patrick Debois | 2016 | IT Revolution | English |
How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations. Available as an audiobook |
| The Unicorn Project | Gene Kim | 2019 | IT Revolution | English | This is a story about rebel developers and business leaders working together and racing against time to innovate, survive, and thrive in a time of unprecedented uncertainty…and opportunity. |
| War and Peace and IT | Mark Schwartz | 2019 | IT Revolution | English |
It is time to change not only the enterprise’s relationship with technology, but its relationship with technologists. To accelerate, enterprises must bring technology to the heart of their work, for just as technology is causing this disruption, it is technology that provides the solution. Available as an audiobook |
| The Open Organization | Jim Whitehurst, CEO RedHat | 2015 | Harvard Business Review Press | English | Successful organizations need open leadership. The world has changed. Companies that want to grow (and succeed) can’t operate in the past. The Open Organization is for leaders who want to create business environments that can respond quickly in today’s fast-paced world. It’s for those who want to encourage the best ideas, hear honest advice, and attract (and retain) the brightest talent. |
| Chess and the art of enterprise architecture | Gerben Wierda | 2015 | R&A | English | Enterprise Architecture is the discipline of managing the complexities of the Business-IT landscape. [...] In this book, (hidden) assumptions behind the existing approaches to enterprise architecture are challenged, and a more realistic perspective that helps us battle the complexities and unpredictabilities of today’s Business-IT landscapes is described. |
| The Art of Business Value | Mark Schwarts | 2016 | IT Revolution | English |
Playful and thought-provoking, iconoclastic CIO Mark Schwartz explores what business value means, why it matters, and how it should affect your software development and delivery practices. Available as an audiobook |
| A seat at the table | Mark Schwartz | 2017 | IT Revolution | English |
Iconoclastic CIO Mark Schwartz reveals how IT leaders must throw off the old attitudes and assumptions and claim their rightful seat at the C-suite table. Available as an audiobook |
| Project to Product | Mik Kersten | 2018 | IT Revolution | English | Explains why the project model is dated and suggests the Flow Framework to transition to a product based delivery model |
| Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction | Philip E. Tetlock (Author), Dan Gardner | 2016 | Broadway Books | English | Everyone would benefit from seeing further into the future, whether buying stocks, crafting policy, launching a new product, or simply planning the week’s meals. Unfortunately, people tend to be terrible forecasters. [...] What makes some people so good? And can this talent be taught? |
| Team Topologies | Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais | 2019 | IT Revolution | English | Focuses heavily on Conway’s Law and suggests how organizations can better manage teams within organizations. |
| ATD's Foundations of Talent Development: Launching, Leveraging, and Leading Your Organization's TD Effort | Elaine Biech | 2018 | ATD Press | English | Top-performing companies are almost five times more likely than lower performers to have extensive learning cultures. Employees in high-performing organizations share knowledge with their colleagues at a rate four times greater than that of workers in lower-performing firms. |