On August 20th, 2020, an off-season solicitation hit the Coast Guard’s message board requesting officers to fill out a Data Readiness Task Force (DRTF). This inception of the DRTF was aggressive. The message was posted on August 20th with a response deadline of August 28th. Which meant to answer the solicitation, the issue would have to be raised to an officer’s current command, and their current command would have to endorse their departure and address any backfill requirements for that officer’s position, in addition to acceptability of any gap that could result if backfill is not possible. All of this would have to be accomplished within what amounts to a work week. Similarly, the solicitation was requesting at least eleven officers do this. All while communicating members who apply should anticipate a report date in the Fall of 2020 (quickly). Further compounding these aggressive issues, the typical transfer season for Active-Duty Coast Guard members is June/July each year. So many officers had just reported to new units a month or two ago. Undoubtedly, new units would not be keen to see their newly reported talent depart so quickly.
These fast deadlines were accompanied by an even more aggressive charter document that outlined the goals for the DRTF, to include (in simple terms), standing up a Coast Guard central data lake, in addition to standing up a central analytics office for the Coast Guard.
Like I stated in a previous post, I was very happy in the U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of Requirements and Analysis (CG-771). I had a great command that was supportive of my aggressive, if not reckless, pursuit of analysis/mathematics. Howbeit, there was the underlying sickness I previously identified. The cultural sickness which was a result of messy data. Again, data scientists in the Coast Guard are empowered to turn away customers due to data quality. And similarly, customers were discouraged from informed solutions because they felt shame over data quality.
I quickly recognized the solicitation and the aggressive charter for the DRTF to be (at some level) acknowledgment from the Coast Guard of problems I had quickly identified as I began my work as an analyst. And ultimately, I found my conscience wrestling with the question, “How could I continue to be an analyst in this organization, if I did not at least offer to be a part of the solution to the problem?”
R 20 AUG 20 BT UNCLAS //N01321// ALCGOFF 138/20 SUBJ: OFF-SEASON SOLICITATION FOR 11 OFFICERS (O5-O3) TO SERVE IN THE DATA READINESS TASK FORCE(DRTF) IN COMMANDANT CG-09.
- Visit the AY21 Shopping List on the OPM-2 Portal page for details at: http://cglink.uscg.mil/cb33598e. Off-Season positions are highlighted in red and can be sorted by “OFF-SEASON” under the “Reason Shopped” category (column K).
- Interested active duty and reserve officers should submit an e-resume by COB 28 August 2020. Members applying should anticipate a report date in the fall of 2020 if selected. Requests for consideration shall include a command endorsement addressing backfill requirements and acceptability of a potential gap.
- Any members who are unable to access the shopping list via CG Portal should submit a help ticket to CGFIXIT. Units or Reserve Officers experiencing connectivity issues should request a copy for further dissemination by command cadre by contacting XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX@uscg.mil.
- Internet release authorized. BT
These views are mine and should not be construed as the views of the U.S. Coast Guard.