WEBVTT 00:04.110 --> 00:06.600 - We're kicking off an effort where I'm calling NavalX, 00:06.600 --> 00:08.120 Naval Expeditions, right? 00:08.120 --> 00:10.760 Expedition is an arduous task, where you got 00:10.760 --> 00:13.650 to bring technology and courage 00:13.650 --> 00:15.750 and all your MacGuyver skills, 00:15.750 --> 00:17.720 all that together in one place. 00:17.720 --> 00:19.620 What this really is, it's not as much 00:19.620 --> 00:24.070 of like a glitzy innovation store as much a set 00:24.070 --> 00:26.379 of capabilities that anybody can access. 00:26.379 --> 00:29.629 (upbeat country music) 00:35.830 --> 00:38.350 - For the mission of NavalX, it's to facilitate a set 00:38.350 --> 00:40.860 of tools that will provide agility, 00:40.860 --> 00:44.460 both flexibility and speed to the Department of the Navy 00:44.460 --> 00:46.700 at the type of scale that we need in order 00:46.700 --> 00:48.010 to be a global competitor. 00:48.010 --> 00:49.280 We're going to do that by focusing 00:49.280 --> 00:52.490 on empowering the workforce at the lowest possible levels, 00:52.490 --> 00:55.213 and trying to decentralize the authority and the tools 00:55.213 --> 00:58.540 that they need to innovate at the speed and scale 00:58.540 --> 00:59.990 that is required. 00:59.990 --> 01:02.830 - So when I talk about agility, what I'm really focused 01:02.830 --> 01:05.788 on is the velocity of an organization 01:05.788 --> 01:09.510 and how fast can it seize opportunities 01:09.510 --> 01:12.350 as they present themselves, react to a new challenge 01:12.350 --> 01:15.460 that comes out, or leverage an idea 01:15.460 --> 01:17.620 and get it all the way through the system. 01:17.620 --> 01:19.990 And so as we think about agility at the scale of the Navy, 01:19.990 --> 01:21.810 that's a pretty challenging problem. 01:21.810 --> 01:24.780 We've got a lot of folks who are interested in innovation 01:24.780 --> 01:26.360 and pushing the envelope. 01:26.360 --> 01:28.097 What we really need to do now is tie all 01:28.097 --> 01:30.490 that network together. 01:30.490 --> 01:32.230 And so if you've got an idea in the Navy, 01:32.230 --> 01:34.350 you can find other folks who are thinking 01:34.350 --> 01:36.644 about the same thing and then get access to the tools 01:36.644 --> 01:38.550 to push that idea forward. 01:38.550 --> 01:41.290 If we can do that, then we got an agile Navy. 01:41.290 --> 01:42.950 - When somebody comes up with a good idea, 01:42.950 --> 01:44.080 somewhere out in the fleet, 01:44.080 --> 01:46.230 anywhere across the Department of the Navy, 01:46.230 --> 01:47.930 when they fight to make it a reality, 01:47.930 --> 01:50.240 they find their way through regulations, through Authority, 01:50.240 --> 01:52.410 through finding something that actually works, 01:52.410 --> 01:54.880 which can be a long process on each of those. 01:54.880 --> 01:56.700 When they finally get to a place where it does the thing 01:56.700 --> 01:59.610 they want it to do, they're probably not the only person 01:59.610 --> 02:02.020 with that problem, and nobody else should ever have to do 02:02.020 --> 02:04.830 that upfront work ever again to get there. 02:04.830 --> 02:06.240 If that person could teach everybody, 02:06.240 --> 02:08.400 if we could get the whole Department of the Navy in one room 02:08.400 --> 02:10.090 and have them ask, "That looks really useful. 02:10.090 --> 02:12.820 How do I get that?", and have them just explain it? 02:12.820 --> 02:15.380 That's way easier than having to do all that experimentation 02:15.380 --> 02:16.213 on the front end. 02:16.213 --> 02:19.390 NavalX is responsible for propagating, for sharing all of 02:19.390 --> 02:21.930 that understanding, which is arrived at a state 02:21.930 --> 02:24.450 of being proven, of being useful, to everybody 02:24.450 --> 02:26.480 who needs it as fast as humanly possible. 02:26.480 --> 02:28.040 Anybody, in the Department of the Navy, 02:28.040 --> 02:30.730 who's trying to do something and thinks 02:30.730 --> 02:32.840 that there might be a better way to do it? 02:32.840 --> 02:34.110 We're here for you. 02:34.110 --> 02:36.240 - Yeah, so as a young junior officer, 02:36.240 --> 02:40.320 I remember trying things that to me felt 02:40.320 --> 02:44.040 like I was taking great risks and if I had had some tools 02:44.040 --> 02:46.930 or even social media back then to make connections 02:46.930 --> 02:49.450 with other Supply Officers at sea or Supply Officers 02:49.450 --> 02:53.550 on the shore, I could have probably taken a few bigger risks 02:53.550 --> 02:55.530 that would have landed me some great success 02:55.530 --> 02:57.384 with my divisions. 02:57.384 --> 03:00.280 Those things that keep us from communicating 03:00.280 --> 03:02.710 sometimes keep us from succeeding. 03:02.710 --> 03:05.300 - I really consider it an empowering mission. 03:05.300 --> 03:09.710 To empower not only innovators, or people who want 03:09.710 --> 03:12.250 to make things better, but to empower the people 03:12.250 --> 03:14.664 that don't want to innovate. 03:14.664 --> 03:18.240 But how do we show them the easier way to do this 03:18.240 --> 03:22.630 because a lot our force, they're already maxed out 03:22.630 --> 03:24.050 on their time, they're already maxed out 03:24.050 --> 03:27.750 on what they're doing, and if we can provide a better way 03:27.750 --> 03:30.081 to do it, it gives them a better product 03:30.081 --> 03:32.003 and takes less time? 03:32.850 --> 03:35.010 Well, that would be the mission. 03:35.010 --> 03:40.010 - I think that NavalX is, and this might be self-serving, 03:40.620 --> 03:42.550 but I think it's needed. 03:42.550 --> 03:45.620 I don't think it's something that we've really seen much of. 03:45.620 --> 03:50.307 I think we get a lot of top down sort of, 03:50.307 --> 03:51.470 "Here, go do this." 03:51.470 --> 03:55.570 And then it gets bogged down in our management levels. 03:55.570 --> 03:57.660 And I think something like this would be able 03:57.660 --> 04:02.430 to bring in the people from the fleet and the civilian side 04:02.430 --> 04:05.530 that are working on the same sort of problems 04:05.530 --> 04:09.070 and actually able to make those solutions a little easier 04:09.070 --> 04:11.960 because we actually decided to say, "Hey, you guys 04:11.960 --> 04:14.550 in the fleet, what can we do on this product 04:14.550 --> 04:16.040 that you're going to have to end up using, 04:16.040 --> 04:17.240 how can we make that better for you?" 04:17.240 --> 04:19.070 I think NavalX will be able to, 04:19.070 --> 04:21.510 not only digitally connect those people, 04:21.510 --> 04:23.070 but physically connect those people 04:23.070 --> 04:25.953 in the spaces like NavalX is trying to put together.