Written by This podcast interview features Andrew Rowe, a former entrepreneur with AllMed who has transitioned into a community advocate in Portland, Oregon. He discusses the challenges facing Multnomah County and the city of Portland. Drawing on his extensive business background, he discusses how Portland faces a critical juncture where systemic change is necessary to address its complex challenges like homelessness, addiction, and public safety.
He shares how Continuous Quality Improvement and Lean Management offers a proven framework for transforming government agencies and improving service delivery that have proven results in all other sectors and industries. It utilizes visual management systems (dashboards) to make progress and problems transparent, and engages the employees that do the work, who know the problems the best, and will be the ones dealing with the process changes.
He also highlights successful CQI and Lean applications in other government agencies like the State of Washington and City of Denver, and emphasizes the need for leadership commitment and community support to make Lean a core strategy in Portland.Â
He doesn’t blame specific departments or elected officials, he feels it is the lack of system thinking an lack of desire to reform the current political systems. He feels that it will require committed leadership, engaged community support, and a shared vision for a more effective and efficient government.
He gives some examples of areas where he’d like to see Portland focus their improvements to start seeing tangible results in the short term, such as:
- Streamlining affordable housing construction regulatory processes
- Improving the housing voucher system
- Enhancing data integration across agencies to better manage homeless interventions
- Integrating behavioral health, addiction treatment, and healthcare systems
You can listen to the entire interview at https://rss.com/podcasts/wallofmoms/1674754/