The Public Sector Show by TechTables #212: From COBOL to Salesforce: Washington State Liquor Board’s 9-Year, Multi-Million Modernization + Army Leadership Lessons
#212: From COBOL to Salesforce: Washington State Liquor Board’s 9-Year, Multi-Million Modernization + Army Leadership Lessons
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Featuring:
George Williams, CIO, Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board
What You’ll Learn:
How a 42-year-old COBOL system from 1983 finally got retired — and why a 70-year-old contractor stayed on just to see it die
Why George paused the entire project for a year and restructured the whole team — and how that bold move led to a successful go-live after two failed attempts spanning nine years
The critical moment George stopped outsourcing ownership to contractors and put actual agency employees in charge
How battlefield leadership lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan shaped George's approach to managing massive licensing operation
Why “success” nearly broke the system — and how the agency handled 30,000+ phone calls in just three months post-launch
How George built a cross-division data governance team to prevent inaccurate AI answers — and what every CIO should learn from it
Why Salesforce developers are solid gold — and how George is fighting to keep them in the public sector with training budgets and team loyalty
The one job George believes every CIO must do: take the heat round so their team can thrive
Timestamps
(00:35) From Army Combat Vet to Cannabis & Liquor Board CIO
(03:00) Basketball to Military: “Too Slow for Forward, Too Short for Center”
(06:00) Iraq 2004: Getting Blown Up and Building Resilient Teams
(12:00) 9-Year Project Nightmare: Firing Teams and Rebuilding from Scratch
(16:00) 42-Year-Old COBOL System: The 1983 Legacy That Wouldn’t Die
(23:00) 7 Legacy Systems to Salesforce: The Technical Transformation
(26:30) 20,000 Liquor + 1,900 Cannabis Licenses: Managing Complex Customer Operations
(33:00) CIO as Translator: Making Tech Make Sense to Non-Tech Leaders
(38:00) 30,000 Phone Calls Post-Launch: When Success Creates New Problems
(44:00) Leadership Lessons: Taking the Heat and Supporting Your Team
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