Government Computer News
Hard job, soft sell
Ahmed builds relationships through communication, trust to improve Pentagon IT
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SAJEEL AHMED: Defense Department
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
1989 Joined U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command as an engineering intern
1991 Assigned as a systems engineer responsible for the consolidation at Pentagon headquarters of Army’s many e-mail systems
1993 Joined Pentagon Renovation Program as a systems engineer responsible for the modernization of the IT infrastructure
1999 Promoted to the USAISEC—Pentagon director of engineering and IT technical director, PenRen
2001 After Sept. 11 attacks, provided engineering leadership to restore communications
2002 Provided oversight of two major IT programs to enhance the Pentagon’s survivability and continuity postures
2004 Appointed to the Senior Executive Service with responsibility for the PenRen IT mission.
Clearly, technical expertise is key in such an effort. But Sajeel Ahmed, deputy director for IT at PenRen, said he believes “soft skills”—such as effective communication, building trust and forging a working relationship with the 25,000-strong customer base at the Pentagon—also are crucial.
PenRen is charged not only with the physical reconstruction of the Pentagon but also with the complete modernization of the agency’s IT infrastructure. Ahmed said his 13-year tenure at PenRen has shown him that the most effective approach to strategic IT modernization is customer-based. “Active listening” to customer concerns is paramount, he added.
Different perspective
“You try to understand things from their view, and not just try to push a solution on them,” Ahmed said.
Integrating the customer into the process early on—by soliciting input on systems design and implementation issues—is another key working principle. “We try to get customer involvement right from the beginning,” Ahmed said.
Neal Shelley, director of operations for the Information Technology Agency, described Ahmed as a hands-on leader with “an overriding customer focus.”
“When bad things happen—as they inevitably do in a construction environment—he points no fingers,” said Shelley, whose agency operates and maintains the systems Ahmed helps build. “[He] gets service back on line as expeditiously as possible.”
The task faced by PenRen, and Ahmed, is daunting. The physical work involves, among other things, renovating more than 1.4 million square feet of agency space, including the replacement of more than 100,000 miles of copper and fiber-optic cabling.
Ahmed oversees the architecture, engineering, implementation and testing of the Pentagon’s technology infrastructure. His ultimate goal is to make these systems more secure and flexible, and provide better overall service to their users.
And all this modernization is being done while the Pentagon is fighting a war. “Any break in service would be unacceptable,” Shelley said.
Despite all the challenges, progress has been substantial. The renovation of Wedge 1 was completed in 2004; Wedge 2 was finished at the end of 2005. Wedge 3 is still on schedule for an estimated completion date of October 2007.
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