The Air Force doesn’t necessarily have to delight its users, but the tech and platforms the service builds, buys and uses have to get better, according to Colt Whittall, the Air Force’s first chief experience office, or CXO, who joined in July. The new role—which reports up to Deputy Chief Information Officer Bill Marion—was created to ensure airmen have digital tools that help their work, rather than hinder.
As he settles into the job, Whittall spoke with Nextgov about how he’s adapting commercial user experience practices and terminology for a military crowd and how the Air Force’s efforts differ from that of the private sector, as well as other areas of government.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Nextgov: Where do you come from and how did you end up in the customer experience role with the Air Force?
Colt Whittall: I came out of the digital agency world. I was with a digital consultancy that is focused on designing and developing web and mobile digital experiences in the commercial sector. I was part of the group that formed it by spinning it out of Deloitte Consulting and then we grew it and ultimately merged it with another company. It’s about 90% commercial-oriented in the U.S. and maybe 10, 15, 20% of their business supports the government.
That company is currently called Isobar.
I was working on a variety of clients in health care and technology and some government projects. Through that, I met a number of people at the Air Force and began to see that there was a huge need in user experience; there was a huge need in agile development, in DevSecOps; being able to deliver faster, cheaper. And, ..
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