Chapter 10: Agile responses

Source: MINDEF

Introduction

Planning for National Day Parade (NDP) each year starts even before the previous year's NDP is over. For NDP 2020, the planning began in July 2019. The nation's 55th National Day would be celebrated at The Float @ Marina Bay. The Committee was working hard on finalising the concepts by the end of January 2020.

"We had set an internal target to have the Parade ready by the third Combined Rehearsal in June 2020. This meant having the concepts worked out and approved by October 2019, and the tenders issued before Chinese New Year in late January 2020. Everybody had been working very hard, especially over the year-end period, and we entered 2020 quietly confident that we had things firmly under control. As a matter of fact, the music for Acts 1 and 2 was already completed by January 2020, which the Music Director Dr Sydney Tan, who has worked on many NDPs, said was unprecedented."

BG Frederick Choo, Chairman of NDP 2020 EXCO

But then came the bolt out of the blue! The Government imposed a “Circuit Breaker” in April 2020 following a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases. The NDP plans that had been so painstakingly made had to be scrapped. It was not enough to just scale down the show at the Float; it would have to be a radically different concept. The various NDP committees had to return to the drawing board.

Eventually, the decision was made. If COVID-19 risks meant that we could not bring Singaporeans together for NDP, we had to bring NDP to Singaporeans in their homes. We had to still be able to celebrate our resilience and unity as one people. Guided by this, the NDP 2020 committee developed plans for celebrations in the heartland to pay tribute to healthcare workers and frontline fighters. There would be mobile columns along five routes and fireworks at over 10 sites around Singapore.

Among the NDP committees, the Show Committee was most challenged by the radical change to NDP 2020. Instead of an outdoor show at the Float, it would now have to be an indoor show. But even as they quickly developed an indoor show, new issues kept popping. Among other things, the costume vendors were in a quandary because they relied on workers from Malaysia to do the tailoring, but factories were shut and non-essential services had to cease in April.

With just four months to National Day, there was one key question on everyone's minds: Can we pull this off in such a short time?

Illustration: Mr Lee Xin Li

NDP 2020 re-imagined

Illustration: Mr Lee Xin Li

Faced with the prospect of many potential show-stoppers, Chairman of NDP 2020 Show Committee COL Wong Shi Ming and his team made a radical decision. The show would be broken down into as many smaller segments as possible. The usual four acts of NDP shows would be divided into 12 segments, ranging from one to three minutes each. This would allow the number of performers on stage at any one time and the number of crew and other support personnel to be kept within the limits set by SMM. The modular nature also offered more flexibility and it would be easier and faster to adapt and adjust should there be other disruptions down the road. Each segment group could also give quick feedback on its progress to the main Show Committee after every rehearsal and this helped to speed up rehearsals. The Committee had found a practical and agile response to the COVID limitations for the NDP Show by making it modular.

With the demands of the new NDP concept and a compressed timeline, the Committee had to adopt quicker work processes and emphasise transparent collaboration. Sharing of information with other stakeholders became significantly faster than in previous NDPs because decisions had to be made urgently. The NDP 2020 Show Committee held daily hot-syncs and functional group level meetings, and weekly committee reviews. These frequent and intensely focused interactions involving all stakeholders ensured that activities were well coordinated, bottlenecks spotted early and remedial measures taken promptly.

Shorter, modular show segments used as the main show concept for NDP 2020 at the Star Performing Arts Centre. Source: NDP 2020 Media Team

On 9 August 2020, it was clear that while COVID-19 had stopped the public from gathering at the Float and around Marina Bay to watch the parade and show, it had not stopped them from enjoying the NDP in other ways. The pandemic had compelled the NDP organisers to press the refresh button and embrace agileness. With determination and innovativeness, they had re-imagined how to bring NDP to Singaporeans in a way that invoked patriotism and pride. The spirit of resilience, fortitude and perseverance conveyed through an NDP celebration against heavy odds was not lost on Singaporeans.

Singaporeans united in solidarity during the nationwide Light-up Moment at 2020 hrs.
Source: NDP 2020 Media Team

Singaporeans cheering as the Mobile Column went through the Heartlands in NDP 2020. Source: NDP 2020

My family, friends and I all felt that yesterday's National Day Parade in the morning, the Show in the evening, and the across-the-island events like the mobile column have really helped reinforce the meaning of unity as a nation over this difficult time. The special tribute to frontline workers (and many in the SAF who have undertaken COVID-19 related work) is extra special, touching and serves as a deep reservoir of motivation, knowing that we have the support of every Singaporean behind us.

Dr Gan Wee Hoe, COVID-19 Frontline Worker

The agile philosophy

In the 1990s, software companies hit a roadblock. Traditional modes of working were not responsive enough to meet the consumer demands that were growing exponentially. There was a breakthrough after 17 software developers documented a new mode of working in 2001, which today we call Agile. The fundamental principle in Agile is to prioritise customer satisfaction by responding quickly to change instead of following a fixed plan.

The Agile philosophy advocated a mindset shift in project management by laying out the core principles of Agile work processes. Soon, emerging software companies started adopting this philosophy by remodelling their work processes. By doing so, they gained competitive advantages in seizing new market opportunities in the digital age.

Most of the work processes that are recognised as adhering to the Agile philosophy contain similar strategies. These include working in short iterative cycles and breaking a big project into smaller modular components. These strategies also promote transparent collaboration, enabling timely information sharing through small, mult-domain, and self-organised teams.

Prominent users of Agile methods, such as Apple, Facebook and Airbnb, demonstrated the appeal of these new processes. They ignited a wave of widespread adoption of this philosophy beyond IT and software companies. There are now companies that solely develop Agile project management platforms for others, such as Atlassian's Jira platform.

The Jira platform is based on an Agile project management framework called Scrum. It starts by breaking down a project into any array of sub-components. Then, these sub-projects are prioritised and assigned to small teams with a short timeline of one to two weeks, termed Sprint. Throughout the Sprint, the framework emphasises information exchanges through events such as the daily 15-minute meetings termed Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, and periodic reviews. These meetings promptly align team members with the progress, obstacles, and strategy adjustments.

By quickly delivering small working products in such short times, the success of Scrum lies in being able to narrow the critical distances that an initiative had to cover. It brings developers closer to customers, connects the organisation's skillsets, and bridges the space between long-term deadlines and short-term actions by implementing near-term milestones.

By narrowing these gaps, organisations can respond quickly and effectively. These are essential qualities needed to survive in the face of uncertainty. It was these qualities, through Scrum methodologies, that navigated many of the software companies through the maze of uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scrum project management framework

Credit: Visual-paradigm.com

Grab - agile in the pandemic

When the “Circuit Breaker” was imposed in April 2020, the ride-hailing company was hit hard by the lockdown. In the midst of the crisis, Grab noticed a rising trend in on-demand delivery requests across its fleet of drivers. Equally pertinent was the fact that the lockdown had caused many food and beverage outlets to shut down as they could not get food to the customers.

Food delivery then became an enticing opportunity for Grab to prevent it from going under. However, there were huge problems to overcome first. These included developing the user interface, payment system and fee structures while building a comprehensive search engine. There was also a critical and urgent need to secure buy-in from the vendors and the public.

Grab maintained its culture of agileness in the face of the uncertainties and the challenges of a massive shift in business strategy. It divided this initiative into smaller sprints with teams focusing on quickly delivering simple prototypes for different components. One such feature was the progressive roll-out of Mix & Match function at hawker centres, allowing eaters to place orders from participating hawkers in one location.

Grab pivoted towards food delivery during the “Circuit Breaker”.

Grab then used the data gathered from these pilot studies to refine the products and integrate new features such as the digital payment systems, and these were further tested on the Grab Experimentation Platform.

By having frequent reviews and incorporating feedback and learning into subsequent sprint cycles, there was a compounding effect in learning and discovery for Grab. By being agile, Grab more than survived the pandemic as it seized new market opportunities and rapidly expanded into multiple business sectors. As of 2022, its ubiquitous super-app offers various ride-hailing, deliveries and financial services options.

Agileness: function of both speed and stability

While NDP 2020 adopted an agile way of working, managing change and making quick decisions were not new to the SAF. What the pandemic did was to reinforce to SAF leaders that we must always consider exploring agile strategies so that we can respond nimbly to new challenges and opportunities.

Organisational agileness is necessary, but it must not be mistaken as merely adopting speedier processes over well-established systems and structures. Strong and stable systems are critical because they are the foundation necessary for truly agile organisations to detect change in time and then change direction quickly without falling apart. Just as a soldier charging towards the enemy needs a strong core and muscles to provide stability as he dodges obstacles rapidly, an organisation too must have the backbone and core competencies to provide a stable springboard when it has to make rapid changes in different directions.

An important component of our strong core - one of our fundamental principles - which was very helpful to the SAF's work on NDP 2020 is our reputation as a good and reliable partner. The SAF has always nurtured the relationships with our partners in our long experience of participating in military coalitions and multi-agency national events. Our partners know that we consider their interests when making decisions. This valuable reputation of being a trustworthy partner has served us well.

In the chaotic and difficult conditions leading up to NDP 2020, the value of this reputation was demonstrated especially when the NDP Show had to be significantly scaled down. We were forced to slash the number of performers from 3,000 to 87. It was no longer possible for our long-time NDP partners such as the People's Association, Singapore Soka Association and Ministry of Education to be featured in the live show. But, as the Show Committee continued to engage them, they were assured that the SAF continued to recognise them as valuable long-time and long-term partners. These organisations were brought into segments such as the Virtual Choir to showcase their contribution to the nation's birthday celebration. Singaporeans were invited to participate by sending self-recordings; the response was so overwhelming that the deadline for submission had to be extended.

Self-recordings sent by Singaporeans from all walks of life and all over the world.
Source: NDP 2020 Media Team

The value that can be drawn from the interdependency between an organisation's fundamental principles - in this case, the value the SAF placed on nurturing relationships - and an agile approach was demonstrated even more clearly in the resounding success of the following year's NDP 2021. While the NDP 2020 Committee needed to change plans quickly after the outbreak of COVID-19, the NDP 2021 organisers worked on the basis that frequent changes were a given. With this mindset, they took the many twists and turns and ups and downs, the frequent and extensive adjustments to their plans, in their stride right up to 9 August 2021. The first big adjustment had come when National Day was only four months away, when the original concept of a large-scale performance was transformed to decentralised performances in satellite sites. Then, one month before National Day, when Singapore once again tightened its restrictions because of the Omicron variant, the NDP had to be postponed to the reserve date of 21 August 2021.

Despite the very fluid situation, the Organising Committee conducted multiple rehearsals to ensure a safe and impactful NDP 2021 at the Float @ Marina Bay.
Source: PIONEER FaceBook

Throughout the NDP 2021 journey, the Organising Committee led by COL Tan Cheng Kwee took the lessons from the previous year and was instinctively agile. When the decision was made to decentralise the show, it quickly set up small teams to prioritise what needed to be done at each of the four satellite sites and to then nimbly execute the decisions. These empowered teams were focused and worked speedily, and they came up with ingenuous solutions.

Participants from Singapore Soka Association, a long-time SAF partner in NDPs.
Source: NDP 2021 Media Team

However, the Committee's agileness alone would not have been enough to make the 56th NDP a success. As the situation kept changing and the SAF responded quickly with adjustments to the plans, everyone was affected. The thousands of performers were discouraged, and the vendors were frustrated. The frequent changes meant that more than ever the success of the project depended on the cooperation and commitment of all the stakeholders. Under these circumstances, the connections and relationships that the SAF had built over the years with its partners, through good and difficult times, became the reservoir of strength that the Committee could tap on. The SAF's culture of always considering stakeholders' interests provided a strong foundation on which to anchor the support and commitment of its partners in an unstable and ever-changing situation.

SAF planning competency as a foundation for agileness

Another core competency which contributed to the success of NDP 2021 was the SAF's planning framework: the SAF always plans in detail while anticipating changes. The extensive preliminary planning for NDP 2021 was conducted in the same systematic and collaborative way that the SAF conducts its military planning. From the start, the plan was to have an indoor celebration supported with films and animations in case COVID-19 prevented a physical show. The Committee also considered the SMM that would be needed for such a large-scale event. With the virus still around, all participants and spectators had to be fully vaccinated and swabbed.

The NDP 2021 Committee knew that there had to be an innovation in the e-ticketing system as it would be challenging to check vaccination and swab results during the weekly assignment of seat numbers. That innovation came in the form of integrating the spectator vaccination and swab status data from GovTech with the ticketing system from SISTIC. Beyond the technical issues, the ticketing committee also anticipated concerns over personal data protection. It looked closely at what the interests of the various stakeholders might be and anticipated possible obstacles. Having done this thorough analysis in good time, the team was able to pitch the proposal in a way that convinced these stakeholders to collaborate in the initiative. This was an example of how SAF core competencies in detailed planning, anticipating change and collaboratively working with stakeholders enabled the NDP 2021 Committee to tap on the partnership between private and public entities to come up with an agile and innovative response.

Various options were considered for NDP 2021 to be a memorable milestone event.
Source: MINDEF

The NS system: beyond the order of battle (orbat)

When the satellite site concept was developed for NDP 2021, one of the venues the NDP Show's Creative Advisors thought of was Jewel @ Changi. The Rain Vortex would be a stunning backdrop for a performance by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO). But there were challenges. The Changi Airport COVID-19 cluster had closed only recently but there was great urgency to start filming in two weeks' time. There were other issues, such as the nearby shops losing business from having to close during filming, and the unique water flow and lighting arrangements requested by the Creative Advisors.

With limited time, the SAF overcame the challenges by tapping on our NSmen. When the Creative Advisors suggested Jewel as a suitable location for the SSO performance, the NDP 2021 Multimedia Committee immediately reached out to MAJ (NS) Jayson Goh, Senior Vice President for Airport Operations Management in Changi Airport Group. As an NSman who serves in the RSAF 160 Squadron, he was sympathetic to the Multimedia Committee's predicament, and also saw an opportunity for Jewel to be part of a unique NDP. He readily rallied the team at Changi Airport Group to help make the Creative Advisors' vision a reality. With their help, the Committee managed to organise and film the performance without any hitch. This example demonstrated how National Service is not only for staffing our military ORBAT but also a network that we can leverage to harness Whole-of-Nation (WoN) efforts in support of our mission. This ability to tap on a wide range of levers is a key pillar of agileness that enables the SAF to respond with dexterity when it needs to.

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra performing at Jewel @ Changi, a satellite location of NDP 2021.
Source: NDP 2021 Media Team

Looking ahead

Leaders in the SAF will have to grapple with more volatility, uncertainty and ambiguity in the more complex future, even in peacetime training and operations that go beyond organising NDPs. We have to undergird ourselves with a willingness and readiness to embrace agileness in all its forms. Such a mindset includes finding new and innovative ways of working that enhance speed, adaptability, learning and collaboration, even as we constantly identify and hone core strengths that support effective and agile responses. Only through agileness, characterised by both speed and stability, can we thrive in a VUCA-D world.