CIO Straight Talk - Issue 10 - 39

We will also be working with the crews to share
more of their own stories with audiences directly,
perhaps having the skipper live tweeting or some
of the younger crew posting to Snapchat. We
found a way to create a gateway so that crews
can start a conversation with the audience. The
aim is to allow our audience to experience what
these individuals go through on board as they
live it.

THe VALue OF
SeLF-DISRupTIOn
Much like our Volvo Ocean Race teams, we
at Race Control can never allow any slack in
our efforts during the race. We are always
experimenting. And that's the beauty of the race.
This isn't a 90-minute football match. It's all day,
every day, for eight months. So we innovate not
just leading up to the event, but during it.
As an agile development shop, we'll sometimes
send software updates to the boats when
they're at sea, making adjustments based

"ouR DREAM iS To BEAM ouT
LiVE PiCTuRES FRoM ThE MiDDLE
oF ThE SouThERN oCEAN FoR
ThE VERy FiRST TiME-FRoM
DRoNE To BoAT To SATELLiTE To
RACE CoNTRoL AND ouT To ThE
WoRLD."

on the information the boats are sending us.
Sometimes, we lose communication with the
boat, but we allow space for those mistakes. The
only way to innovate is to take some risks.
We have also begun using machine learning
capabilities to help us analyze big data-not just

the telemetry data that can tell us about the
performance of the boat, but also data about
the content we produce. For example, we can
identify people following the race online who
have similar interests. During the last competition
we found through analysis of social media
that school teachers from around the world
were using the content we produce to teach
geography in their classrooms. This allowed us
to create content packages specifically designed
for this community of school users, and even
arrange for students to have a live Q&A session
with crew members at the end of the race.
We also see great potential in applying machine
learning capabilities to better understand
the performance of the humans on board the
boats. Looking at biometric data can help us
to understand the impact of sleep-or lack of
it-on operations. Ultimately, in conjunction with
academic partners, we may be able to come up
with some models about, for example, the best
crew rotations to optimize performance.

pLAnnIng FOR THe
unpLAnneD
We test everything we can before the race-the
boats, the media, the technology, the reporters.
But some approaches we have to reinvent as
the race progresses. One big lesson I've learned
is the importance of a Plan D, because the
conditions of this race often make plans A, B,
and C obsolete.
With the extreme temperatures and vibrations,
just maintaining connectivity is difficult. But the
biggest challenge is responding to the things you
might never see coming. The only way to do that
is to maintain extreme flexibility and to work with
partners who are equally agile and adaptable.

39
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 10

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 10
