2025 WA GIS Conference

When King County’s GIS team took on its first major modernization project (‘Rae Rae”), we were “eager but green”—rushed tech choices and Agile growing pains left us scrambling. It was messy but “transformative”. By the time we tackled the ‘Districts and Development Conditions Report’, we’d turned those hard lessons into “strengths”: “no more ‘sink or swim’ solo work”, collaborative problem-solving sessions, and a culture where “knowledge lived with the team, not just individuals”—culminating in a repeatable playbook for “resilience”.

That resilience was tested when a post-launch bug required reimplementing a nuanced spatial calculation. With “back-to-back vacations looming”, the fix passed through “three developers”—each handing off “seamlessly”—and deployed “flawlessly”. No delays, no drama.

In this talk, I’ll share how we turned failure into momentum by:
• “Prioritizing team habits over ‘perfect’ tools** (and why it saved us)
• “Running lean, open workshops” to break down knowledge silos
• “Embracing ‘paired work’ as insurance” (not waste)
• “Designing for handoffs” so vacations ‘help’—not hurt—progress

For teams juggling legacy systems and Agile skepticism, this proves that “how you work together outlasts any tool”—and why ""‘inefficient’ collaboration is the smartest investment you’ll make”.