An Agile Model of Public Communication

Of all the professional societies I’m familiar with, INFORMS has the most ambitious and inspiring slogan: “Saving lives. Saving money. Solving problems.” The slogan reflects our strong desire to have an impact on society. Even though our profession has produced some of the most magnificent theories, models and algorithms, we are more concerned with making a difference in the world than anything else.

As any researcher who has tried to influence practice can attest, to have a societal impact, the general public and decision-makers must be aware of our existence and the value we offer. INFORMS’ outreach and advocacy efforts are specifically aimed at this goal. I would like to share what I have learned about communicating with the general public, drawing from my experience working with INFORMS since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Tale of Two Models

Many researchers consider public communications to be a means of “educating the public.” Communication, in this traditional “educator” model, is one-way by nature: an expert conducts research and then spends months or even years publishing it in a peer-reviewed journal before sharing the finding with the popular media, practitioners, government agencies and other stakeholders.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which was declared by the World Health Organization in March 2020, has put this traditional model to the test. Because of its novelty, there were no COVID-19 experts per se at the onset of the pandemic. However, INFORMS experts had previously worked on research related to infection control, supply chain resilience, healthcare operations and vaccine distribution, among many other topics, and the lessons learned from our past work could be applied to the novel challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic necessitated a new model of communicating with stakeholders. An expert should not consider oneself an “educator.” Rather, the expert should focus on interacting and collaborating with stakeholders. Because of rapidly changing information environments, experts will rarely have the luxury of delivering fully prepared materials, and will instead be required to respond to evolving information and share insights based on prior research and swift analysis.

In addition, the expert constantly collects and absorbs information from a variety of stakeholders as they interact with them. This way, the expert essentially becomes a platform that is constantly learning from – and providing insights to – various stakeholders. This new public communication model is what I call an “agile" model, similar to the agile software development model (see, e.g., “Should we all work in sprints? How agile project management improves performance”), which emphasizes collaboration and communication between developers and clients to respond to ill-defined, ever-shifting requirements.

My Agile Journey with INFORMS

As a professor of operations management and business analytics at Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School, my research focuses on healthcare analytics, and my previous work included supply chain design, healthcare operations and vaccine distribution. Through the introduction of INFORMS leaders, including Pinar Keskinocak and Jeffrey Cohen, I began working with Ashley Smith, INFORMS Public Affairs Coordinator, and other members of the INFORMS outreach and advocacy team.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I occasionally spoke with the popular media and healthcare leaders. But my approach to communications and public relations largely follows the traditional “educator” model. Shortly after working with Ashley, I learned that the traditional model was no longer suitable. On one hand, requests from the media covered a diverse range of topics, many of which were based on rapidly changing situations. For example, one of the most important aspects of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution was the vaccine’s requirement for extremely cold temperatures. However, the required temperature varies greatly between vaccine brands (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca), and even within the same brand, the required temperatures have changed quite a lot over time. On the other hand, the sheer volume of questions necessitates proactive research and analysis in anticipation of the evolution of pressing issues: At one point, I was speaking with dozens of reporters each week from both the local and national media, handling interviews from TV, radio, newspapers and the online publications on a variety of subjects.

As I continued to work with INFORMS, I began to enjoy the agile model of public communication. The agile model allows me to work with reporters on an ongoing (as opposed to one-off) basis and provide insights into developing stories. I connect the media with academics, practitioners, policymakers and others. I frequently provide suggestions to the media for in-depth investigations. In addition, reporters share my in-progress work and updates with the general public and policymakers, who then disseminate my findings. I also frequently write op-eds to reach out to policymakers and the general public.

The Joy of the Agile Model

I’ve never spent so much time communicating with stakeholders as I have in the past two years. By April 2022, I have been mentioned nearly 1,000 times in the media, and I have written extensively on topics ranging from COVID-19 vaccine distribution to PPE manufacturing to COVID-19 testing to global supply chains. I have appeared on national and international television shows such as CNBC, PBS NewsHour and Sky News, and my quotes have appeared in publications such as Bloomberg, CNN, Fortune, The New York Times (NYT), NPR, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. In March 2021, I was quoted in a U.S. Congress Legislation (117th Congress, 1st Session, H. RES. 266) in support of the crucial role of Operation Warp Speed in the development of COVID-19 vaccines. On Jan. 12, 2022, I was quoted three times in three different NYT articles about inflation, global supply chains and rapid COVID-19 testing; one of the articles was on the front page of the print edition the next day.

Working with INFORMS to communicate with stakeholders in operations research and analytics has been an eye-opening and rewarding experience. In my own experience, the agile model of public communication that I learned while working with INFORMS has improved my ability to influence practice while also making me a better researcher. I am confident that by working closely with the INFORMS outreach and advocacy team, we will all be able to have a greater impact on society – “Saving lives. Saving money. Solving problems.”