Malcolm Hong, Project Manager, Idaho Technology Council 
Bio: As Project Manager for the Idaho Technology Council, Malcolm Hong helps build Idaho’s technology ecosystem through development of strategic initiatives, event management, and empowering the ITC’s leadership team and volunteers. He was first exposed to the Idaho Technology Council (ITC) through a volunteer opportunity and officially joined the ITC as an employee in January 2012.
Malcolm has five years of experience in strategic communications and public relations. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho and a Master’s Degree in Communication from Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.
As project manager, you touch a lot of projects. What tips do you have for keeping organized?
1. Assess and work towards your Most Important Task’s (MIT’s) on a daily basis. As a Project Manager, it’s easy to get pulled in a lot of different directions. To help manage my workflow, I create no more than three MIT’s each day and strive to accomplish those tasks as quickly as possible. This gives me a focus on my workflow and helps ensure the highest return on investment for my day-to-day efforts.
2. Maintain the “two-minute” rule. If something can be done in two minutes or less, do it immediately. If an action item takes longer to store and track than dealing with it immediately, it harms your productivity. Implementing this rule also reduces tasks from piling up, which can distract you from other projects.
3. Define project scope clearly and keep workflow within your parameters. A clearly-defined project scope needs to goals, objectives, tasks, and scheduling to achieve the desired outcome. Without having these parameters, it’s easy for project creep to set in. Having a clear project scope also makes it easier to keep your focus on workflow that helps you accomplish your key goals.
What is the most notable change that has impacted your members during your tenure at the Idaho Technology Council (ITC)? How has ITC responded to this challenge/opportunity?
The most notable change that’s impacted our members was ITC’s legislation that defined cloud-computing services as non-taxable transactions in Idaho.
In 2013, members of the Idaho Technology Council who offered cloud-based services were abruptly informed by the Idaho Tax Commission that their services would be taxed. On top of that, our members were told they would be subject to back taxes since the inception of their businesses, which in some cases, ranged up to thousands of dollars. Although services in Idaho are defined as non-taxable transactions, the Idaho Tax Commission’s ruling was based from a dated portion of Idaho’s tax statue that authorized sales tax on purchase and sale of software.
This abrupt ruling impacted many of Idaho’s fastest growing Idaho technology companies, such as Clearwater Analytics, Internet Truckstop, and TSheets. Many of the companies in our membership stated they would be unable to continue doing business in Idaho unless this position was reversed. ITC leaders were also concerned that this ruling would harm Idaho’s business reputation and make it difficult for us to attract high-tech companies to our state.
The ITC acted decisively to address this issue and formed a strong coalition that included industry leaders and partners such as the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Idaho Department of Commerce. We proposed new legislation that clearly defined cloud-based services as non-taxable transactions. Through acting as a single voice for Idaho’s tech industry and through building relationships with key stakeholders, this legislation passed with nearly unanimous support from Idaho lawmakers.
Idaho made history through becoming one of the few states that clearly define cloud computing services as non-taxable transactions. We believe this legislation will help Idaho tech companies start, grow, and thrive. It also demonstrates that Idaho is a business-friendly state that understands how innovation drives today’s economy.
What is one program you’re most proud of at your organization? Why?
Members of the Idaho Technology Council are launching a program that will give every Idaho public school access to a computer science curriculum.
To make progress towards this goal, the ITC’s Education Committee explored different educational programs and decided that Code.org provided the best curriculum to help ensure that every Idaho student has the opportunity to learn 21st century skills. Because signing up each individual school district with Code.org would be a long process, one of the members of our committee had the innovative idea of using Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) to accelerate integration of a CS curriculum in Idaho schools.
IDLA is a state-sponsored online school that provides digital and logistical solutions to school districts across Idaho. Because IDLA already has an established presence in Idaho school districts for professional development, ITC members proposed using the organization to provide logistics and operations support for the entire state. Code.org was open to utilizing IDLA as a "Virtual District" for the state and is currently finishing a partnership agreement with IDLA.
ITC members presented a proposal at a conference to Idaho Superintendents and received positive feedback and support from Idaho educators. We’re currently in discussions with school districts in the Treasure Valley who want to integrate computer science classes in their curriculum. Because the U.S. Bureau of Labor predicts that Idaho will have 41,000 STEM jobs by 2018, we see this program as a huge step in preparing Idaho students for jobs of the future.
Name one way you’ve changed your work based upon something not going as well as you hoped the first time?
Through working with entrepreneurs and startups in my role with the Idaho Technology Council, I’ve learned new concepts that have influenced my approach to solving challenges. One of the concepts that’s stood out to me is “pivoting” to adapt to change and overcome challenges. This concept means you change directions, yet stay grounded in what you’ve learned.
For example, when I first joined the Idaho Technology Council, we hosted monthly networking mixers. Generally, these mixers were lightly attended and I felt there was a way to increase attendance and differentiate it from other similar business networking events in Boise. I spoke to a few of our members and learned they were looking for new opportunities to learn more about tech-related topics that weren’t usually covered at other Boise networking events.
I decided to tap into the talent of our members and find a keynote speaker for each event. I presented the call for speakers as a valuable opportunity to demonstrate industry knowledge and create new business opportunities. When we found speakers, I would promote each speaker ahead of time and emphasized the relevance of their topic to our tech community.
At the first event when we had a guest speaker, we had over 50 people packed into the conference room of Keynetics – an increase of 30 people from our previous event. Adding speakers to our monthly mixer was a relatively small change that made a significant impact the first time we tried it. The lessons learned are to avoid getting mired down into a routine or doing things out of habit, but rather, to constantly look for ways to provide more value and be nimble in meeting the needs of your target audience.
Name one tool, website, app, etc that you find very helpful professionally.
I recently installed an app called Trello to help organize my workflow. I’m a visual person and I enjoy how the program makes it easier to quickly see and organize the workflow of different projects. I’m also a fan of how Trello makes it easy to set up checklists/due dates, share attachments, and receive notifications across my devices.
When you’re not working diligently on behalf of your members, what do you do for fun in your spare time?
I enjoy photography and my specialties are portraits, events, and nature photography. I enjoy photography because I take great satisfaction when I can capture special moments, human emotion, or the beauty of the natural world to display for others. I also enjoy the outdoors and love taking advantage of the many opportunities that come from loving in Boise, Idaho. We have over a hundred parks and a wide variety of recreational opportunities through easy access to the foothills, mountains, and the Boise River.
Boise is a hidden gem among the nation’s tech communities, but we’re starting to gain recognition. Earliest this year, the Spare Foot Blog listed Boise as the #1 Under-The-Radar Tech Hub and SML rated Boise as the #1 Best City to Move to in 2014. Members of our tech community are fortunate to enjoy a relaxed and well-balanced lifestyle.
For example, our old office was hosted close to the Boise River and from my office window, I would sometimes see deer close to the banks of the river. After work, I would often run along the Greenbelt, the 25-mile pathway that follows the Boise River through the city. Some of the workers in my office would bring their waders and fish during lunch. You might be surprised to learn that our office was less than five minutes away from downtown Boise. It’s truly a blessing to live in a state where we have these opportunities available.