You’re near the Burj El Arab, the sail-shaped hotel where you may have seen Tiger Woods hitting balls from a helipad about 300 meters up. You're virtually next door to the construction of the Burj Dubai that promises to be the tallest building in the world.

For five days I taught "Harvard-style" cases and facilitated discussions along with Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger of the Kennedy School, and Phil Bertolini, CIO and Deputy County Executive of Oakland County, Michigan. We were working with 45 participants from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere in the Gulf region.

What was similar to and/or different from what we see in Cambridge?

The differences - typical for travel - grabbed for attention. People complained that 75 degrees felt "cold." Camels have a remarkably long stride. I actually made it down a sand dune safely on a snow board (it was getting back up that nearly killed me…).

Other and more important differences undoubtedly went unnoticed. Not speaking Arabic, and not having much private one-on-one time, I don't have a good picture of the "unpublic" views often needed to uncover reality.

Still, I was surprised and impressed more by the similarities than the differences.

The culture supports vigorous discussion. It wasn't hard to engage them, and the case study method worked (it would be better, however, if more participants in the future would carefully read the cases…).

They are making serious investments in e-Gov. Dubai in particular compares itself to Singapore.

When they decide to move, they have the financial and political capacity to turn ideas into action. While so far they have focused more on service access and less on service reform ("online, not in line" rather than cost reduction or institutional redesign), that is very much what we see in Cambridge as well.

Their priorities for the future also look a great deal like ours. In the course, we split them into small groups to develop some priorities for the region. Here's what they came up with:

1. A well-defined approach for developing launch strategies for new projects. Successful projects need a launch, with legitimacy from senior-level sponsorship. The Dubai group felt that launches would go better if guided by a simple yet structured analysis of requirements, changes in work assignments, risks, and especially the management of expectations. Leaders must understand that success requires downstream engagement as well as the initial public announcement.
2. A single sign-on for e-Gov (and some commercial) services. Citizens should be able to access services – e-Government and some e-commerce – through a single sign-on, perhaps extending throughout the region and eventually globally. This would increase customer trust that services are secure as well as convenient and efficient. It requires a plan and certification authority for the region, but they cautioned against waiting on perfect agreement before getting started.
3. A personal medical record (PMR). The value proposition is for anytime, anywhere, secure medical information to improve care and reduce mistakes. This is proposed as an optional service, chosen by individuals and both delivered and paid for by health care institutions via smart cards. Implementation will require public/private collaboration. The vision is for industry standards, not just records for individual institutions.
4. A region-wide 'digital divide' educational campaign with visible high-level leadership. The group felt that the right scale for public communication and marketing on this issue is the region, not the individual countries. Faster penetration of technology would benefit all. The idea is for governments to lead, with visible private support. The group proposed a committee to carry the messages and provide leadership.
5. Procedures to encourage ownership and a more realistic prioritization of requested e-Government services. Governments in the region need to make sure that requested e-services are priorities in terms of ownership and the management of interdependencies among services and across departments. Huge initial lists can shrink once issues of ownership and sequencing come up.
6. An e-Gov think tank for the region. Develop a Forum for knowledge sharing and disseminating best practices for the region. Local governments and universities must be engaged, with outside institutions as relevant. Work would be focused through annual events augmented by ongoing projects. The Malaysian model is relevant here -- and the project will require very senior government leadership.

Many thanks to Viktor and Phil for making this course happen. Thanks also for great support received from Nabil Ali Al Yousuf and his staff at the Dubai School of Government.

The "big picture" I left with: While the culture and politics of the Gulf region are clearly different than what we're dealing with in the U.S., the technology and leadership challenges look remarkably similar. There's a lot to be learned in diffusing innovations and good practice in both directions.

Does it look like that to you?

Here's more if you're interested: http://www.ameinfo.com/news/Detailed/57253.html