Through the Year
Transform | The team reflects on 2024. A year of personal breakthroughs and trying new things.
Foreword
2024 has been a transformative year, not just in the accomplishments we’ve achieved, but in the journeys we’ve embarked upon as individuals and as a team. Reflections are key in reminding the team to constantly take on challenges outside of one's comfort zone and to continuously build a legacy of collaboration and impact.
As we look ahead to 2025, this piece serves as an inspiring reminder of the power of purpose-driven innovation and the importance of succession in sustaining momentum. We hope our reflections also inspire you to pause, take stock of your own breakthroughs, and envision what lies ahead.
Here’s to another year of trying new things and making a difference. -- Yong Kiat
Yeo Yong Kiat
In 2024, I’m glad to have achieved the following:
Approval from various Senior Management (GovTech, Ministry of Health, National Healthcare Group) to invest in a team of 15 developers and create a suite of 3 innovative products. This was an opportunity to delve into meaningful problem statements and create useful and usable solutions that could be deployed at scale in the public service.
A successful transition of 15 developers from their previous projects into a new innovation squad, Transform. I was glad for the opportunity to create their own work priorities, culture and products, and hope that this was an endeavour that enriched their personal growth.
To have played the role of product manager for Sense, a whole-of-government level application, as well as the role of Program Director for a suite of three innovative products created by the Transform team. As a policy officer, I was entirely new to managing a product team at both product and program levels - I am grateful to the entire product team for being patient with my leadership.
In 2025, I’m looking forward to firming up my succession plans. As I leave for my post-graduate studies at UC Berkeley, I hope to set the team up for success and have them continue contributing to public service with the same spirit we set out to do so at the beginning of this year.
Eileen Kang
In 2024, I’m glad to have achieved the following:
Proud and excited to be able to launch Kaki in Dec 2024 as a team! Embarked on a hopeful journey for Kaki from the day we started our Proof-of-Concept to the day we published it in Apple and Google app stores. I was happy to hear from our stakeholders, about their thoughts on the product - it was the first time in a while to be hearing feedback directly from users.
To have pick up React Native + GraphQL + various administrative know-how for a production-grade application - there are definitely still some shortcomings on the implementation and more things to improve on, but this entire learning journey is one of my biggest learnings, tech-wise, I had in 2024
To have played the role of Reporting Officer / Tech Lead for a product team, where my biggest gift was to constantly receive feedbacks from my team mates. I felt very fortunate to be in a team who are very open to voice out their concerns and feedback, felt that we are helping each other to grow every day. 🙂
In 2025, I look forward to seeing Kaki continue to be built and expanded on (I trust that it will be in good hands even though we are no longer the developing team) and as a team we can build the next product that will be useful and well-loved by our users.
Nicholas Lim
In 2024, I’m glad to have achieved the following:
Successfully launched Kaki together with the team, even though I joined the team blind not knowing how much my skill sets could help given that I was not a full-fledged Software Engineer, and how much my Quality Engineer skillsets could come into play. Thankfully, everything worked out and despite the really short runway, we managed to come up with something that we can be proud to say that has tons of potential for social- and healthcare sectors!
Managed to hone a secondary skillset in DevOps and Cloud infrastructure, and even able to spin up an entire environment on my own with some guidance from our DevOps Master Chadin. Prior to working on Kaki, I had not touched AWS and even IAC as much before but doing this has given me newfound respect and appreciation for DevOps engineers past and present that I worked with. Not an easy feat I would say!
Had a lot of fun and joy working with everyone in the team!
Come 2025, I'm excited for some of the new things to come in our new agency deployment! Although unknowns still remain, I am glad that we can move on together as a team and go through new challenges together.
Tan Lay Hui
In 2024, I’m glad to have achieved the following:
Launching the Kaki Pilot with Real Users: This year, I’m grateful to have been part of the successful pilot launch of Kaki. Seeing real users engage with the product has been incredibly rewarding. I’m especially grateful for the trust, openness, and collaboration from the National Healthcare Group stakeholders and their partners, which enabled us to hear directly from the ground. By speaking to users, we gained a deeper understanding of their problems and shaped solutions that truly meet their needs. As a UX designer, it’s been heartening to involve users so closely in our design process and ensure Kaki solves the right problems in the right way.
End-to-End Design Experience: For Kaki, I had the opportunity to go through every phase of the UX design process—from Research & Discovery to Ideation, Design & Prototyping, Testing, and finally, Launch & Monitoring. Experiencing the full design cycle within a year has been incredibly rewarding. It not only deepened my understanding of how each stage contributes to creating meaningful solutions but also allowed me to experience firsthand what it takes to bring a product from 0 to 1.
Merging Psychology and UX: As a psychology graduate, I’ve always been passionate about understanding human behaviour. Now, as a UX designer, I’m excited to merge these two interests. Completing a Product Psychology course this year deepened my ability to design solutions that are not only usable but truly resonate with users’ needs and motivations.
In 2025, I’m excited to further explore and apply Product Psychology in my work. By diving deeper into understanding user behaviour and motivations, I aim to elevate user experiences that are thoughtful, effective, and impactful.
Goh Jun Hong
In 2024, I’m glad to have achieved the following:
I’m grateful and excited to be working with the Kaki team. Everyone is friendly and welcoming, which has made it easy for me to fit in. I’ve had so much fun working with each and every one of them. One of the key takeaways for me has been learning how to work in an agile team. I feel really fortunate to have people guiding me and providing feedback on how I can continue to improve.
I’m thankful to be part of this team and the opportunity I've had. This made me gained invaluable exposure to learning fundamental skills such as Git, coding practices, and writing test cases. Throughout this time, I have also gained significant experience with the tech stack we use.
I’m delighted to have been involved in this product from scratch to where it is now. From a blank Git repository to numerous folders consisting of mobile, web and other packages to finally publishing it to the public. It has been a rewarding journey.
Looking ahead in 2025, I hope to see a growing number of users adopting Kaki, as this would create a strong sense of fulfillment. I also hope Kaki continues to improve and expand, particularly in terms of performance and new features. On a personal level, I aim to grow in various areas, such as planning, cloud, security, and not just application development, so I can better contribute to the team.
Loh Weijun
In 2024, I’m glad to have achieved the following:
Pleased with how far we have come, actually having products and users of our own. I still remember when we started out in a small crampy room beside Queen’s room and we had to go around asking who was interested to hop on this journey. No regrets so far, even with the difficulties that we faced along the way.
The opportunity to hop on the tech bandwagon and work on LLM-related stuff. Learnt a lot from everyone including our resident AI engineer, DevOps and frontend expert. Its no easy feat building something from scratch and shipping it to the hands of the users within months. Yong Kiat’s extreme enthusiasm on evangelising our products every other week on Linkedin and to agencies has showed me that no product will sell by itself without a good salesman. Truly a privilege to come on a ride like this.
Looking forward to my agency deployment in 2025!
Soong Yining
In 2024, I’m glad to have achieved the following:
The privilege of working in a “real” software development team, a refreshing change from my years of experience as a one-person team. This shift allowed me to grow significantly, not only in my technical skills but also in my interpersonal abilities. I’m incredibly grateful to have had supportive and talented peers to learn from — a huge thanks to the Kaki team!
One of the highlights for me was the opportunity to share my thoughts openly and engage in meaningful discussions (goodbye to the solo struggle days!). Transitioning from a “yes-man” to a true team player has been a rewarding experience, teaching me the value of collaboration and collective problem-solving.
Another milestone was launching a product on the App Store for public use. It still feels surreal that, after just six months of dedicated effort, we achieved our goal on time despite the challenges and uncertainties along the way. Although the fear of not meeting the launch deadline has passed, it’s now replaced by the anticipation of user reviews and crash reports (shivers).
In the coming year, I’m excited to continue working with the team to develop impactful solutions for real-world problems. On a personal note, I look forward to exploring new technologies and domains while learning from past experiences to avoid repeating mistakes.
Kelly Lim
As I reflect on this year, I'm incredibly grateful to be part of such a supportive and dynamic team. The collaborative environment we've fostered has created countless opportunities for personal and professional growth. It's inspiring to work alongside colleagues who not only encourage each other to push boundaries but also create a space where learning and development are prioritized.
One of my key accomplishments this year has been actively contributing to and upholding Converge's rigorous quality standards. Our team's unwavering commitment to excellence has consistently resulted in delivering reliable and professional outcomes that we can all be proud of.
Another significant achievement has been my growth in the AI domain, particularly in prompt engineering. Through developing our innovative document-chat AI application, I've gained valuable insights into AI's capabilities and limitations. This deeper understanding has enhanced my ability to contribute meaningfully to our projects and push the boundaries of what's possible with AI technology.
I'm also proud of our work in expanding Converge's capabilities through new integrations, particularly in developing features that enable users to chat with various file sources. This enhancement demonstrates our dedication to improving user experience and showcases our ability to evolve our platform to meet user needs effectively. Looking ahead, I'm particularly excited about the potential to integrate with more file sources, such as Exchange and calendar systems, which will further enhance our platform's versatility and value to users.
Come 2025, I'm eager to expand my professional horizons by developing a more comprehensive understanding across different roles and responsibilities. My goal is to sharpen my ability to identify challenges proactively, take more initiative in problem-solving, and strengthen my contributions as a collaborative team member.
Wilson Wan
In 2024, I’m glad to have achieved the following:
Trusting my software engineering expertise: I'm proud of learning to trust my years of training as a software engineer. While I remained receptive to my team's feedback and suggestions, I also took the initiative to conduct my own research. This approach allowed me to build a comprehensive understanding that went beyond the knowledge transferred from the team. Moving forward, I plan to incorporate more first principles thinking into my work.
Building trust and understanding diverse perspectives: This year taught me the crucial importance of building trust and garnering support from the team. I learnt not to judge situations or people at face value. Instead, I made a conscious effort to understand others' perspectives by considering their backstories. This approach has significantly improved team dynamics and collaboration.
Prioritising people to enhance product outcomes: I'm proud of embracing the philosophy that taking care of people leads to better product outcomes. By fostering an environment where the team truly owns the value and impact of the product, we've seen remarkable achievements. The work done and successes achieved this year have proven the validity of this approach.
In 2025, I'm excited to incorporate more first principles thinking into our product development process. By breaking down complex problems to their most basic elements and rebuilding from there, I believe we can drive more innovation and find unique solutions to challenges we face. This approach will complement the trust and understanding we've built within the team, potentially leading to even greater achievements in the coming year.
Peh Yiming
As I reflect on the past year, I feel grateful for the opportunities and accomplishments that have come my way. A few key highlights include:
New Project, New Opportunities. I’m fortunate to have transitioned to a new project this year, where I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with talented and supportive people. This fresh start has brought new challenges and growth, making it a fulfilling experience both professionally and personally.
Converge: A Knowledge Repository. One of the most exciting projects I’ve worked on is Converge, a knowledge repository that allows users to chat with the files they’ve manually uploaded or those stored on Microsoft personal and organizational drives. Being part of this innovative solution has been rewarding, and it’s fulfilling to contribute to making knowledge access and sharing more dynamic and intuitive.
Lim Hoon Ling
2023-2024 was quite a journey for our team. Not only did we have to juggle the development of four products (OurSG Grants Portal, Resident Wallet, Converge and SENSE), we faced significant organizational changes that could have disrupted our work significantly. But guess what? Our team stuck together, faced the fear of change head-on, and came out stronger — we delivered all our projects and brought impact to agencies and community!
I had the privilege of working with some incredible people — the OurSG development team, Transform team, VA team, and great leaders like Yong Kiat, Jing Fang, Wenjie, and Steven. Their support and guidance were invaluable in helping us navigate change and stay focused on our goals.
A special thanks to my Reporting Officer, Yong Kiat, for always having our backs and guiding us through every challenge. He played a key role in helping the team stay intact, support one another, and turn challenges into opportunities for growth. The team learnt to look out for each other, and we grew stronger together. I truly feel ucky and grateful to have been part of this journey with such an amazing group of people.
As we move forward into 2025, I’m filled with hope and excitement. I believe in this team’s ability to continue performing at their best and making a meaningful impact on the agencies we’ll be working with. I’m proud to be one of the team leads, and I can’t wait to witness the team’s success in this next chapter!
Chadin Anuwattaporn
Proud to be stepping up to be a lone DevOps engineer supporting a team of 15 developers creating 3 innovative products that solve high-impact problems at Whole-of-Government scale. This means working smart and working efficiently. Got to implement things that help us work smoother such as Atlantis, something that we always dreamed about back in Grants but never had the bandwidth to do!
Helping engineers in the team who are interested learn more about infrastructure, how deployment of services work, how to maintain them, and how to track infrastructure as code. As a result, engineers can self-serve changes to infrastructure more, and less work is dependent on myself.
Learning that there will always be a bit of friction in a team of humans—this is a healthy thing, because intelligent people have opinions and it is normal to not always agree. One of the major growing points is to be able to have conversations about our differences and/or give/receive feedbacks to/from teammates without being personal, by analysing situations using behavioural frameworks.
In 2025, I’m looking forward to our new season in a new agency. Looking forward to more of solving impactful problems, working with colleagues from outside our team (our team is great, what I mean is that I hope the pool of people we enjoy working with will expand further) and to support the team in whatever capacity so that we can continue to serve our nation!
Shaina Tan
This year, I’m proud of stepping out of my comfort zone—taking on a new role, new responsibilities, and embracing opportunities without having all the answers. It wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I found the courage to try!
What made it possible was all the help I received along the way. I can’t imagine navigating this without the support of such a kind, hardworking, and talented team. I’ve learned so much from each person here—not just about work, but about life. This team has taught me what it means to show up, give your best, and keep going, even when things are uncertain.
I’m immensely grateful for the trust and care our leads have shown us. They looked out for us and made sure we had what we needed to succeed, and that trust made all the difference.
When I think about where we started with just an idea to where we are now, it honestly seems surreal. Together, we’ve built something real and meaningful! Each individual in the team has brought so much to this journey, in your own ways, and it’s been incredible to see.
I hope everyone is as proud of what we’ve accomplished as I am! It’s been a privilege to work alongside everyone here, and I’ll carry the lessons and memories from this experience with me for a long time. Thank you for being part of this, for your support, and for making this journey worthwhile.
For 2025, I’m looking forward to taking on new challenges, refining what we’ve built together, and finding new ways to make an impact wherever we are.