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sarafederman's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
vickywoodburn's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
bennyfelds's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
matt08's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.0
My notes while reading the book are below. Overall it was very informative and taught me a lot about why government is so awful at tech and how it is slowly improving.
My only major problem with the novel is how much it bashes the right for not wanting a bloated government. While at the same time explaining how a chain of command sometimes thousands of public employees long leads to stalled production of services and a poor final product.
My notes:
Problems with tech in government:
Once a Bill becomes a law, it isn't magically enacted. Databases need to be updated for a person to no longer be considered a felon.
You can't just throw more money at/ upgrade technologies/ outsource/ add oversight to a government program and expect it to behave perfectly.
The work of implementation done in the digital space shouldn't be separated from the important work of policy making.
There was a study in the 90s by Joe Soss that found the more someone interacts with government services and forms, the less confidence they have in the government. It's a spiral of bad processes leading to bad faith in the system leading to worse policies.
Rita Saenz was the head of the EDD. She was criticized by many for hiding behind procedure. However, she thought of herself as a Steward is the program and cared more about consistency than the "fads" that each administration brings in.
The author compared governmental structure to waterfall software development
. Information and power only go down, never back up
The head of the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) didn't care about programmers suggesting changes. He didn't want to rock the boat because government encourages a clean record, even if you allowed unseen issues to persist.
Government administrators suck in a waterfall mentally see data less as a tool, and more as a weapon others use to grade them by and then beat them with.
Government workers are usually fatalistic with large scale problems. You need creative and optimistic people to stop others from giving BS estimations while they hope attention if placed elsewhere.
You either plan to have a phased roll out of a service or you are forced to have one as the initial product will fail if it tries to produce the whole nine yards.
We have automatic processes for publishing people but long, length processes for helping then.
Solutions:
You can't completely redefine institutionalized practice. But coming up with compromises that are able to just slip by is key.
Having a tech savvy person at the table when writing a law can be the difference between a week long project and a decades long logistical battle. (See xkcd above). Dialogue is almost always better than directives.
The most important skill set of CIOs in government today it to vertically compute and evaluate commercial alternatives. There's no need to make a proprietary software suite when one already exists.
"We need to bring technologists into all levels of government, so digital practices and concerns are built into policy decisions from the beginning. We need technologists to apply user-centered design to policy and put citizens and their needs at the center of the policy-making process."
he realized that "moving money from one billionaire's pocket to another" felt empty. He called Todd (our tech recruiter in chief) and came back to DC.
Policy and implementation can't be separated. If someone came access a service through a website then to them, that digital service is the policy.
We are wrong more often than we are right when looking at the outcomes of left vs right legislature. So much beurocracy muddles the water and what is most important is streamlining processes and reducing the burden of the user. If both sides work together then We can get a government that delivers what the Miller Lite ads promise: tastes great, less filling.
If you support a more user first experience for beurocracy through agile development then you need to expect an incrementally entering solutions that agile promises.
This is all important because government is a monopoly on the welfare of everyone with no competitors. When it fails children get hurt.
My only major problem with the novel is how much it bashes the right for not wanting a bloated government. While at the same time explaining how a chain of command sometimes thousands of public employees long leads to stalled production of services and a poor final product.
My notes:
Problems with tech in government:
Once a Bill becomes a law, it isn't magically enacted. Databases need to be updated for a person to no longer be considered a felon.
You can't just throw more money at/ upgrade technologies/ outsource/ add oversight to a government program and expect it to behave perfectly.
The work of implementation done in the digital space shouldn't be separated from the important work of policy making.
There was a study in the 90s by Joe Soss that found the more someone interacts with government services and forms, the less confidence they have in the government. It's a spiral of bad processes leading to bad faith in the system leading to worse policies.
Rita Saenz was the head of the EDD. She was criticized by many for hiding behind procedure. However, she thought of herself as a Steward is the program and cared more about consistency than the "fads" that each administration brings in.
The author compared governmental structure to waterfall software development
. Information and power only go down, never back up
The head of the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) didn't care about programmers suggesting changes. He didn't want to rock the boat because government encourages a clean record, even if you allowed unseen issues to persist.
Government administrators suck in a waterfall mentally see data less as a tool, and more as a weapon others use to grade them by and then beat them with.
Government workers are usually fatalistic with large scale problems. You need creative and optimistic people to stop others from giving BS estimations while they hope attention if placed elsewhere.
You either plan to have a phased roll out of a service or you are forced to have one as the initial product will fail if it tries to produce the whole nine yards.
We have automatic processes for publishing people but long, length processes for helping then.
Solutions:
You can't completely redefine institutionalized practice. But coming up with compromises that are able to just slip by is key.
Having a tech savvy person at the table when writing a law can be the difference between a week long project and a decades long logistical battle. (See xkcd above). Dialogue is almost always better than directives.
The most important skill set of CIOs in government today it to vertically compute and evaluate commercial alternatives. There's no need to make a proprietary software suite when one already exists.
"We need to bring technologists into all levels of government, so digital practices and concerns are built into policy decisions from the beginning. We need technologists to apply user-centered design to policy and put citizens and their needs at the center of the policy-making process."
he realized that "moving money from one billionaire's pocket to another" felt empty. He called Todd (our tech recruiter in chief) and came back to DC.
Policy and implementation can't be separated. If someone came access a service through a website then to them, that digital service is the policy.
We are wrong more often than we are right when looking at the outcomes of left vs right legislature. So much beurocracy muddles the water and what is most important is streamlining processes and reducing the burden of the user. If both sides work together then We can get a government that delivers what the Miller Lite ads promise: tastes great, less filling.
If you support a more user first experience for beurocracy through agile development then you need to expect an incrementally entering solutions that agile promises.
This is all important because government is a monopoly on the welfare of everyone with no competitors. When it fails children get hurt.
arealswellfellow's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
3.5
This is more of a policy and people book than a technology book, but I think that’s the point. It’s a great glimpse into the inner workings and challenges of implementing government policy that affects people everyday. Some parts are a little dry, but that lines up with covering the technology for what should be mundane government operations.
Kind of makes me want to work for the government and use my coding skills to actually help people…
Kind of makes me want to work for the government and use my coding skills to actually help people…
ededdneddyfan's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.5
Great start, the conclusion chapter was a slow meandering lecture on an ideal future state that was too boring to read.
thesixthstation's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5