On extraordinariness

I had a small role in recruiting this man. He’d spent the last ten years leading engineering teams on a consumer product you’ve probably used, and he’s just arrived in DC to work with the federal government. He started on Monday, and it’s now Thursday night. I run into him at an event. He…

The Tyranny of Agile

“The tyranny of agile.” Never thought you’d hear me say that, did you? We’re the folks who got all up in the State of California’s business about running the new Child Welfare System as an agile project. (And the State embraced it!) Code for America preaches the user-centered, iterative…

Beyond Tech: Policymaking in a Digital Age

“We need to be about the business of perfecting an imperfect law.”

The CIO Problem, Part 1

I get about one inbound request a week for help finding technology leadership for cities, states, and federal agencies. Leaders everywhere in government have realized how profoundly their success is tied to getting digital right (and often how frustrated they will continue to be if they…

Procurement under Trump

If Trump wants to improve regulation, here’s where he should start.

The Work Ahead: Public Service Under Trump

There is a lot to say. Most things will be better said by others. Here’s one thing I will say today.

Today, public servants at all levels of government all over the country got up and went to work. They’ve done this the day after…

Why I’m Going to the White House Today

Today, along with the heads of several tech companies, I will be attending a meeting at the White House convened under the auspices of the American Technology Council (ATeC). I wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post explaining why, but I wanted to share a bit…

The President’s Final Ask of Us

Dear Coders for America of all stripes,

I had the honor and privilege of attending President Obama’s farewell speech on Tuesday. As my friends drew me forward through the crowd of thousands, I found myself among the hundreds close enough to the…

“Stuff that Matters” Design Challenge: 120 probation officers sharing one iPhone

The CIO Problem, Part 2: Innovation

In my first post about government technology leadership positions, I wrote about how “IT” in government has unhelpfully come to mean “all things technology,” and how we need to tease apart the distinct roles that Chief Information Officers (CInfO) and Digital Service…