Working in the open: Weeks 11 & 12
One of Code for Canada’s principles is to operate in public. These bi-weekly blog posts put that value into practice, giving readers a window into what we’re doing — and how we do it.
The last 14 days have been really productive at Code for Canada, due largely to the fact that we’re operating with more staff. In the past few weeks, we’ve hired an awesome group of summer employees, and onboarded our new Education and Community Program Manager, Meghan Hellstern. Turns out that with more people on your team, you can… do all the things!
First up, Lia and Luke visited Ottawa and Montreal to promote the federal fellowship. They met with public servants looking for ways to use tech and design in their roles, spoke with technology professionals who want to make an impact, and hung out with members of both cities’ civic tech and open data communities. It’s always great to get out of the office and meet people who are excited about Code for Canada; it’s an even better experience when you can return home with a suitcase loaded with Montreal bagels.
One of the highlights was visiting Ottawa Civic Tech at their Tuesday hacknight. During introductions, the icebreaker question was “which government services would you like to see improved or made digital?” Not wanting to miss an opportunity for user research, we jotted down some answers:
- “Anything I can do in person” should be digital
- Ontario Health Card application and renewal
- Updating web pages about government programs for youth
- Improved weather statistics and data
- Re-imagining government HR for a digital world
- Making government content more accessible to the media
- Digital citizenship, like in Estonia
- Consolidated health records that can be shared across providers
- Requesting adoption records
- More opportunity for tele-working in the public service
- Handling “major life events” like birth, marriage or death
- More open data from Canada Post
- Better interoperability between government platforms
Thanks to everyone who made the trip possible, including Ottawa Civic Tech, Rebel.com and the Esplanade co-working space in Montreal!
On June 30th we officially closed applications for the inaugural Code for Canada fellowship. We received over 300 applications (way more than we hoped for), proof that Canada’s technology and design community is looking for opportunities to use their skills in the public interest!
Last week we assembled a panel of experts in software development, UX design and product management to review fellowship applications. It was probably the most fun you could have doing HR, and everyone was impressed by the calibre of aspiring fellows. We’re grateful to all the busy people on our selection panel — both in Toronto and across the country — who generously donated their time to help us choose the first cohort of fellows.
Over the next week, we’ll be meeting potential fellows over video conference before moving on to the next hurdle: a comprehensive technical interview. By the time the process is finished, successful Code for Canada fellows will have completed two skills tests and three separate interviews.
There’s lots more to say about the fellowship applications, and we’ll be diving into the numbers and what they mean in a future blog post. Stay tuned!
Our crew of summer staff, including Emily, Isha, Mari and Nana, have settled in and are tackling some important projects. Here’s a snapshot of what the #SummerSquad is up to:
- Mari is laying the groundwork to make codefor.ca accessible. We recognize that our website doesn’t meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and have made it a priority to change that.
- Emily and Isha are working on what we’ve dubbed the ‘Civic Tech Toolkit,’ a series of resources that will help community organizers start a regular civic tech hacknight in their city.
- Mari and Nana are also working on a manual for hosting a CodeAcross hackathon. Unlike other hackathons, CodeAcross events involve challenges presented by government staff, who work shoulder-to-shoulder with hackathon participants to build solutions.
Gabe and Meghan are gearing up to teach the second iteration of Digital Government and Civic Tech, a course offered in collaboration with Ryerson University’s Chang School of Continuing Education. The course equips public servants with the tools they need to apply modern tech and design processes to their work. Gabe and Meghan are incorporating learner feedback into the second version of the course, and they’re also collecting new case studies to further ground the learning in real-world examples of how tools like agile development, rapid prototyping and human-centred design have been adopted by governments.
They’ll also be offering a condensed version of the course to staff at Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation July 18–20 and September 19–21. The three-day intensive class is being hosted by the Ministry’s IT department and will look at how IT fits into the future of digital service delivery in Ontario. Adapting a 7-week course to be delivered in 3 days is a challenge, but Meghan is a seasoned trainer, and we’re really looking forward to delivering the course in this new context.
Luke finished drafting Code for Canada’s first vacation policy. Code for Canada continues to strive to be intentional when it comes to workplace culture, and with summer in full swing it seemed like a good time to get an official vacation policy on paper. Balancing our desire to ensure staff have time to recharge with the fact that we’re a small, busy organization where employees wear a number of hats is no easy task. The policy is still in draft form, and we’ll be circulating internally for feedback in the next few weeks. When we arrive at a finished policy, we may share it so other startup nonprofits can iterate on it.
Thanks for reading! We’ll see you soon.
