Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
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Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
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Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#2I wonder how many of these people will end up being recruited by the NSA. Sounds like the "NSA boycott" is about to be over soon.
http://www.npr.org/2015/03/31/395829446/after-snowden-the-ns...
Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#3Great to hear Ash Carter is so behind this. That makes me want to sign up for the Defense Digital Service, assuming they have work that isn't frontend-heavy.
Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#4I love this part:
Another project involves working on the Global Positioning System. Lynch still can’t believe that he can work on something that cool while serving his country. “I didn’t even know that we ran GPS, right?” he says. “That’s crazy shit.”
Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#5> These entities cannot continue to operate as both buyer and seller. There is an inherent conflict of interest when the entity that consults on how to solve a problem then also offers to sell you the solution. The government outlawed such arrangements for contractors, so they should not be permitted to create such a dynamic internally.
That's a very strong accusation from Hodgkins (linked blog post in the article).
Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#6This article does a good job of showing it, but everyone talked about is seriously amazing. I made it through all the interview pieces and ran into some other life complications so wound up not getting to work with them, but having been by their space in the Pentagon they're doing some of the coolest stuff imaginable right now.
If you're looking for a new job, I'd highly recommend giving it a shot. Definitely felt like an opportunity unmatched elsewhere right now.
Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#7The federal government hires a team of young, talented, motivated engineers and managers, puts them in charge of failed software projects, gives them the resources and authority they require to turns things around, and -- surprise! -- it turns out they do a GREAT job.
In hindsight, this shouldn't be too surprising. What might be surprising is that the same logic should apply to ALL government functions, not just software development. Who says government projects and agencies have to be poorly run? Who says we can't devise better systems and/or mechanisms (e.g., market-based mechanisms) for attracting and retaining great people in government?
Throughout history, there are examples of government bureaucracies that have been reasonably well run, in some cases for centuries. The Habsburg empire, in particular, comes to mind: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/habsburg-empi...
Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#8The federal government hires a team of young, talented, motivated engineers and managers, puts them in charge of failed software projects, gives them the resources and authority they require to turns things around, and -- surprise! -- it turns out they do a GREAT job. In hindsight, this shouldn't be too surprising. What might be surprising is that the same logic should apply to ALL government functions, not just soft…
> Why do government projects and agencies have to be poorly run?
Because lots of people, inside and outside of government, derive significant money, power, or both from government dysfunction. A classic case of goal misalignment.
Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#9The federal government hires a team of young, talented, motivated engineers and managers, puts them in charge of failed software projects, gives them the resources and authority they require to turns things around, and -- surprise! -- it turns out they do a GREAT job. In hindsight, this shouldn't be too surprising. What might be surprising is that the same logic should apply to ALL government functions, not just soft…
> Why do government projects and agencies have to be poorly run? Because lots of people, inside and outside of government, derive significant money, power, or both from government dysfunction. A classic case of goal misalignment.
To provide a quote from the article:
..two lobbyists who managed to find their way onto the five-person panel testifying. They represented the interests of traditional IT contractors, who seem to believe it is their right to overcharge taxpayers for complex computer systems that don’t work. Even though, as one congressperson at the hearing put it, those special interests are likely to view the USDS and 18F “with a jaundiced eye,” they were given the opportunity to seize on the authority issue as a way to cast doubts on the Obama tech surge.
Re: Inside the Obama Tech Surge as It Hacks the Pentagon and VA
#10The federal government hires a team of young, talented, motivated engineers and managers, puts them in charge of failed software projects, gives them the resources and authority they require to turns things around, and -- surprise! -- it turns out they do a GREAT job. In hindsight, this shouldn't be too surprising. What might be surprising is that the same logic should apply to ALL government functions, not just soft…
If you're comparing to the paper bureaucracies of yore, our bureaucracy isn't even that bad. I mean, look at the size of the country and the number of functions, they ran that on PAPER until the 70s-80s?
The problem with the software transition is that they're sticking with the "hire a HIGH TECH contractor" approach rather than the "hire some coders to work inside the business" approach. Compare SAP/Oracle products to internally developed line-of-business software.