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Join the U.S. Digital Service

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Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#111

Post by joelanman »

tfgg wrote: post #109
joelanman wrote: post #105

I work for the UK Government Digital Service - my views don't necessarily represent my employer. There are lots of comments here around the idea of whether you would work for a government if you disagreed with their political views. What I love about working on GDS projects is the potential to improve so many people's lives. People often don't have a choice when it comes to interacting with government - it's often a…

There's also the possibility that, with an established Digital Service, feedback can be given to policy makers to improve the creation of new laws and make them more efficiently implementable. This might mean the difference between a law/policy that can be easily implemented using existing software, or something that has to be done by hand, costing billions - and those policy makers might not realise this. Relevant X…

That's an excellent point, and has happened with the UK GDS. With user research you can make a strong case:

https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2014/06/20/i-fought-the-law-and-the-...

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#112

Post by tfgg »

joelanman wrote: post #111
tfgg wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also the possibility that, with an established Digital Service, feedback can be given to policy makers to improve the creation of new laws and make them more efficiently implementable. This might mean the difference between a law/policy that can be easily implemented using existing software, or something that has to be done by hand, costing billions - and those policy makers might not realise this. Relevant X…

That's an excellent point, and has happened with the UK GDS. With user research you can make a strong case: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2014/06/20/i-fought-the-law-and-the-...

That's the blog I was trying to find! Thanks, it's a great read, and points out an advantage of having in-house people with some ability to push back/negotiate :)

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#113

Post by DanielBMarkham »

I'm upvoting this because the issue deserves more attention and discussion. I am somewhat leery of implementation details, having tons of experience working for both large governmental and private organizations. Large organizations are notoriously difficult to deal with -- large government organizations are an order of magnitude (or two) worse. Them's just the facts.

I am completely supportive of any effort to cut through the BS and make the government more transparent and accessible. So easy-to-use portals, apps for accessing benefits, publish-subscribe services to find opportunities? Dang, there's a lot of cool stuff folks could do. Great idea. Let's go do it.

I am completely concerned about the idea of both automating enforcement and the collection/cross-indexing of data. I have a choice whether or not I let Facebook rape my privacy and anonymity online. I do not have a choice about what I report to the IRS. I'm extremely unhappy with the Facebook situation, and the government is a completely different animal.

Laws and regulations -- centuries of them by now -- were made to be enforced by humans, not computers. That's why we have so many of them and they overlap so much. Anything that takes us closer to automatically fining me when I drive 5 mph over the speed limit, schedules an audit if I make a math mistake on my taxes, or tells me what I can do or not do based on data processing that was impossible ten years ago? Screw that. I want no part of it. In fact, I would make a strong case that such activity is antithetical to a free and just society.

I'm also concerned over the difference between a PR move and something tangible. Show me the next idiot in the White House of a different party that's doing this, and I'll be much happier. Otherwise, not only do I have the reservations that I currently have, I've now added a new one: that all of this automation and assistance is only happening by supporters of one political party. Not good.

Don't get me wrong: I like the idea. I want to see some clear ethical guidelines and permanence across political parties before I could support this, however. Right now it looks like a bunch of political BS.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#114

Post by Mvandenbergh »

nyolfen wrote: post #15
chrissnell wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? "You can do a hell of a lot more damage in the system than out of it." - "Stevo", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi2y9-Mxq-0 But seriously, government is what we make of it. We can sit here as sheep and accept the way that we're governed or we can take the leap and try to change it by joining it. I can't promise that it will ever get better if you sign up to help but I can promise that it won't if you don't.

engineers don't set policy

Real policy-makers ship.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#115

Post by mattlutze »

sliverstorm wrote: post #17
tdaltonc wrote: post #14

It would be really great to fix the IRS's digital presence. Make TurboTax obsolete. I hate TurboTax.

Same goes for the DMV, as well as countless other citizen-facing government orgs. Math & administration is really the roots of computing. Edit: I'm rather unclear what is objectionable here.

Virginia's DMV offers a ton of its services online. It can take a bit to get around their site, but it is overall a much more friendly experience than needing to go into a brick-and-mortar for plate renewals and the sort.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#116

Post by cmrivers »

sloanesturz wrote: post #77

I would love to see a program like ROTC -- the government pays for you to get a CS degree and then you work for the Digital Service to start your career. You end up being 26 with a great education and a solid work experience under your belt. Seems like a win-win!

That's very close to what the SMART program is. I'm a SMART scholar (PhD level), it's been a good experience so far. http://smart.asee.org/

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#117

Post by aidos »

iamartnez wrote: post #62
alexose wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any chance the talk was recorded? I'd love to hear what happened during those few months...

Here's a related talk, good stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLQyj-kBRdo

Thanks for posting that, very worthwhile (and entertaining) watch (though maybe a little too honest for the other people involved!).

For those who have worked in both types of environment (those that promote making things better vs those that punish you for doing something wrong) it's all too familiar.

After having spent a little too long in one of the more negative environments I made the mistake of attributing blame after a slightly disastrous event (while working at a much healthier company). My boss, rightly, told me that any blame was totally unacceptable in their culture. That's a lesson I've taken with me and I'll never forget. A culture of punishing honest mistakes will get you nowhere.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#118

Post by mattlutze »

karmacondon wrote: post #86

I just find the name "U.S. Digital Service" to be god damn inspirational. It reminds me of Kennedy creating the Peace Corps. "Ask not what your country can do for you" and all that. I understand that in reality this is essentially a rebranding of the traditional government job, but it seems like it could be so much more. I know that during the Healthcare.gov debacle, many people with software experience legitimately…

> From wikipedia: "The stated mission of the Peace Corps includes providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand American culture, and helping Americans to understand the cultures of other countries." > WTF aren't we doing this for technology?

It's frustrating that the national face of US technology for so many years now is the NSA and related intelligence agencies.

It would be very, very cool if something like the US Digital Service were externally philanthropic, showing the States is more than what sells newspapers.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#119

Post by fuzzix »

sjtrny wrote: post #102
fuzzix wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ireland has a Pay As You Earn system which is usually administered by your employer. Mostly, you do nothing and the money is paid. Every 5 years, file a P21 to check you're not due any refunds. If you're self-employed, it's a bloody nightmare.

5 years seems like a long time to wait for a tax refund. Especially tax refunds totalling $2500+ are quite common here in Australia. We have a PAYG system too.

You don't have to wait 5 years, you can request them yearly. They just go back 5 years (I think).

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#120

Post by mtbcoder »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #68
nether wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try applying for a hiking permit. Some CA ranger stations take only snail mail or, wait for it, fax.

So build a website and send the permits in using a service like Phaxio.com (Fax API). Show your local rep, get it funded.

Unfortunately, government purchasing isn't that simple. It's really much more complex and rewards those who know the system. A convoluted RFP would need to be issued and some vendor listed in a GSA database would wind up with the contract. Not necessarily because they are better (and certainly not cheaper), but because they can navigate the procurement process and avoid the red-tape pitfalls.
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