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Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

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Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#81

Post by mseebach »

nhaehnle wrote: post #74
mseebach wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what are the dynamics that will make this work better, especially recalling the iron law of bureaucracy? http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html

One important dynamic is that contracting, due to its slippery nature, attracts the kind of people whose skill is siphoning money away from government while minimizing what they deliver. Think about it: Even contracted physical construction gets screwed up in large scale government projects, and building good contracts about software development is much harder that contracts about physical construction. In-house deve…

You'll cut one kind of bloodsucker out of the loop and let another in: the kind that thrives building fiefdoms in bureaucracies.

And you're not addressing the main issue: projects being way too big and unwieldy (if now somewhat less expensive) even before they go over budget, over time or flatly fails altogether.

If the CGIs of the world actually delivered a functional product on time and on schedule, the fact that they earn handsomely in the process is at best a secondary concern. Next to the cost of the staggering embarrassment that was the failure of the first Obamacare website, whatever CGI quoted is a rounding error.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#82

Post by srj »

angersock wrote: post #34
abstractbill wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC talks aren't recorded, for similar reasons. When you know every word you say will be potential fodder for a sensationalist news story, it's harder to be blunt about what went right and wrong.

There's a difference between talks for invenstors/entrepreneurs, and talks about fixing a massive clusterfuck of government spending. Especially when the narrative people want to spin is "Gee golly whiz look at those Silicon Valley folks saving the day!". Anything else is CYOA, and it'd be nice if people could actually rise to the occasion and be honest and precise. (Besides, if you are honest on everything, and some…

I'm not sure a quote taken out of context actually is so easily corrected within the realm of American media and politics. Falsehoods are quoted and quickly reprinted, and the truth might not be so juicy as to get the same level of attention.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#83

Post by cryoshon »

dannyr wrote: post #63
pdeuchler wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to start a political flame war, but... How do you, as technologically savvy people who are in a better position than most to understand the grave transgressions of the NSA, reconcile your support of an administration that has shown complete disregard for our privacy and civil liberties (specifically within the scope of the NSA/Snowden scandal) with your inherent duty, as an engineer of powerful systems, to above…

If everyone tries to reconcile everything the government does, no good person would ever work for the government. If you want to change it, change it from the inside. Thats is what they are doing. People can protest on the streets or online but changing the government from the inside will be more effective.

"Changing it from the inside" is a carrot dangled in front of people to make them think that they can effect change by becoming a cog in the machine. First off, cogs don't change the machine specifically because they're limited in their function.

The people who join the government to try to change it from the inside are the same people who, five years later, complain that their hands are tied and they can't effect meaningful change for the better and must continue along the well-trodden path of obedience. I think Obama is a great example here, but I'm sure there are many others.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#86

Post by hueving »

smrtinsert wrote: post #56
pdeuchler wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to start a political flame war, but... How do you, as technologically savvy people who are in a better position than most to understand the grave transgressions of the NSA, reconcile your support of an administration that has shown complete disregard for our privacy and civil liberties (specifically within the scope of the NSA/Snowden scandal) with your inherent duty, as an engineer of powerful systems, to above…

Do you quit your job when your boss does something you don't like? The government will live on beyond this administration and hopefully the site will as well. I don't know what privacy you can expect when they hold the keys, my expectation would be 0. Finally, government procurement is always littered with inefficiency and occasionally large scale corruption. These questions really answer themselves. Now if only you…

>Do you quit your job when your boss does something you don't like?

False equivalence. The correct analogy would be "Do you quit your job when your company does something you don't like?"

Many people would answer yes to that.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#87

Post by jinushaun »

enjo wrote: post #17
akoumjian wrote: post #9

The question I have is, how do we get government to hire teams like this in the first place?

It's incredibly difficult. When government money is involved the good old boy network swings into action. Contractors are picked based on political connections first and actual capabilities second.

I wouldn't be so cynical. Contracts are really awarded to companies that can jump through the bureaucratic hoops--and there's an entire industry dedicated to doing that while over-charging and under-delivering.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#88

Post by dannyr »

cryoshon wrote: post #83
dannyr wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everyone tries to reconcile everything the government does, no good person would ever work for the government. If you want to change it, change it from the inside. Thats is what they are doing. People can protest on the streets or online but changing the government from the inside will be more effective.

"Changing it from the inside" is a carrot dangled in front of people to make them think that they can effect change by becoming a cog in the machine. First off, cogs don't change the machine specifically because they're limited in their function. The people who join the government to try to change it from the inside are the same people who, five years later, complain that their hands are tied and they can't effect me…

I did not say "Changing from the inside" works all the time. There's no perfect solution.

If these YC alums, etc decide they don't want to be a "cog in the machine", how else can they have improved the healthcare web site?

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#89

Post by hueving »

brandonb wrote: post #2

A bunch of the folks in this article are Y Combinator or Google alumni, and we're giving a talk on Saving HealthCare.gov next Thursday in SF for anyone who's interested: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/saving-healthcaregov-tickets-118... Let us know if you have questions! Or if you want to help. UPDATE: we seem to be sold out. Trying to find a larger venue. In the meantime, feel free to sign up on the waiting list and yo…

Why does it matter if some of the people are Google alumni? That doesn't mean anything anymore, the company employs over 10,000 engineers. It's like saying that you have IBM alumni.

Re: Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time

#90

Post by jayd16 »

vinhboy wrote: post #24

So... are we going to get any of our taxpayer money back from the people who fucked up the first time? On another note I am really delighted to see that the government was forced to step out of their bubble to make this happen.

Could you imagine if every shitty software project ended in a refund?
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