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This is a great sign for the entire government technology space. The potential for impact is massive. If we can save 1 hour per week for each of the 10.5 milli

by tyre 11y ago

This is a great sign for the entire government technology space. The potential for impact is massive. If we can save 1 hour per week for each of the 10.5 million local government employees, that unlocks 273,000 years of human potential every 12 months. To rekindle love for public service, Seneca Systems is hiring in product design, front, and back end engineering. Ruby, Elixir, React, Postgres, geospatial mapping. http://seneca.systems/careers http://seneca.systems/careers

maresca 11y ago
If you've ever worked for or with a government entity, you'd find that saving time or money isn't a priority. In fact, departments try to spend as much as their budget as possible for fear they won't get as much next year.
- andrewliebchen 11y ago
  I look at it a little more optimistically...sure departments try to spend every last penny of their budget so that they don't lose that funding. That's a given. What if departments could spend every last penny BETTER? Maybe its true that saving money isn't a priority, but spending money on things that have the most impact, or that get the most value is a priority. I work for OpenGov, so I hear this from our customers (who work in government) all the time.
- ncd 11y ago
  We don't find this to be true at the local level. Our customers are cost-sensitive, and we find the time savings our product provides to be a major selling point. We haven't done any work yet at the state or federal levels, so maybe we'll encounter this attitude there.
- tyre 11y ago
  We hear that assumption a lot, but it hasn't been the case in our experience (working with Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, Baltimore, etc.). At the local level, budgets matter. Even if you're going to spend your entire budget, spending less on tools frees up more budget to spend on other things. Things like community events, more staff, creating programs to engage or serve under-represented groups, commissioning cross-departmental studies. Saving time absolutely matters. The common belief is that local government employees are lazy or incompetent. Again, we've never found that to be true. Many of them came into public service to serve their communities — no one gets into local government for fame or fortune — but were beaten down by the bureaucracy. They are motivated to do good and better back office tools help them achieve their goals.
andrewliebchen 11y ago
...Or you can come work at OpenGov. We're hiring too ;) http://opengov.com/careers/ http://opengov.com/careers/
kuro-kuris 11y ago
FYI the https link goes to a pure html website for some reason, I would recommend following their http link. Seneca seems like quite a cool company I like the Roman references. I would be curious what kind of opportunities do you see in a European context for government tech?
- tyre 11y ago
  We're really excited by the opportunities in Europe and local governments across the world. A few weeks ago we got an inquiry from Ireland and we've been told multiple times that governments in India would also be great candidates. The problems are similar. Many local governments try to shoehorn tools from the private sector — Excel, SalesForce, Post-Its — into their operations. These "work" but are far from the right tool for the job and put the onus of ensuring compliance on the office. That is further compounded by the relative lack of European based startups. Data has to be held within the country. Some laws are vague or have loopholes, but we firmly believe that constituent information should not be subject to other states' snooping. That means recreating tools specifically for European regulations and cloning the infrastructure per country. Not impossible, we're just not there yet. P.S. The Roman references are just the tip of the iceberg. Both founders are philosophers so our values (http://seneca.systems/values http://seneca.systems/values) are the heart of the company.

by tyre 11y ago

maresca 11y ago

If you've ever worked for or with a government entity, you'd find that saving time or money isn't a priority. In fact, departments try to spend as much as their budget as possible for fear they won't get as much next year.

andrewliebchen 11y ago
I look at it a little more optimistically...sure departments try to spend every last penny of their budget so that they don't lose that funding. That's a given. What if departments could spend every last penny BETTER? Maybe its true that saving money isn't a priority, but spending money on things that have the most impact, or that get the most value is a priority. I work for OpenGov, so I hear this from our customers (who work in government) all the time.
ncd 11y ago
We don't find this to be true at the local level. Our customers are cost-sensitive, and we find the time savings our product provides to be a major selling point. We haven't done any work yet at the state or federal levels, so maybe we'll encounter this attitude there.
tyre 11y ago
We hear that assumption a lot, but it hasn't been the case in our experience (working with Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, Baltimore, etc.). At the local level, budgets matter. Even if you're going to spend your entire budget, spending less on tools frees up more budget to spend on other things. Things like community events, more staff, creating programs to engage or serve under-represented groups, commissioning cross-departmental studies. Saving time absolutely matters. The common belief is that local government employees are lazy or incompetent. Again, we've never found that to be true. Many of them came into public service to serve their communities — no one gets into local government for fame or fortune — but were beaten down by the bureaucracy. They are motivated to do good and better back office tools help them achieve their goals.

andrewliebchen 11y ago

...Or you can come work at OpenGov. We're hiring too ;) http://opengov.com/careers/ http://opengov.com/careers/

kuro-kuris 11y ago

FYI the https link goes to a pure html website for some reason, I would recommend following their http link. Seneca seems like quite a cool company I like the Roman references. I would be curious what kind of opportunities do you see in a European context for government tech?

tyre 11y ago
We're really excited by the opportunities in Europe and local governments across the world. A few weeks ago we got an inquiry from Ireland and we've been told multiple times that governments in India would also be great candidates. The problems are similar. Many local governments try to shoehorn tools from the private sector — Excel, SalesForce, Post-Its — into their operations. These "work" but are far from the right tool for the job and put the onus of ensuring compliance on the office. That is further compounded by the relative lack of European based startups. Data has to be held within the country. Some laws are vague or have loopholes, but we firmly believe that constituent information should not be subject to other states' snooping. That means recreating tools specifically for European regulations and cloning the infrastructure per country. Not impossible, we're just not there yet. P.S. The Roman references are just the tip of the iceberg. Both founders are philosophers so our values (http://seneca.systems/values http://seneca.systems/values) are the heart of the company.