8 ms·

This type of waste occurs in all levels of government. My last employer was spending over $1,000,000/year maintaining some horrible SharePoint sites that were r

This type of waste occurs in all levels of government. My last employer was spending over $1,000,000/year maintaining some horrible SharePoint sites that were rarely used.

vkou 9y ago
This sort of problem is not limited to government. Private companies waste money on all sorts of dead-end nonsense - all the time. It's why IBM and Oracle are still in business.
- pxeboot 9y ago
  Of course they do, but it's a much bigger issue when it's done with taxpayer money. I don't really care what Apple or BP waste money on, but I hate seeing important services degraded/cut in order to keep spending on wasteful projects like this.
  - mljoe 9y ago
    How do you suppose we fix this? I'm not being factious here.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - rbcgerard 9y ago
      I’d start with asking the questions: who was responsible for the contract and it’s implemntation, and what were their motives, incentives, qualifications and abilities. Then I would ask the same question, but what would the IDEAL motives, abilities, incentives and qualifications of that person be? Then try bridging those gaps....
    - ThrowAwayFSp 9y ago
      Privatize the DMV/Allow startups to provide the service
    - mxschumacher 9y ago
      be much more aggressive about sharing solutions between institutions or making them available as open source outright (see https://code.gov/#/ https://code.gov/#/). How different can the needs from one DMV to another be?
      - prawn 9y ago
        Speaking from afar, but I've noticed that Americans tend to feel very strongly about state rights and independence, as well as the opportunity for someone to profit somewhere. Wouldn't that work against what you're saying? I do think it makes complete sense though - reinventing the wheel in each state is crazy. I wonder if any state agency has ever hired and built a solution internally, proven its effectiveness, and then somehow sold it to other states?
        mxschumacher 9y ago
        What you're saying is quite possibly true. This is part of a bigger problem - it is just so hard to understand the internal structure, processes and needs of these organizations. There must be some people on HN who have extensive government contracting experience and can shed a light on this?
      - pythonaut_16 9y ago
        Do you think this is a place where we could take notes from Estonia? X-Road[0] for example, they call their data exchange layer. I don't know exactly how it works, but it seems to specify some common protocol so various government (and private) services can all work together. I know their system is also very citizen focused, but perhaps something similar could reduce the costs of integrating the specific needs of specific state agencies with the overall set of services a state government provides/uses. [0]https://www.ria.ee/en/x-road.html https://www.ria.ee/en/x-road.html
- jjeaff 9y ago
  In all my years in tech, I have literally never heard a single person (that wasn't part of a flashy ad campaign) exclaim that IBM or Oracle offered their company a solution at a good rate, got it setup in time and that it works well and solved their problems.
  - nraynaud 9y ago
    I think I have read one anecdote: Apple stores and Oracle. I read somewhere that Steve Jobs was happy with the point of sales software and that there is some Oracle in it (and that Jobs and Ellison knew each other) Only positive Oracle anecdote I know of.
    - kgwgk 9y ago
      They didn’t just know each other: “Ellison's idea was to buy Apple and immediately make Jobs CEO.” “Jobs proposed what Ellison called "a more circuitous route." He would persuade Apple to acquire Next, and then join Apple's board.” “After Jobs was CEO of Apple again — interim CEO initially — Ellison joined Apple's board.” https://www.recode.net/2016/5/13/11672932/larry-ellison-steve-jobs-oracle-apple-usc https://www.recode.net/2016/5/13/11672932/larry-ellison-stev...

This type of waste occurs in all levels of government. My last employer was spending over $1,000,000/year maintaining some horrible SharePoint sites that were rarely used.

vkou 9y ago

This sort of problem is not limited to government. Private companies waste money on all sorts of dead-end nonsense - all the time. It's why IBM and Oracle are still in business.

pxeboot 9y ago
Of course they do, but it's a much bigger issue when it's done with taxpayer money. I don't really care what Apple or BP waste money on, but I hate seeing important services degraded/cut in order to keep spending on wasteful projects like this.
- mljoe 9y ago
  How do you suppose we fix this? I'm not being factious here.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - rbcgerard 9y ago
    I’d start with asking the questions: who was responsible for the contract and it’s implemntation, and what were their motives, incentives, qualifications and abilities. Then I would ask the same question, but what would the IDEAL motives, abilities, incentives and qualifications of that person be? Then try bridging those gaps....
  - ThrowAwayFSp 9y ago
    Privatize the DMV/Allow startups to provide the service
  - mxschumacher 9y ago
    be much more aggressive about sharing solutions between institutions or making them available as open source outright (see https://code.gov/#/ https://code.gov/#/). How different can the needs from one DMV to another be?
    - prawn 9y ago
      Speaking from afar, but I've noticed that Americans tend to feel very strongly about state rights and independence, as well as the opportunity for someone to profit somewhere. Wouldn't that work against what you're saying? I do think it makes complete sense though - reinventing the wheel in each state is crazy. I wonder if any state agency has ever hired and built a solution internally, proven its effectiveness, and then somehow sold it to other states?
      - mxschumacher 9y ago
        What you're saying is quite possibly true. This is part of a bigger problem - it is just so hard to understand the internal structure, processes and needs of these organizations. There must be some people on HN who have extensive government contracting experience and can shed a light on this?
    - pythonaut_16 9y ago
      Do you think this is a place where we could take notes from Estonia? X-Road[0] for example, they call their data exchange layer. I don't know exactly how it works, but it seems to specify some common protocol so various government (and private) services can all work together. I know their system is also very citizen focused, but perhaps something similar could reduce the costs of integrating the specific needs of specific state agencies with the overall set of services a state government provides/uses. [0]https://www.ria.ee/en/x-road.html https://www.ria.ee/en/x-road.html
jjeaff 9y ago
In all my years in tech, I have literally never heard a single person (that wasn't part of a flashy ad campaign) exclaim that IBM or Oracle offered their company a solution at a good rate, got it setup in time and that it works well and solved their problems.
- nraynaud 9y ago
  I think I have read one anecdote: Apple stores and Oracle. I read somewhere that Steve Jobs was happy with the point of sales software and that there is some Oracle in it (and that Jobs and Ellison knew each other) Only positive Oracle anecdote I know of.
  - kgwgk 9y ago
    They didn’t just know each other: “Ellison's idea was to buy Apple and immediately make Jobs CEO.” “Jobs proposed what Ellison called "a more circuitous route." He would persuade Apple to acquire Next, and then join Apple's board.” “After Jobs was CEO of Apple again — interim CEO initially — Ellison joined Apple's board.” https://www.recode.net/2016/5/13/11672932/larry-ellison-steve-jobs-oracle-apple-usc https://www.recode.net/2016/5/13/11672932/larry-ellison-stev...