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> If I were running this, I would take a radical approach, where the strategy would be a venture model that micro-funded projects to create useful products that

by g_p 6y ago

> If I were running this, I would take a radical approach, where the strategy would be a venture model that micro-funded projects to create useful products that solved for providing future services and applications, and not legacy ones. The above is more similar to some ideas being floated about in various halls of government than you might think. That of course doesn't mean it will happen, given the quirks of government. > While I am not qualified for this job, with a long enough lever, I have no doubt I could move the whole thing. I think your above insight and actually addressing some of the real issues and opportunities shows you are (technically-speaking) well-qualified for the job. Better than a lot of candidates, and better than anyone else that will take up the post. The fiefdoms in central government are very real, but there's a value to the people who are able to navigate these, use rivalries to good effect, and achieve the desired outcome by pitching everyone off against each other correctly. Of course very different in a "CDO" role than as an outside consultant coming in with a scoped brief of what needs achieved and which eggs are able to be cracked in the process. The sad part is that the whole system is such that you'll probably not want to apply for the role, due to the highly politicised nature of most senior appointments - you need to implement what an elected minister wants, even if it doesn't make technical sense. The civil servants who are happy to project-manage the blockchain-backed AI-enabled boondoggle (that lacks a ledger and any form of ML) are the ones that survive.

motohagiography 6y ago
Indeed, and thank you. The reason I have taken the startup and consulting route is the intuition that these are upstream of the institutions, and this is where I suspect a technically inclined individual can effect the most change. In the ~20y I've been around govt, arguably Linux, GitHub, Docker, Jira/Atlassian, PowerBI, VMWare, LinkedIn, SalesForce, and even Twitter have done more to transform government than any endogenous solution could. EVen in the last 5 years, AirBNB and Uber have altered the economics of municipalities faster than anything planned might have. These techs are all still in early stages there, (and the economics of devops break public service finance, but that's another story) but you can see the downstream effects they have. So far regarding public services, my two favourite models have been In-Q-Tel and 18f.gov. The first is far upstream, and the second has been a way to navigate it. It's worth considering that a public sector CTO role is really a "steady hand on the tiller" role to navigate the things we're all building upstream. The CTO is a necessary role, but my experience is that heroes and visionaries will likely select out fast, and framing it as a navigator role might yield different results.

by g_p 6y ago

motohagiography 6y ago

Indeed, and thank you. The reason I have taken the startup and consulting route is the intuition that these are upstream of the institutions, and this is where I suspect a technically inclined individual can effect the most change. In the ~20y I've been around govt, arguably Linux, GitHub, Docker, Jira/Atlassian, PowerBI, VMWare, LinkedIn, SalesForce, and even Twitter have done more to transform government than any endogenous solution could. EVen in the last 5 years, AirBNB and Uber have altered the economics of municipalities faster than anything planned might have. These techs are all still in early stages there, (and the economics of devops break public service finance, but that's another story) but you can see the downstream effects they have. So far regarding public services, my two favourite models have been In-Q-Tel and 18f.gov. The first is far upstream, and the second has been a way to navigate it. It's worth considering that a public sector CTO role is really a "steady hand on the tiller" role to navigate the things we're all building upstream. The CTO is a necessary role, but my experience is that heroes and visionaries will likely select out fast, and framing it as a navigator role might yield different results.