Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Heshy's avatar

Great essay. As a fed, I can testify that this is a huge problem for us. The problem is that the people who are the most risk averse are usually the ones promoted to management. Doesn’t matter how many employees have “go energy” if their manager has stop energy. I think there should be KPIs that are actually tied to an agency’s mission, and managers and employees should be rated on those KPIs. You wouldn’t believe how disconnected managers’ performance ratings often are from mission-related outcomes.

Expand full comment
ConnieDee's avatar

IT retiree from a small transit agency here:

First of all, it was illuminating to me to learn the difference between “capital projects” and “operations” in the context of the DOTs vs. transit. Transit has always had both - my agency did a lot building during the nineties and the aughts, but operations was always the main issue: how to make efficient bus schedules, how to deal with congestion and weather, how to keep riders happy, how to maintain power systems and catenaries, how to disperse revenue equitably and efficiently. The state and local DOTs, on the other hand, were just becoming familiar with “Operations.” There’s more than laying down roads and forgetting them. Now they have rapid response to accidents and amazing ways to tweak traffic lights using live networks.

Secondly, since my agency was tiny and flat (waves of austerity tended to cut any excessive levels of management) we already manifested many of the recommendations in “Coding America”. As an app developer, I found my own way between desired design and documentation methodologies and the way my little apps actually worked (the front of the sub.) The back of the sub was careful design of the underlying database so that it could scale up as technology made more and more things possible.

We also had a traditionally strong IT department that tended to do a lot of the work and problem-solving for the vendors who were developing our major systems, including a GPS tracking for buses, a new scheduling system, and a major accounting overhaul. As for the smaller business functions I was helping to streamline, I had access to pretty much anyone at any level of the agency to answer questions, which meant that I gained an understanding and respect for all those different levels of interest.

So a question that remains for me is: to what extent does the size or scale of a governmental unit determine its success at providing needed flexibility for the people who do the real work at the front of the submarine? Can we truly turn our massively complex bureaucracies in these directions? I’m standing by right here to find out.

Expand full comment
22 more comments...

No posts