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Americas New CIO Wants To Disrupt Government and Make It a Startup
An anonymous reader writes "America's new CIO Steven VanRoekel wants to revamp the federal government and make it as agile as a startup. But first he has to get rid of bugs like the Department of Agriculture's 21 different e-mail systems. From the article: '“Too often, we have built closed, monolithic projects that are outdated or no longer needed by the time they launch,” he said. As an example, he mentioned the Defense Department’s human resources management system. Dubbed the “Defense Integrated Military Human Resource System,” the project was meant to take seven years to develop. Instead, it took 10, cost $850 million and had to be scrapped after 10 years of development in 2010 because it ended up being useless.'"
Everyone today wants to be "disruptive". What will end up happening is this CIO will end up creating yet another useless system that is over budget and no one wants. But for 10 times the cost, because it's "disruptive".
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
That or a lobbyist group behind a specific software group will "donate" money to anyone that can nullify his plans. And since companies are allowed to donate unlimited funds, there is little hope for his plan.
Restore the madness of youth's lechery
A lot of things in the Federal government seem wasteful until you realize the politics behind how they came to be that way. "Why do you have this facility way out here, when it would be cheaper to move it closer?" often doesn't elicit a "Because we're wasteful and stupid" response so much as a "Because we need the support of powerful Senator X and so we built it in his state" response. NASA is notorious for that sort of thing. Almost all of their contracts go to very politically connected contractors with powerful Congressional backing.
That “Defense Integrated Military Human Resource System” was a Northrop Grumman project. If the name Northrop Grumman doesn't mean anything to you, you don't know jackshit about federal politics, or how things REALLY work. Northrop Grumman owns Congress.Tthey have facilities in virtually every state.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Here's an idea, why don't we just shut down 20 of the 21 sections of the Department of Agriculture so they only have one email system?
We can keep food safety inspections, at least until an adequate private inspection regime is in place (like the one that inspects food and facilities for Kosher and Halal dietary requirements).
Hmmmm... Most start ups fail and end up collapsing completely within a few years!
Just thought it worth pointing out! ;)
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Stop letting timelines slip and costs rise. Bring some of the work in house instead of letting contractors rape you. I can get rid of those 21 email systems right quick. Build the new system, migrate folks to it. No user input, no predetermined time table, just a phone call telling them their mail has moved.
Often we see people who failed in business try to get into politics. It's time to stop this -- government is not a business.
Let's find people who understand government to run ours.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
That is what CIOs do.
They play golf with the other CxOs and spout shit they do not understand.
And having working at a startup, do you know what is the next step? You are correct, outsourcing to China.
If the constituents of Senator X benefit from his demanding that it be built in his district before he'll vote for it ... then he's doing a good job for his constituents.
This is only "waste" when people outside of his constituency look at it. And only then because it does not directly benefit them.
Which is why people are pissed at "Congress" but the re-election rate for Representatives and Senators is so high.
Get rid of the "bad" people in Congress who are grabbing pork for themselves and their districts ... but keep our "good" Congress Critters who are looking out for the best interests of our district.
Sorry, the next step, statistically, is that you fail. Most startups are failures. It's a risky venture. I think this is the wrong approach. It's just political theatre anyhow.
Currently hooked on AMP
The headline for this item plays into something that's very dangerous in the long term. This guy isn't "America's new CIO." He is the CIO for a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy that runs the GOVERNMENT of this country. He has no power or influence over the country itself. People frequently indulge in the fiction that we elect a president to "run the country" -- and that leads to people having insane expectations and an insane willingness to turn power over to one man. Calling this guy the country's CIO is a small manifestation of the same mistake.
This is the see-saw private industry has been on for 50 years. Do you make each unit independent and agile with its own all-powerful General Manager? Do you consolidate similar support organizations (IT, finance) to HQ thereby giving up uniqueness in favor of standardization? Having spent a lot of time with Mgmt Consultants, I can assure you the current kick is towards consolidation. In 10 years, the consultants will be telling us each organization needs the customization which is only capable by rolling out 20 agile, independent installations. I imagine that this CIO is spending a lot of time with IBM guys with dollar signs in their eyes and pushing their make-work agenda.
What's hilarious is that everyone pretty much understands you give up agility by consolidating back-office functions. The tradeoff is hopefully more cost savings and perhaps better quality/standardization. Saying it will be MORE agile is pretty much a bald-faced lie.
Let's say I go to Procter&Gamble, and offer them an HR system. I say to them, it will cost $30 million and 3 years. Then after 3 years, I try to bill them $40 million and say it will take another 2 years to deliver.
I'm pretty sure that's when either:
1) PG sues me for breach of contract, and refuses to pay anything
You've obviously never managed a large implementation - cost overruns always happen. Vendors oversell the capabilities of the project and companies underestimate their needs. It's not until the project gets underway that the business realizes that the HR plan they spec'ed out at the beginning won't work anymore because it can't accommodate the needs of their new Asian division. So, the project drags on and the vendor keeps billing (justified by the change orders that the company initiated).
It's not all the fault of the software vendor, it's just that large, complex software deployments are large and complex and it's impossible to spec everything out at the beginning... and even if you could, the needs of the business can change in the 3 years it takes to implement the project.
Well, you have to admit that it's better than large, bureaucratic groups, a 13-figure budget and almost certain to fail.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
He never said they need daily interactions with the government. He said he wants to change the process so that the interactions one does need can be done online in a few minutes instead of needing to haul off to some government office, stand in line for an hour and ultimately make a day of it. And people don't have to want it, government is that involved in their daily lives. That is well beyond his control.
Quite frankly even your cherry-picked quotes are far more valuable than the rest of your post. There is literally not a thing you quoted that is a bad idea or shouldn't be done, you just wanted to try to earn some Slashdot Clever Points by screaming "BUZZWORD! BUZZWORD!" as often as you can, making most of them up as you go and repeating them over and over so it sounds like it's more dense than it is. (Hint: If "open standards" is a buzzword in government to you, you're fucking doing it wrong -- it is EXACTLY what should be happening with our tax dollars.)
Americas New CIO Wants To Disrupt Government and Make It a Startup
In other words he wants the VCs to take over and run the place into the ground, cook the books, sell out, and finally retire to a private island.
Rare to see such honesty from a man in government. Sounds paleo-conservative since thats how the govt has been run all my life...
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
I can't wait for the new TSA app that lets you upload pictures of your junk.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
(Hint: If "open standards" is a buzzword in government to you, you're fucking doing it wrong -- it is EXACTLY what should be happening with our tax dollars.)
Protip: if a brainless parrot is saying "open standards", and you believe that actually means something, YOU are doing it wrong.
Acta, non verba.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
I want to see him synergize the potentials of win-win scenarios to maximize ROI on buzzword ideation... just like a real CIO. Obligatory Dilbert, and excuse me while I vomit for a little while.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
America's New CIO is a Buzzword-Slinging Douche
So...Rep. Anthony Weiner was just a beta tester? Talk about being harsh on noobs!
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
TADA! You sir have nailed it on the head.
I recently had to deal with one of these CIO idiots.. he went off on a building lighting system that it was not LEEDS complaint. and kept spouting terms that keyd me instantly that the idiot went out and search the internet for buzzwords but did not learn what they meant.
I calmly pointed out in the meeting that he was the one that cut the project budget to remove 90% of the occupancy sensors and removed all dimming loads and replaced them with switched loads to further cut costs. He stood up saying we were incompetent because the executive suites were not turning off automatically at night.
I calmly pointed out that to save money someone instructed the engineer to remove those suites from the lighting system and instead requested they use normal light switches.... and if he could look at the signature at the bottom that is the person that is responsible for the system not working the way he wanted it to.
He grabbed the change order from me and looked.... It was his signature.
This is typical from my experience, not the exception.
Ok, then here is the simple and easy question: How you stop either of the 2 big parties from getting Ca 50% of the cotes?
Simple and easy answer: Have either of them do something that 50% of the voting public don't like.
But it appears that the voting US public don't actually dislike big-party politicians nearly as much as they pretend to, or they'd vote for minority parties - or do what the Tea Party did and create their own in-party wing. Thing is, when a minority does do what the Tea Party did and achieves power within a majority party, a lot of other mainstream voters complain loudly that the minority-view is evil, insane and the worst thing since sliced Hitler. Or, on the other political axis, if the Occupy Wall Street folks go outside the party system and make a ruckus in the street, mainstream liberal America tut-tuts them as nice but misguided kids who'll grow out of it.
Ergo, it seems that the simplest answer is the best one: that the majority of US voters really don't share your opinion that the majority parties disenfranchise them, and in fact that R and D have near 50% popularity each precisely because middle-of-the-road politics is exactly what most of the public want right now.
Maybe it's disappointing to hear that? Maybe you really think 99% of the country is actually a seething mass of revolution starving in front of their iPads and cable HDTVs and begging for a strong Tumblr voice to lead them to freedom? But what if it isn't, and Mrs & Mr Middle Mosteverytown really just aren't that into politics, because by and large, it leaves them alone, gets bills paid, delivers the mail, keeps gas prices down, and does most of the boots-stomping-on-human-faces in dusty foreign countries where they don't speak English?
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC