What happens when civic tech meets collective hope?
At the recent Code for America Summit, Chad Capellman walked through the “Tree of Becoming” and saw what gov tech can look like: human, hopeful, and built for the public good, by the people and for the people.
Read his reflections:
https://lnkd.in/gBquszjy
#CfASummit #techforgood #publicservants #publicservice #civictech
#CodeForAmerica Summit used to be the most important event of the year for me. It was a time to celebrate victories and reconnect with folks working in public interest and govtech.
These days, I can't stomach the idea because I'm disgusted by CFA's union busting, vocal support for military operations, and abandonment of the brigade program that literally built the brand.
So no, I will not be at #CFASummit
The best part of #cfasummit last week may have been seeing old friends, new faces and old colleagues in new contexts (Ie not on zoom!)
Before I forget, I had an Aranet #CO2 monitor with me the entirety of #CFASummit. Hallways and main stage was 800-1000, breakout rooms were 1000-1200. Given how crowded it was there, not bad!
(450 is outside, 500-700 inside is amaze level of ventilation, the worst reading I’ve seen is 4500+ inside a car with 3 people with AC blasting and recirculating. 😅)
Rebecca says you have to identify the policy levers you have available to you - regulations can take 2 years, guidance can take a year, legislation can take the whole term! How many of them can you reasonably use? #CFASummit
14/14
Lynn says sometimes you need to bring in a powerful person to get stuff through! That will give you the opportunity to deliver something and prove yourself to the naysayers, even if they’re mad at first. But you need that opportunity. #CFASummit
13/
To get stuff done, Rebecca says you have to build the relationships, especially with career staff. How can your efforts further their interests? What motivates them? They can help you get stuff through if things get hard.
And when the project is done, the relationships can still be nurtured to further culture change! #CFASummit
12/
When passing suggestions to policy folks, Pooja has seen that presenting user-informed research to an open-minded partner can be convincing. Lynn points out many of them have never done user-centered research and talked to people first-hand. They just don’t have the information. “Don’t let lawyers bamboozle you!” Finding a lawyer who will say yes is so valuable. #CFASummit
11/
Pooja points out that you have to look at the incentives to have agencies collaborate instead of fracture apart. Lynn says you have to show, don’t tell, if you’re proposing change. For state-run federal programs like SNAP or WIC, what are plays that the states can do that maybe don’t require the feds? #CFASummit
10/
When working at the policy and implementation level, you have to make sure you’re talking with people who have real authority. #CFASummit
9/
Pooja talks about how we still have a long way to go in making policies work during implementation. Had to write a memo to very senior leaders in government about the data categories they needed to use, which probably should have been hashed out at the policy level…. 😅 #CFASummit
8/
While making it easier to disenroll from SNAP, the 18F team also questioned why certain data was collected. “The best way to secure data is to never collect it at all!” Might as well start from the source. #CFASummit
7/
Rebecca talks about how program integrity issues can also be customer experience issues. When a SNAP recipient moves states, they have to disenroll in their old state and sign up anew in the new state so they don’t get SNAP benefits twice. Many people try to do the right thing, but if it’s too hard, they can just give up! So it was an opportunity to make it easier for people as well as improving the program integrity. #CFASummit
6/
Lynn Overmann at Beeck Center for Social Impact (but formerly at USDA and the White House) talks about how she used to identify problems but not have a team behind her to fix anything. You have to have delivery teams to actually get things done. #CFASummit
5/
Pooja Shaw at the White House finds herself being “translator” a lot, going in between policy and technology to build up capacity at every level of government. Make sure everyone’s talking to each other! #CFASummit
4/
Rebecca emphasizes that implementation is still important - you have to work as upstream as possible to make sure things go smoothly! #CFASummit
3/
Digital delivery roles were created from scratch. Needed to figure out where to provide value! Rebecca Piazza at USDA Food and Nutrition Service talks about making things “stick” and reinforcing that “stickiness” (and truly owning their mission) as opposed to the consulting model of 18F. #CFASummit
2/
Last #CFASummit breakout is getting an update on bringing digital delivery capacity to federal policy leaders. Digital delivery folks were at the table where policy was created and implemented - how’s it going?
1/
Add detail to your picture of the problem. Make the solution actionable and easier to grasp, it feels so much closer to build it. #CFASummit
4/
Calculate how valuable the problem is. If you fixed something, how much would say, call volume be reduced? Even a back-of-the-napkin calculation can help! #CFASummit
6/
