Direct File was an absolutely phenomenal achievement which was then eliminated by small-minded uncaring individuals. I loved this article and would certainly be in favor of your suggestions. We can do things better, but we have to have the courage and support to do so.
This all sounds so smart and efficient! My only concern is that we put robust, universal privacy protections in place. The misuse of our data by internal actors like DOGE, and the mpotential of hacking by rogue actors/national enemies is a huge threat with the proposed consolidation and plug-and-play models.
Hi! Yes, this is very important and I’m so glad a lot of really smart people are thinking about this. One of them is Erie Meyer, who has a radical provocation that i think is worth serious consideration
This was excellent! I thought I'd flag a guest post I did a while back before the launch of my book, Rebooting a Nation, about how Estonia became a leader in e-Government as it is hopefully relevant to folks interested in this space: https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/estonian-e-government
I think a key element of what’s been missing from civic tech so far is a legislative strategy, rather than an Exec-only one. There is a ton of missing expert input at the level of crafting legislation — helping legislators figure out where to specify a process vs an outcome, how to figure out budgeting and hiring authorities to make the programs they’re mandating work — and at the oversight/feedback loop level — I know I talk about legislative constituent services in literally any room I’m in, but it’s insane to me that it’s so overlooked as a leverage point by the civic tech/service delivery world. Ultimately, having statutory authority also makes civic tech teams and their hard-won bright spots harder to just dismiss in an Exec changeover too.
Direct File was an absolutely phenomenal achievement which was then eliminated by small-minded uncaring individuals. I loved this article and would certainly be in favor of your suggestions. We can do things better, but we have to have the courage and support to do so.
Thanks so much, really appreciate the kind words and support. Glad you liked the article!
This all sounds so smart and efficient! My only concern is that we put robust, universal privacy protections in place. The misuse of our data by internal actors like DOGE, and the mpotential of hacking by rogue actors/national enemies is a huge threat with the proposed consolidation and plug-and-play models.
the privacy issue has to be front and center
Hi! Yes, this is very important and I’m so glad a lot of really smart people are thinking about this. One of them is Erie Meyer, who has a radical provocation that i think is worth serious consideration
https://vanderbiltpolicyaccelerator.substack.com/p/digital-state-capacity-after-the-age-of-doge?r=n1vz&utm_medium=ios
This was excellent! I thought I'd flag a guest post I did a while back before the launch of my book, Rebooting a Nation, about how Estonia became a leader in e-Government as it is hopefully relevant to folks interested in this space: https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/estonian-e-government
Thanks so much, appreciate the share! Love what Estonia has done, lots of lessons to be carried over for sure!
I think a key element of what’s been missing from civic tech so far is a legislative strategy, rather than an Exec-only one. There is a ton of missing expert input at the level of crafting legislation — helping legislators figure out where to specify a process vs an outcome, how to figure out budgeting and hiring authorities to make the programs they’re mandating work — and at the oversight/feedback loop level — I know I talk about legislative constituent services in literally any room I’m in, but it’s insane to me that it’s so overlooked as a leverage point by the civic tech/service delivery world. Ultimately, having statutory authority also makes civic tech teams and their hard-won bright spots harder to just dismiss in an Exec changeover too.
Have you sent this to Jen Pahlka?
Yes, definitely! 🙌