Civic Innovations

This is a highly technical talk focused on the tradeoffs facing front-end developers as they make decisions around how to use JavaScript in their applications. I think it is a perfect talk for government policy makers to watch – even those that don’t have a clue about building web apps.

Let me explain.

One of the key pieces of information a viewer can take away from this talk – even if they never write a line of JavaScript code in their lives – is that how you build a web application affects who can use it easily (or use it at all). A lot of the ideas presented here are not new, and are probably already well understood by seasoned developers. But for people who don’t build web applications for a living, I think this talk does a fantastic job of highlighting how much of an impact making a poor technology choices can have on how these applications work.

It’s a great way to underscore the idea that the success of a policy or program often depends on technology choices made during its implementation. Even the most ambitious, well intentioned policies and programs can be undone by poor implementation. I recognize that this is something that we’re all supposed to know already, but frequent reminders are a good idea.

I think this talk could also be helpful for policy makers to understand that agencies need internal tech capacity to understand how to build software well, and in a way to supports the use of digital services by people that need them most. This stuff is complicated. Agencies need skilled employees, and good partners in industry to do this stuff right.

Otherwise, we’ll continue to see good policies undermined by shitty implementation and lousy software.

So whether you are someone who knows nothing about building wed apps, or someone who already knows lots, there’s something in this talk for you.