technology
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Government Software at the Crossroads
Government tech leaders are signing longterm software contracts during the biggest shift in how software works since cloud computing. The assumptions behind those decisions may already be obsolete. Continue reading
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The Collapsing Cost of Software Development
The cost of generating software code is collapsing. AI coding tools have matured faster than most realize. For governments, this changes everything. Continue reading
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Disposable Software and the Future of Government Technology
AI is driving a toward “disposable software” and this could have significant implications for the public sector. The SpecOps method offers one way for governments to adapt to this potential change. Continue reading
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AI-Powered Automation: Taking ATO Modernization Beyond the Bottleneck
Strategic use of AI tools can support efforts to automate the ATO process and dramatically reduce the time to authorize new technology systems. Continue reading
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Three Projects I’m Proud of in 2025
In 2025, I built a lot of things to help me understand the changes that are happening and the things we need to focus on going forward to make government work better. Here are three I am most proud of. Continue reading
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Proving Out a New Approach to Legacy System Modernization
Government legacy systems hold decades of institutional knowledge that disappears when we focus only on translating old code to new code. I’ve been developing SpecOps—a methodology that uses AI to extract that knowledge into plain-language specifications that policy experts can actually verify. Continue reading
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Maybe We Shouldn’t Call Them AI “Agents”
We should think about how we use the word “agent.” The words we choose matter: they shape understanding, trust, and how people perceive technology’s role in public service. Continue reading
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AI Agents aren’t as radical as they sound
People think AI agents and delegation-based digital services are a radical idea. But people delegate all kinds of interactions with government to third parties today. It’s way more common than you might think. Understanding the kinds of services that people delegate, and the reasons that they choose to delegate are critical to inform how we… Continue reading
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Designing for delegation
Agentic, delegation-based services could reshape how people access government, cutting administrative burden – if agencies start building the right design patterns now. Continue reading
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AI instructions as platform infrastructure
Software delivery platforms provide reusable building blocks that reduce complexity. AI accelerates custom software development. The next evolution? Treating AI coding agent instructions as core platform infrastructure. Continue reading
About Me
I am the former Chief Data Officer for the City of Philadelphia. I also served as Director of Government Relations at Code for America, and as Director of the State of Delaware’s Government Information Center. For about six years, I served in the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS), and helped pioneer their work with state and local governments. I also led platform evangelism efforts for TTS’ cloud platform, which supports over 30 critical federal agency systems.
Civic Innovations 