Civic Innovations

Technology, Government Innovation, and Open Data

Blog

civic.io/

Profile

civic.io/author/mheadd/

Homepage

civicio.wordpress.com

  • JavaScript for Policy Makers

    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.

  • Real Results for Government with Generative AI

    It can be hard to cut through all the hype and hysteria around ChatGPT and Generative AI. For government agencies, states, and cities, focusing on what matters most is the best way to ensure these sophisticated new tools bring real value to those that need it most.

  • Requiem for Procurement Reform

    Much of the work that is done to build, deliver, and support government digital services comes from private vendors. It’s naive to think that we’ll ever improve these services as much as we hope without changing the outcomes that are possible through existing procurement rules and practices.

  • Finding a Home for Your Digital Services Team

    The question of where to locate a digital services team within the state or city bureaucracy and deciding who they report up to can be a tricky one. There are pros and cons to each choice.

  • The Civic App That Changed My Life

    In 2008, I was looking for a way to make an impact again after leaving government several years before. Civic Hacking gave me a way to do that.

  • Come for the mission, stay for the impact

    Agencies are smart to use the critical nature of their missions and the people they serve to attract new tech talent into government. They should also identify pathways for these people to remain in government and make a career out of improving digital services if they want to.

  • Bend them, don’t break them

    Digital service teams are in an odd spot. They need to bend the rules regularly to change the way governments work. And they also need to be the guardians of the rules, to make sure that crossing the line is never rationalized for what seems like a good reason.

  • Which Less is More?

    There’s no shortage of hype these days surrounding ChatGPT, LLMs and other generative AI tools. A good way for governments to cut through the hype and determine if these tools provide real value in helping to develop digital solutions is to ask whether they are interested in WRITING less code, or writing LESS code.

  • Black Holes & Government Tech Debt

    Lines are the physical manifestation of technical debt. And like black holes, technical debt can have an immense gravitational pull, trapping those that need government services in a long cycle of confusion and frustration.

  • Municipal Residency Requirements and Tech Worker Recruitment

    I’m re-upping this post I wrote a while back about municipal residency requirements and my time working as the Chief Data Officer in the City of Philadelphia. In light of current sentiment among tech workers, it’s more essential than ever that governments not only support remote work, but that they actually seek out ways to…