2023
A collection of civic technology-related blog posts I wrote in 2023. Some of these posts originally appeared on other sites but are collected here to bring together all of the public writing I was doing in 2023.
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Additional Guardrails for AI use in Government
Any use of AI or automation in government, particularly as it relates to benefit determinations or claims, needs to be accompanied by policy guardrails that create strong disincentives for improper denials of claims for benefits. Continue reading
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Banning Generative AI Won’t Work
Blanket technology bans spawn shadow IT, and incentivize agencies to hide their use of new technology for fear of having it taken away. Continue reading
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Government Agencies Need AI Laboratories
Governments need ways to safely experiment with new generative AI tools to discover for themselves what works best for those they serve. Continue reading
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Engineering smaller burdens
The performance of a website or digital service has direct implications for the size of the burden placed on users. Reducing the size of this burden requires agencies to think carefully and to engineer services to make potential burdens as small as possible. Continue reading
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Embracing Blamelessness to Improve Government Services
Understanding the root cause of complex system failures can be tricky, and our desire for accountability may sometimes be at odds with learning the root cause. Incorporating blameless postmortems to help identify issues in their own systems, could help government agencies provide better services to those who need them. Continue reading
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What Old Airplanes Can Teach Government About Adopting Artificial Intelligence
Though more than 100 years separates the inception of the U.S. Airmail Service and the launch of AI tools like ChatGPT, we can learn many lessons from the former when deciding how to use the latter. Continue reading
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What to know about no code development tools
Low-code and no-code tools present an attractive option for government agencies under pressure to deliver new digital solutions quickly. But they also come with tradeoffs. Understanding these tradeoffs is important for agencies to position themselves to most effectively deliver new and improved digital services. Continue reading
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Friction as Security
Too often, the concept of friction as a control mechanism finds its way into the software and technology platforms that are used by government agencies. There is a better way. Continue reading
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The Hidden Costs of Robotic Process Automation in Government
Robotic process automation is increasingly popular as a way to speed up government work. But this isn’t always the answer — and at times, it may cause an agency unforeseen headaches down the road. Continue reading
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How DevOps Improves the Customer Experience
DevOps is an approach that agencies can use to deliver high-quality, secure software to their customers. In the end, this is what matters most for government agencies and those they serve. 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 