AI
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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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The Future is Ahead of Schedule
In August, I wrote about just-in-time interfaces as a future vision for civic tech. Three months later, that future seems to be arriving. Continue reading
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Infrastructure as Code for AI: The Rapid Evolution of Agent Instructions
AI coding agent instructions have evolved from simple markdown files to sophisticated orchestration frameworks in months, not years. For government, this rapid maturation offers new opportunities for collaboration that traditional code sharing never achieved. 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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Building the Foundations for the AI Era
Just as protocols like TCP/IP, HTTP, and DNS established the foundation of the Internet in the early 1990s, new protocols like MCP, ACP, and A2A are being developed to support AI applications today. This isn’t glamorous work, but it’s the kind of infrastructure plumbing that will determine what’s possible in the AI era. 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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The Third Wave of Government Disruption
It’s both inaccurate and potentially dangerous to view AI’s rise in government as an isolated phenomenon. What we’re witnessing is the latest wave in a historical pattern with profound implications for the way that governments operate and how they serve those in need. Continue reading
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The end of civic tech’s interface era
We are at an inflection point in civic technology. The same AI capabilities transforming other sectors will revolutionize how people interact with their government. It’s time to rethink the way we think about interfaces. Continue reading
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The Quiet Crisis in Legacy System Modernization
AI offers some new hope for tackling government legacy systems—but we can’t afford to focus only on the biggest, flashiest ones. The real crisis is quieter, deeper, and much more widespread. 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 