Star Spangled Geeks [Inside the U.S. Digital Service]
https://backchannel.com/inside-the-obama-tech-surge-as-it-hacks-the-pentagon-and-va-8b439bc33ed1#.6sul2vwzw
Miraculously, that low point became a turning point. Some
techies in the White House, including the nation's CTO (chief
technical officer) Todd Park, readied a rescue plan --
recruiting a small team of coders, steeped in the best
practices of Silicon Valley, to save the project. Against all
expectations, it worked, and in the first enrollment period
over eight million people used the site to get insurance.
Building on that effort, on August 11, 2014, the White House
formed the United States Digital Service. The USDS intends to
replicate, assembly-line-style, the sprint that saved
healthcare.gov. Using talent recruited on the basis of
patriotism and the promise of impactful work, USDS tries to
target similar moribund projects, or problems that could be
addressed by modern tech practices, and produce stuff that
works, at a fraction of the traditional cost.
- - -
Effectively created and still administered by a great guy --
ex-Googler Mikey Dickerson. Of course, since they've done such
wonderful work, you can understand why the GOP wants to kill it.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently
doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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