Leadership for a Networked World :: So, what did Ballmer do the day BEFORE the Windows 7 release?

So, what did Ballmer do the day BEFORE the Windows 7 release?

So, what did Ballmer do the day BEFORE the Windows 7 release?

Well, for part of his day on October 22nd - for an hour in the morning - he was discussing and working with a group of Canadian public officials and me in Toronto. We were exploring strategies for using technology for "bottom up" reform.

The core idea was that Gov 2.0 (infrastructure and tools for interactive participation and cloud economies of scope and scale) are combining with tough times to push for serious cost-cutting and organizational redesign in government. Unfortunately, the large agencies face the most difficult barriers of legacy staff and systems, with cultures the most resistant to change.

But what about the smaller governments? They need computing, but more like typical consumers need computing, and they don't have a long history of internal systems development and operations.

IF the appropriate standardization could evolve, would smaller governments not more quickly accept cloud offerings where somebody else handles the technology details? Remember that the small governments are individually small but collectively large. They also own most of the direct interactions with the public.

Nova Scotia was represented in our group, talking about their reasonably well-known SAP procurement for the province; this package was procured not only for the province, but as a single procurement for the municipalities, the hospitals, and the universities within the province. One standardized package. Gartner wrote about it some time ago.

Ballmer was interested in all this and very engaged (he's not afraid to communicate his energy and enthusiasms). He talked about his "three screens and a cloud" vision, and of getting his Azure infrastructure services ready for prime time in the next six months or so.

The group told him that all government practitioners were aware that standardization of applications was difficult - even for the fishing license example that Ballmer referred to several times. But they also argued that the smaller governments were particularly desperate, and that infrastructure services like processing and storage and networks shouldn't present large standardization problems.

I've worked with this "cross-boundary" Canadian group for several sessions. Here are reports from the past two sessions if you're interested.

Wayne Wouters, Clerk of the Privy Council (senior Canadian civil servant) and Corrine Charette, Canadian CIO, were part of the group along with senior CIO and program folks from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.

It was a good group, with Ballmer adding some star power. But are they really onto something? Could the smaller governments represent a critically important and relatively overlooked opportunity for technology standards and shared services, even to the internet-wide "cloud" level?

Let us know what you see out there.

All the best,

Jerry

03:35 PM, 26 Oct 2009 by Jerry Mechling

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Some Thoughts

Jerry – I find your conversation in Canada very intriguing. I have, for some time now, been meeting with a number of private companies to see if they are ready to serve up applications to smaller governments. There is a huge need to provide the ability for smaller governments to simply consume technologies and not own them. We, Oakland County, have been providing these types of applications for years here in Southeast Michigan. In my opinion, there are very few private sector companies ready to be the PROVIDER for government. Individual applications are out there for consumption but the true enterprise applications are yet to be positioned well for us.

Having said that, I believe that we are close and some of the big players out there are heading down this road. I know that AT&T is very interested as well as CA. The issues of how data is secured due to HIPAA and other government privacy concerns need to be worked out so small governments do not have to keep their arms wrapped tightly around their data…due to the fear of unlawful access.

My latest “preachings” to these companies and other levels of government is that we must now forge ahead and have governments be the provider for other governments. Instead of Oakland County giving the EHealth application to the State of Michigan, maybe we should have just hosted it for the consumption of the State and other counties. If the pipe is big enough and I can afford to host the application…then why not? Relying on the evolution of private sector providers may not be the true course we should take. Maybe we should encourage the private sector to partner with us through different licensing and use permissions. If I do not have to worry about who is licensed then I can spend my time getting applications into the hands of other governments. This would be a fantastic role for State governments or even large counties/cities.

Just some thoughts at the end of the day. Thanks.

Phil

by Phil Bertolini on 10/28/09

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Recent Entries

Psst... tomorrow in Cambridge at 5 pm (with food, pass it on)...

Some would argue that the biggest NEW idea re: how IT can make a difference in government is aggressive sharing of data with the public.

Some argue otherwise, of course.

To figure out for yourself, you have a chance tomorrow to talk with some of the key folks involved with the DC Data Feeds program, the Innovations Award winner that has been at the forefront of "democratizing data."

Increasing Civic Participation Through Democratization of Data

Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010 Time: 5:00 p.m.

Location: Ash Center, 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200N, Cambridge, MA

Designed to increase civic participation, government accountability, and transparency in government practices, the city of Washington, D.C. created an initiative making virtually all current district government operational data available to the public in its raw form rather than in static, edited reports.

Spearheaded by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), raw data from multiple D.C. government agencies is housed at the District's Citywide Data Warehouse (CityDW) and supplied via over 320 data feeds to online sites, citizens, and government agencies to increase civic awareness. In addition, OCTO launched an annual Apps for Democracy contest awarding the best applications that use CityDW data feeds. Its 2008 contest received 47 applications from software developers in 30 days-avoiding an estimated $2.6 million in internal development costs.

The program won the Innovations in American Government Award in 2009.

A light dinner will be served.

About the Speakers

Julia Bezgacheva is a project manager at the Data Transparency and Accountability Program (Citywide Data Warehouse) at D.C.'s Office of the Chief Technology Officer. Her responsibilities include coordination with the District agencies and other stakeholders, participating in developing recommendations, policies, and procedures related to the new practices implemented by the Citywide Data Warehouse, and managing application design and development.

David Strigel joined the District government in the summer of 2004 to lead technology projects for the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO). Strigel comes to the District with over 16 years of experience in building Web applications, software, and technologies for companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. At OCTO, Strigel leads the Citywide Data Warehouse (CityDW) program planning and managing, technology direction and strategy, service development and rollout, purchasing and contract negotiations, training and deployment strategies, IT strategies and solutions, and customer/partner relationship management.

Innovations in Government Seminar Series This event is part of the Innovations in Government Seminar Series, which explores various aspects and approaches to the study and replication of government innovation. This year-long series seeks to educate and inform the next generation of government innovators.

All the best,

Jerry

04:27 PM, 14 Apr 2010 by Jerry Mechling

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After this, of course, it's back to work...

Hello hard workers --

Having not completely recovered from the "almost but not quite" Butler basketball extravaganza the other night (with proper congratulations to Duke fans for the hard fought victory), I offer a poem (?) that, if you've seen it before, you'll enjoy seeing again, and -- if it's new to you -- could make your evening.

Spell-checkers are sooooo useful...

After this, of course, it's back to work...

CANDIDATE FOR A PULLET SURPRISE
I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished inn it's weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.
A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.
Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
Bee fore a veiling checkers
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we're lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.
Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know faults with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.
Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped words fare as hear.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.
Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.
Jerry Zar, 29 June 1992

===

Back to work!

And all the best to you,

Jerry

08:38 PM, 07 Apr 2010 by Jerry Mechling

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Congratulations, Teri Takai...

For those of you who have followed us lo these many years, you know that we've worked hard to keep the academic side of what we do connected pragmatically to what's happening in the "real world." A key tool for that has been the "Harvard Policy Group on Network-Enabled Services and Government."

And the key role within that group has been the Practitioner Chair held by Teri Takai, first as CIO for Michigan and now as CIO for California.

Good news for the country: With yesterday's announcement by the White House, Teri has been nominated by President Obama to become Assistant Secretary (Networks and Information Integration) of the Department of Defense.

For the HPG, Teri has been smart, pragmatic, well-respected, and... just what we needed.

For DoD, which is now struggling with strategic shifts to respond to new threats and possibilities, Teri will again be smart, pragmatic, well-respected and... just what is needed.

Congratulations, Teri! And congratulations, all of us. More here.

All the best,

Jerry

04:15 PM, 30 Mar 2010 by Jerry Mechling

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