| Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
William |
28.10.13 07:21 |
Fellow bridgaders, The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry. Can everyone see that what the government run website does is "scrape" the "data" held by citizens at large for the purpose of mediating between citizens, CMS, and insurance providers as "customers?" In a sense it is the ultimate Big Data dive. It might also indicate what happens when Minimum Viable Product meets Minimum Reliable Service "stakeholder demand." Clearly this saga is unfolding in circumstances where not every involved agency is equally or even positively incentivized to have this go well from the beginning. Based upon the news reports of the software vendor’s Congressional testimony last week, I’m reminded of the same moment during the investigation of the Deepwater Horizon accident – subcontractors pointing fingers at one another and in the end blaming the primary customer for inadequate systems integration. I suspect that all Black Swans come from the same nest even if they arrive and an disrupt very different technology domains – hence the potential for cross-over lessons to be learned. Several decades of big government experience convince me that hardworking civil servants abhor two things with mutual vehemence – letting go a critical decisions and cleaning up when they’ve been under-resourced to do a proper Program Management job. Do our emerging notions about Open Government include this kind of situation? What might be lessons learned from a case study on this significantly unwelcome big data outcome? Might we consider some group discussion on this point while it’s still fresh? Bill Mullins, Principal Better Choices Consulting 913-940-0821 SUSTAINMENT is the Better Choice! |
| Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Luke Crouch |
29.10.13 07:43 |
It has much less to do with the "open government" or "big data" aspects, and more to do with the proper program management you mention. It is also about the broken procurement process which fosters the contractor/sub-contractor madness.
Lessons?
Fix procurement so governments aren't left holding the bag for big-IT contractors' incompetence. Better, more open procurement fosters competition from better IT service providers who know how to manage a program from inception to launch in smaller, more agile release increments.
-L |
| Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
enjoypb |
29.10.13 12:08 |
It appears my comments were deleted from this thread? Could you tell me why? Thanks!
Jerry |
| Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Kevin Curry |
29.10.13 13:01 |
Hi Jerry:
I can understand the confusion. You replied on a thread where someone replied to a digest. That generated a slightly different subject line thus splitting the thread. No comments have been deleted.
Here is the start of that other thread:
Cheers, Kevin -- Kevin Curry Program Director CfA Brigade 757.613.8158
|
| Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
enjoypb |
29.10.13 14:31 |
My apologies Kevin. I figured because it was political in nature or not the place to discuss but, wasn't sure. Thanks much,
Jerry
_____________________________________________________________
Jerry Hall
858-344-1104 cell
ideation & innovation - creative product and service ideas : development consulting data projects - community engagement and business development
|
| Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Kevin Curry |
01.11.13 07:44 |
The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry.
I don't see a connection or any evidence that the two are substantively related. I'm in the camp that thinks the Healthcare.gov situation is a case of broken federal procurement.
Several decades of big government experience convince me that hardworking civil servants abhor two things with mutual vehemence – letting go a critical decisions and cleaning up when they’ve been under-resourced to do a proper Program Management job. Do our emerging notions about Open Government include this kind of situation?
We've learned to be diplomatic and to try to imagine the world from their perspectives. Since the first days of CityCamp we've taken the position that we're not here to poke government in the eye. It's too easy to poke and there are enough people poking already. Sometimes we have to be honest about confronting issues. Sometimes some of us even get angry about it. But for the most part we should laud hard working civil servants wherever we can because their good stories are never told. And when we're confronting issues we should stay constructive and positive. When conversations focus on orgs and people try to remember that it's extremely unlikely that anyone actually wants to screw up and it's much more likely that good people are struggling to do good work against impossible odds. --
Kevin Curry Program Director CfA Brigade 757.613.8158
|
| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Mark Dixon |
01.11.13 08:16 |
Fundamentally, its about lawyers thinking they are sw engineers. Never works. I'm speaking from 30+ years of IT experience, most in some way related to Public Sector.
And its never one thing...the basic problem is that folks tend to want to optimize piece-parts and never look at optimizing the whole. Typical Western thinking..."The Mythical Man-Month".
Note that nine women cannot have a baby in one month...
I'm guessing folks focused on web technologies and the user interface and less on back-end scalability. 10,000 iPhones in a room are not a data center.
If that was how the procurement was written, then you can certainly look to procurement as one of the proximate causes.
Its really a system dynamics (complexity) problem...so we should never criticize the tech folks working on it...contractors or no. Its a systemic failure of leadership as well.
All that said, I hope they get it fixed sooner rather than later. And I hope a re-architecture is not necessary...
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
|
 | Mobile: 1-916-806-6594
E-mail: medixon@us.ibm.com
Find me on:   
"Num, me vexo? Reductio ad absurdum...Sapere aude!" | |
 Kevin Curry ---11/01/2013 07:45:04 AM---The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry.
The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry.
I don't see a connection or any evidence that the two are substantively related. I'm in the camp that thinks the Healthcare.gov situation is a case of broken federal procurement.
Several decades of big government experience convince me that hardworking civil servants abhor two things with mutual vehemence – letting go a critical decisions and cleaning up when they’ve been under-resourced to do a proper Program Management job. Do our emerging notions about Open Government include this kind of situation?
We've learned to be diplomatic and to try to imagine the world from their perspectives. Since the first days of CityCamp we've taken the position that we're not here to poke government in the eye. It's too easy to poke and there are enough people poking already. Sometimes we have to be honest about confronting issues. Sometimes some of us even get angry about it. But for the most part we should laud hard working civil servants wherever we can because their good stories are never told. And when we're confronting issues we should stay constructive and positive. When conversations focus on orgs and people try to remember that it's extremely unlikely that anyone actually wants to screw up and it's much more likely that good people are struggling to do good work against impossible odds.
On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 10:21 AM, William P Mullins <wpmullins1es@sprintmail.com> wrote:
Fellow bridgaders,
The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry. Can everyone see that what the government run website does is "scrape" the "data" held by citizens at large for the purpose of mediating between citizens, CMS, and insurance providers as "customers?" In a sense it is the ultimate Big Data dive.
It might also indicate what happens when Minimum Viable Product meets Minimum Reliable Service "stakeholder demand." Clearly this saga is unfolding in circumstances where not every involved agency is equally or even positively incentivized to have this go well from the beginning.
Based upon the news reports of the software vendor’s Congressional testimony last week, I’m reminded of the same moment during the investigation of the Deepwater Horizon accident – subcontractors pointing fingers at one another and in the end blaming the primary customer for inadequate systems integration.
I suspect that all Black Swans come from the same nest even if they arrive and an disrupt very different technology domains – hence the potential for cross-over lessons to be learned.
Several decades of big government experience convince me that hardworking civil servants abhor two things with mutual vehemence – letting go a critical decisions and cleaning up when they’ve been under-resourced to do a proper Program Management job. Do our emerging notions about Open Government include this kind of situation? What might be lessons learned from a case study on this significantly unwelcome big data outcome?
Might we consider some group discussion on this point while it’s still fresh?
Bill Mullins, Principal
Better Choices Consulting
913-940-0821
SUSTAINMENT is the Better Choice!
--
Kevin Curry
Program Director
CfA Brigade
757.613.8158
GMT-4 (EDT)
http://brigade.codeforamerica.org
Apply for Fellowship: http://codeforamerica.org/apply
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| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Luke Crouch |
01.11.13 09:12 |
+1 for small amounts of constructive criticism that helps rather than hurts.
|
| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Sravan Suryadevara |
01.11.13 09:53 |
Second the +1, I'm very much enjoying reading the discussion especially from fellow technologists. I just recently joined the group and it's cool to see like-minded people.
Sincerely, Sravan Suryadevara |
| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Tim Leisio |
01.11.13 11:22 |
I agree that this is a complex issue. There are many factors involved, and I'd have to support the idea that procurement is one of the bigger issues in this case.
I'm guessing folks focused on web technologies and the user interface and less on back-end scalability. 10,000 iPhones in a room are not a data center.
As for focusing more on UI, from a design perspective, I wouldn't be so certain. A recent article by the Nielson Norman Group picks apart the "... low hanging fruit" that can be done (some of which sort of has been done) to impact the costs, effectiveness of the site, the usability, etc.
That said, I've experienced legacy procurement processes, and they are definitely one thing that can inhibit great site/app usability.
|
| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Mark Dixon |
01.11.13 11:51 |
I'm not saying UI is not important...but if other things were ignored (like scalability), then no wonder we have a messy system.
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
|
 | Mobile: 1-916-806-6594
E-mail: medixon@us.ibm.com
Find me on:   
"Num, me vexo? Reductio ad absurdum...Sapere aude!" | |
 Timothy Leisio ---11/01/2013 11:23:16 AM---I agree that this is a complex issue. There are many factors involved, and I'd have to support the i
I agree that this is a complex issue. There are many factors involved, and I'd have to support the idea that procurement is one of the bigger issues in this case.
I'm guessing folks focused on web technologies and the user interface and less on back-end scalability. 10,000 iPhones in a room are not a data center.
As for focusing more on UI, from a design perspective, I wouldn't be so certain. A recent article by the Nielson Norman Group picks apart the "... low hanging fruit" that can be done (some of which sort of has been done) to impact the costs, effectiveness of the site, the usability, etc.
That said, I've experienced legacy procurement processes, and they are definitely one thing that can inhibit great site/app usability.
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Sravan Suryadevara <sravan.suryadevara@gmail.com> wrote:
Second the +1, I'm very much enjoying reading the discussion especially from fellow technologists. I just recently joined the group and it's cool to see like-minded people.
Sincerely,
Sravan Suryadevara
E-mail | sravan.suryadevara@gmail.com
Phone | (908) 432-5330
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:12 AM, Luke Crouch <luke.crouch@gmail.com> wrote:
+1 for small amounts of constructive criticism that helps rather than hurts.
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 10:16 AM, Mark E Dixon <medixon@us.ibm.com> wrote:
Fundamentally, its about lawyers thinking they are sw engineers. Never works. I'm speaking from 30+ years of IT experience, most in some way related to Public Sector.
And its never one thing...the basic problem is that folks tend to want to optimize piece-parts and never look at optimizing the whole. Typical Western thinking..."The Mythical Man-Month".
Note that nine women cannot have a baby in one month...
I'm guessing folks focused on web technologies and the user interface and less on back-end scalability. 10,000 iPhones in a room are not a data center.
If that was how the procurement was written, then you can certainly look to procurement as one of the proximate causes.
Its really a system dynamics (complexity) problem...so we should never criticize the tech folks working on it...contractors or no. Its a systemic failure of leadership as well.
All that said, I hope they get it fixed sooner rather than later. And I hope a re-architecture is not necessary...
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
--
Tim Leisio
952.491.1557
http://timleisio.com
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| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Jeannine Pearce |
01.11.13 12:44 |
Supportive of this work- but please remove me from email threads
Jeannine M. Pearce 949.885.6263
I'm not saying UI is not important...but if other things were ignored (like scalability), then no wonder we have a messy system.
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
<graycol.gif> Timothy Leisio ---11/01/2013 11:23:16 AM---I agree that this is a complex issue. There are many factors involved, and I'd have to support the i
Kevin Curry ---11/01/2013 07:45:04 AM---The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry.
|
| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
David Gutierrez |
01.11.13 17:22 |
I find clients respond to what they see as tangibles. The UI is something they can see, something that they can understand. The backend stuff is just hard for the average client to understand.
While a good UI can cover up some stuff, it's up to us "the hired help" to make sure that they understand how the magic works. A sweet medium between taking to a 5 year old and startrek tochnobabble.
Sent from my iPhone
I'm not saying UI is not important...but if other things were ignored (like scalability), then no wonder we have a messy system.
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
<graycol.gif>Timothy Leisio ---11/01/2013 11:23:16 AM---I agree that this is a complex issue. There are many factors involved, and I'd have to support the i
|
| Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Kevin Curry |
01.11.13 17:28 |
Maybe here is where I recommend we avoid wandering onto the battlegrounds of "front-end" v "back-end" holy wars and philosophy. :^)
On Friday, November 1, 2013, David Gutierrez wrote:
I find clients respond to what they see as tangibles. The UI is something they can see, something that they can understand. The backend stuff is just hard for the average client to understand.
While a good UI can cover up some stuff, it's up to us "the hired help" to make sure that they understand how the magic works. A sweet medium between taking to a 5 year old and startrek tochnobabble.
Sent from my iPhone
I'm not saying UI is not important...but if other things were ignored (like scalability), then no wonder we have a messy system.
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
<graycol.gif>Timothy Leisio ---11/01/2013 11:23:16 AM---I agree that this is a complex issue. There are many factors involved, and I'd have to support the i
|
| Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Mark Dixon |
01.11.13 19:25 |
Nah...its where you recommend holistic thinking about systems of systems...=8-)
It is what it is...
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
|
 |
| Mobile: 1-916-806-6594
E-mail: medixon@us.ibm.com
Find me on:   
"Num, me vexo? Reductio ad absurdum...Sapere aude!"
| |
 Kevin Curry ---11/01/2013 05:28:57 PM---Maybe here is where I recommend we avoid wandering onto the battlegrounds of "front-end" v "back-end
by the Nielson Norman Group picks apart the "... low hanging fruit" that can be done (some of which sort of has been done) to impact the costs, effectiveness of the site, the usability, etc.
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Sravan Suryadevara < sravan.su...@gmail.com> wrote:
Second the +1, I'm very much enjoying reading the discussion especially from fellow technologists. I just recently joined the group and it's cool to see like-minded people.
Sincerely,
Sravan Suryadevara
E-mail | sravan.su...@gmail.com
Phone | (908) 432-5330
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:12 AM, Luke Crouch <luke....@gmail.com> wrote:
+1 for small amounts of constructive criticism that helps rather than hurts.
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 10:16 AM, Mark E Dixon < med...@us.ibm.com> wrote:
Fundamentally, its about lawyers thinking they are sw engineers. Never works. I'm speaking from 30+ years of IT experience, most in some way related to Public Sector.
And its never one thing...the basic problem is that folks tend to want to optimize piece-parts and never look at optimizing the whole. Typical Western thinking..."The Mythical Man-Month".
Note that nine women cannot have a baby in one month...
I'm guessing folks focused on web technologies and the user interface and less on back-end scalability. 10,000 iPhones in a room are not a data center.
If that was how the procurement was written, then you can certainly look to procurement as one of the proximate causes.
Its really a system dynamics (complexity) problem...so we should never criticize the tech folks working on it...contractors or no. Its a systemic failure of leadership as well.
All that said, I hope they get it fixed sooner rather than later. And I hope a re-architecture is not necessary...
Regards,
Kevin Curry ---11/01/2013 07:45:04 AM---The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry.
The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry.
I don't see a connection or any evidence that the two are substantively related. I'm in the camp that thinks the Healthcare.gov situation is a case of broken federal procurement.
Several decades of big government experience convince me that hardworking civil servants abhor two things with mutual vehemence – letting go a critical decisions and cleaning up when they’ve been under-resourced to do a proper Program Management job. Do our emerging notions about Open Government include this kind of situation?
We've learned to be diplomatic and to try to imagine the world from their perspectives. Since the first days of CityCamp we've taken the position that we're not here to poke government in the eye. It's too easy to poke and there are enough people poking already. Sometimes we have to be honest about confronting issues. Sometimes some of us even get angry about it. But for the most part we should laud hard working civil servants wherever we can because their good stories are never told. And when we're confronting issues we should stay constructive and positive. When conversations focus on orgs and people try to remember that it's extremely unlikely that anyone actually wants to screw up and it's much more likely that good people are struggling to do good work against impossible odds.
On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 10:21 AM, William P Mullins < wpmull...@sprintmail.com> wrote:
--
Kevin Curry
Program Director
CfA Brigade
757.613.8158
GMT-4 (EDT)
http://brigade.codeforamerica.org
Apply for Fellowship: http://codeforamerica.org/apply
|
| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Mark Dixon |
01.11.13 19:24 |
Agreed.
I explain my job to my 17- yr old daughter and friends who see me at 3pm in gym shorts and flipflops not having yet taken a shower that day, thusly:
Do you know what has to happen when you turn on a light switch and it works?
When you turn on your water faucet and clean water comes out (hot or cold)?
When you flush the toilet?
The answer is always no...
Then I ask - Do you know where and how your text msg or tweet or Facebook entry goes when you hit the send key?
The answer is no...
So then I say - I design and build all those things you do not see or know about to make all that possible.
Then they say - Cool! And sometimes I get more questions...that part is really cool.
Infrastructure matters...its the non-functional requirements that get you.
PS: I heard that the Oracle ESB got overwhelmed...highly probable. Oracle nonwithstanding, every time you add one more service to the ESB, you change the non-functional requirements of the platform on which it runs. The platform in question must be "Fit for Purpose". Clearly, in this case, it was not.
PPS: Part of what I do in IBM is conduct "Fit for Purpose" workshops for clients who have issues with selecting the right platform (HW infrastructure) for a given application. Its an amazing experience to see the light dawn in their eyes once they "get it". And the lawyers think this stuff is simple...=8-)
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
|
 |
| Mobile: 1-916-806-6594
E-mail: medixon@us.ibm.com
Find me on:   
"Num, me vexo? Reductio ad absurdum...Sapere aude!"
| |
 David Gutierrez ---11/01/2013 05:22:57 PM---I find clients respond to what they see as tangibles. The UI is something they can see, something th
I find clients respond to what they see as tangibles. The UI is something they can see, something that they can understand. The backend stuff is just hard for the average client to understand.
While a good UI can cover up some stuff, it's up to us "the hired help" to make sure that they understand how the magic works. A sweet medium between taking to a 5 year old and startrek tochnobabble.
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 1, 2013, at 14:51, Mark E Dixon <medixon@us.ibm.com> wrote:
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| RE: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
andres |
01.11.13 20:14 |
Mark:
(I laugh from México or Chile - places where I live – at your
blind disqualification of lawyers. But I have always said they are not alone: lawyers
AND
economists AND politicians team up to disturb public innovation).
I congratulate myself for finding this stream of emails you all
contribute to make it an extraordinary and unique experience I enjoy –
and learn - very much.
Andrés Hofmann
De: Mark E
Dixon [mailto:med...@us.ibm.com]
Enviado el: viernes, 01 de noviembre de 2013 08:25 p.m.
Para: David Gutierrez
CC: bri...@codeforamerica.org; Kevin Curry; Luke Crouch; Sravan
Suryadevara; Timothy Leisio; William P Mullins
Asunto: Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to
be Learned?
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Sravan Suryadevara <sravan.su...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Second the +1, I'm very much
enjoying reading the discussion especially from fellow technologists. I just
recently joined the group and it's cool to see like-minded people.
Sincerely,
Sravan Suryadevara
E-mail | sravan.su...@gmail.com
Phone | (908) 432-5330
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:12 AM, Luke Crouch <luke....@gmail.com>
wrote:
+1 for small amounts of
constructive criticism that helps rather than hurts.
On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 10:21 AM, William P Mullins <wpmull...@sprintmail.com>
wrote:
Fellow
bridgaders,
The
Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a
case of Open Government gone awry. Can everyone see that what the government
run website does is "scrape" the "data" held by citizens at
large for the purpose of mediating between citizens, CMS, and insurance
providers as "customers?" In a sense it is the ultimate Big Data
dive.
It
might also indicate what happens when Minimum Viable Product meets Minimum
Reliable Service "stakeholder demand." Clearly this saga is unfolding
in circumstances where not every involved agency is equally or even positively
incentivized to have this go well from the beginning.
Based
upon the news reports of the software vendor’s Co ... |
| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Brittany Suszan |
01.11.13 21:30 |
Relevant. Well, sort of. More for your entertainment :)
Based
upon the news reports of the software vendor’s Congressional testimony
last week, I’m reminded of the same moment during the investigation of
the Deepwater Horizon accident – subcontractors pointing fingers at one
another and in the end blaming the primary customer for inadequate systems
integration.
I
suspect that all Black Swans come from the same nest even if they arrive and an
disrupt very different technology domains – hence the potential for
cross-over lessons to be learned.
Several
decades of big government experience convince me that hardworking civil
servants abhor two things with mutual vehemence – letting go a critical
decisions and cleaning up when they’ve been under-resourced to do a
proper Program Management job. Do our emerging notions about Open Government
include this kind of situation? What might be lesson ... |
| Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Mark Dixon |
02.11.13 08:10 |
Andres: Agreed. Lawyers, politicians and economists certainly tend to mess things up.
No worries...my brother is a lawyer.
Its more of a generic statement, because most of our elected officials in the US tend to be lawyers. We need more engineers and techs.
Interesting that your original note did not make it to this inbox...NSA? IBM?
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
|
![2D barcode - encoded with contact information]() | Mobile: 1-916-806-6594
E-mail: medixon@us.ibm.com
Find me on: ![LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-dixon/2/b5/b81]() ![Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1039359500]() ![Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/DigitalDruid0]()
"Num, me vexo? Reductio ad absurdum...Sapere aude!" | |
![Inactive hide details for Brittany Suszan ---11/01/2013 09:30:46 PM---Relevant. Well, sort of. More for your entertainment :) h]() Brittany Suszan ---11/01/2013 09:30:46 PM---Relevant. Well, sort of. More for your entertainment :) http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/90160-watch-
Relevant. Well, sort of. More for your entertainment :)
http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/90160-watch-snls-hilarious-spoof-kathleen-sebelius-trying-explain-helathcare-gov/
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 8:14 PM, Andres Hofmann <hofmann_andres@hotmail.com> wrote:
Mark:
(I laugh from México or Chile - places where I live – at your blind disqualification of lawyers. But I have always said they are not alone: lawyers AND
economists AND politicians team up to disturb public innovation).
I congratulate myself for finding this stream of emails you all contribute to make it an extraordinary and unique experience I enjoy – and learn - very much.
Andrés Hofmann
De: Mark E Dixon [mailto:medixon@us.ibm.com]
Enviado el: viernes, 01 de noviembre de 2013 08:25 p.m.
Para: David Gutierrez
CC: brigade@codeforamerica.org; Kevin Curry; Luke Crouch; Sravan Suryadevara; Timothy Leisio; William P Mullins
Asunto: Re: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned?
Agreed.
I explain my job to my 17- yr old daughter and friends who see me at 3pm in gym shorts and flipflops not having yet taken a shower that day, thusly:
Do you know what has to happen when you turn on a light switch and it works?
When you turn on your water faucet and clean water comes out (hot or cold)?
When you flush the toilet?
The answer is always no...
Then I ask - Do you know where and how your text msg or tweet or Facebook entry goes when you hit the send key?
The answer is no...
So then I say - I design and build all those things you do not see or know about to make all that possible.
Then they say - Cool! And sometimes I get more questions...that part is really cool.
Infrastructure matters...its the non-functional requirements that get you.
PS: I heard that the Oracle ESB got overwhelmed...highly probable. Oracle nonwithstanding, every time you add one more service to the ESB, you change the non-functional requirements of the platform on which it runs. The platform in question must be "Fit for Purpose". Clearly, in this case, it was not.
PPS: Part of what I do in IBM is conduct "Fit for Purpose" workshops for clients who have issues with selecting the right platform (HW infrastructure) for a given application. Its an amazing experience to see the light dawn in their eyes once they "get it". And the lawyers think this stuff is simple...=8-)
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
David Gutierrez ---11/01/2013 05:22:57 PM---I find clients respond to what they see as tangibles. The UI is something they can see, something th
I find clients respond to what they see as tangibles. The UI is something they can see, something that they can understand. The backend stuff is just hard for the average client to understand.
While a good UI can cover up some stuff, it's up to us "the hired help" to make sure that they understand how the magic works. A sweet medium between taking to a 5 year old and startrek tochnobabble.
Sent from my iPhone
medixon@us.ibm.com> wrote:
by the Nielson Norman Group picks apart the "... low hanging fruit" that can be done (some of which sort of has been done) to impact the costs, effectiveness of the site, the usability, etc.
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Sravan Suryadevara < sravan.suryadevara@gmail.com> wrote:
Second the +1, I'm very much enjoying reading the discussion especially from fellow technologists. I just recently joined the group and it's cool to see like-minded people.
Sincerely,
Sravan Suryadevara
E-mail | sravan.suryadevara@gmail.com
Phone | (908) 432-5330
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:12 AM, Luke Crouch <luke.crouch@gmail.com> wrote:
+1 for small amounts of constructive criticism that helps rather than hurts.
medixon@us.ibm.com> wrote:
... |
| RE: [cfabrigade] Re: Healthcare.gov - Open Government Lessons to be Learned? |
Mark Dixon |
02.11.13 08:31 |
Found your email...glad we can entertain and educate! =8-)
Regards,
Mark Dixon
Client Technical Architect-Infrastructure - West IMT / North America
|
![2D barcode - encoded with contact information]() | Mobile: 1-916-806-6594
E-mail: medixon@us.ibm.com
Find me on: ![LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-dixon/2/b5/b81]() ![Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1039359500]() ![Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/DigitalDruid0]()
"Num, me vexo? Reductio ad absurdum...Sapere aude!" | |
![Inactive hide details for Andres Hofmann ---11/01/2013 08:15:03 PM---Mark: (I laugh from México or Chile - places where I live]() Andres Hofmann ---11/01/2013 08:15:03 PM---Mark: (I laugh from México or Chile - places where I live – at your blind
Mark:
(I laugh from México or Chile - places where I live – at your blind disqualification of lawyers. But I have always said they are not alone: lawyers AND
economists AND politicians team up to disturb public innovation).
I congratulate myself for finding this stream of emails you all contribute to make it an extraordinary and unique experience I enjoy – and learn - very much.
Andrés Hofmann
De: Mark E Dixon [mailto:...@us.ibm.com]
Enviado el: viernes, 01 de noviembre de 2013 08:25 p.m.medixon@us.ibm.com> wrote: by the Nielson Norman Group picks apart the "... low hanging fruit" that can be done (some of which sort of has been done) to impact the costs, effectiveness of the site, the usability, etc.
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Sravan Suryadevara < sravan.suryadevara@gmail.com> wrote:
Second the +1, I'm very much enjoying reading the discussion especially from fellow technologists. I just recently joined the group and it's cool to see like-minded people.
Sincerely,
Sravan Suryadevara
E-mail | sravan.suryadevara@gmail.com
Phone | (908) 432-5330
On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 11:12 AM, Luke Crouch <luke.crouch@gmail.com> wrote:
+1 for small amounts of constructive criticism that helps rather than hurts.
medixon@us.ibm.com> wrote:
On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 10:21 AM, William P Mullins < wpmullins1es@sprintmail.com> wrote:
Fellow bridgaders,
The Healthcare.gov rollout kludge appears to be a case of Open Government gone awry. Can everyone see that what the government run website does is "scrape" the "data" held by citizens at large for the purpose of mediating between citizens, CMS, and insurance providers as "customers?" In a sense it is the ultimate Big Data dive.
It might also indicate what happens when Minimum Viable Product meets Minimum Reliable Service "stakeholder demand." Clearly this saga is unfolding in circumstances where not every involved agency is equally or even positively incentivized to have this go well from the beginning.
Based upon the news reports of the software vendor’s Congressional testimony last week, I’m reminded of the same moment during the investigation of the Deepwater Horizon accident – subcontractors pointing fingers at one another and in the end blaming the primary customer for inadequate systems integration.
I suspect that all Black Swans come from the same nest even if they arrive and an disrupt very different technology domains – hence the potential for cross-over lessons to be learned.
Several decades of big government experience convince me that hardworking civil servants abhor two things with mutual vehemence – letting go a critical decisions and cleaning up when they’ve been under-resourced to do a proper Program Management job. Do our emerging notions about Open Government include this kind of situation? What might be lessons learned from a case study on this significantly unwelcome big data outcome?
Might we consider some group discussion on this point while it’s still fresh?
Bill Mullins, Principal
Better Choices Consulting
913-940-0821
SUSTAINMENT is the Better Choice!
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Kevin Curry
Program Director
CfA Brigade
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http://brigade.codeforamerica.org
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