2024 Weeknote 45 : Take a deep breath (hold 4 years)

November 4 – 10

My “weeknotes” capture events, thoughts, and other items from the past week, mostly focused on work. Learn more about the weeknotes concept here.

One Thought : A prayer for federal digital teams

Over the past 3 years I’ve enjoyed getting to know federal programs associated with digital services, like USDS and 18F. I’ve seen lots of presentations about federal digital work and watched digital expansions into many more agencies and services. I’ve also read Recoding America with my team and we’re finishing up Hack Your Bureaucracy this month. So federal digital service looks pretty attractive—they have the resources to go big and the work done at the federal level impacts millions or even hundreds of millions of people.

But it’s not attractive anymore.

Elections have consequences

Trump’s election and his promises to gut all manner of federal programs—and install oligarchic sycophants into leadership roles for the programs that survive the purge—is a huge threat to all the human-centered digital service progress made in the past decade. I strongly suspect anyone that wants to join forces with federal teams to make a digital difference won’t seriously consider federal opportunities now. It’s just too risky.

Under Trump’s first administration there was progress on digital fronts, perhaps because it flew under the radar—work was still getting ramped up. But now, the digitization and simplification of IRS tax returns could be specifically targeted (just to name one effort). After all, if you’re the CEO of Intuit or H&R Block and you want American tax returns back in your clutches, all you have to do is praise Trump on Fox News, have a few meetings with his henchmen, make a few strategic “donations,” and *poof* the digital work done by the IRS, Code for America and others will at least stop, and may be reversed.

But even if the attacks on digital services aren’t that clear and direct, one can assume federal teams will fall into a malaise at best.

For now, I worry for—indeed I pray for—the federal digital teams out there and all the federal workers below the political appointee level. They deserve praise for the advancements of the last few years, but they really need protection from the ill effects of the next few years. Sadly, I have no idea how that protection might work. Even collective bargaining structures may be unable to withstand the coming assault.

Go State. Go Local.

As for those of us in local government, I suspect we will be insulated from the worst effects—at least in larger population centers that trend blue. I’m betting most of the trickle-down damage we sill will materialize in block grants to the States getting restricted or eliminated, thereby cutting into direct-to-public services. While general funds might also see some losses, I’m betting the impacts will be more targeted. And I suspect most digital teams are funded from general accounts, not federal grants.

Additionally, under the better State governments (like Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc.) digital programs are likely to be sustained or even expanded. These progressive states understand the benefits human-centered digital services can offer. They’ve hired aggressively in the past few years and are doing career-defining work.

So if you’re in a federal digital program, look beyond DC and scan the local and State space for great opportunities. We need your experience, expertise, and drive for results.

There are tons of places to find great jobs for digital practitioners (and I hope to offer a brief index soon), but I would start with my favorite: Rebecca Heywood’s #PublicSectorJobBoard — it is hand-curated from a highly-connected and dedicated expert in the field.

Stay safe out there, federal friends. We need your leadership. We need your excellent examples and resources. But we also need you to put your oxygen mask on first, before you assist others.

Five Notes

1. As election results rolled in this week, the little snippet in the screenshot above hit my phone and I was fascinated. I hadn’t thought about how young people do not have stable, predictable signatures. But of course they don’t! We all sign very few things with pens anymore, but if you’re Gen Z you’ve probably signed fewer things in your entire lifetime than I have in the past 5 years. Signatures as a form of identity verification only work in a society filled with people that were taught cursive in school (I was) and signed a lot of papers over the years (I have). We’re going to have to find another verification method.
2. Leadership is something I study every week via podcasts and articles. But one thing I’ve never heard expressed—but say often myself—is this idea: “Everybody wants to go to the party, but nobody wants to throw the party.” Leadership is throwing the party. I’ve been thinking about this as we wrap up our Hack Your Bureaucracy book club in a couple weeks. It’s been a ton of work, as all guided book clubs are. I’m pleased with how it’s turned out, and I think the assembled team has gotten some good stuff from it and from the time spent together. What surprises me, however, is that I’m the only one hosting a book club. It’s work, but it’s not magic. Anyone could do it. I hope other leaders will emerge one day—not necessarily by leading book clubs. But by “throwing the party,” in whatever form that may take.
3. Congratulations to the Colorado Digital Service, a truly innovative program out west celebrating it’s first 5 years with an impressive impact report.
4. To close colleagues at the office, and to my wife, I privately predicted a Harris / Walz win. A big win. I was wrong. Sorry. So very, very sorry.
5. Thank you to many friends across the pond—like Matt Jukes—for their concerns in the wake of our election. Commentators in the UK were surprised, like some of us were, by the results. It’s good to have friends abroad these days. The Germans know what’s at stake (of course they do), and also had a thought…

One Video

One of my favorite things: People with YouTube channels that are ridiculously, hilariously, and infectiously over-committed to their passions, to the point where you start wondering why your “passions” are such weak tea by comparison. The Algorithm™ found me this video and I am bought in, wholesale. I want this guy to praise my taste in cars sooooo bad!

Five Laughs

---

---

---

---

One Photo