I don’t mean to call anyone out, but I want to talk about programming tests in hiring and contracting. Stop doing them.

I see many of my former technology-colleagues now suddenly eager to return to government- or join for the first time- and I’m very excited to work with you all again! That being said, here are a few thoughts from someone who stuck around for the hard parts over the last 4 years.

Many lengthy books and articles have been written on how to be fulfilled at work, good management, and keeping your staff engaged and excited. However, I’ve found one simple equation that is the secret to all of these.

It takes time, money, and other resources to execute on any new information technology initiative. In theory, there should be a return on investment for any new IT development. However, in the current market landscape, a lot of effort is being wasted on reinventing the wheel or misapplying solutions, rather than driving towards proving greater value to citizens and customers. The relatively low cost of experimentation and implementation of processes result in a fetishization of abstraction, leading to further and further complexity even if a proportional benefit is not achieved.