Interview, Fireside Chat
a16z Podcast | On Government as Software Builder, Not Just Buyer
- USDS will maintain a "team of teams" strategy employing private sector experts on "tours of duty" to deliver core citizen-facing services, aiming to attract top talent by leveraging the mission's comparative advantage and preparing recruits for the "very hard" reality of government work to ensure better management.
- Operations will prioritize "very high urgency and very important" projects through "very, very small teams" that are "hyper-focused on a specific mission" to enable "agile development" while minimizing disruptive behaviors, with a focus on "education benefits," "disability benefits," and integrated veteran experiences.
- Design and delivery will rely on an iterative approach where teams verify usage with end users, such as high school students, by observing behavior in their own environments rather than relying solely on stated preferences, aiming to optimize for speed, cost-efficiency, and user needs.
- The "CaseFlow" tool is expected to reduce wait times for "disability benefits" by "speeding up the internal workings of the VA," with plans to release streamlined services quickly rather than waiting for comprehensive overhauls based on user research findings.
- Procurement strategies will shift toward "wartime CEO tactics" for urgent needs and "peacetime CEO tactics" for long-term cultural nurturing, with a preference for "buying off the shelf" solutions to lower barriers, increase competition, and establish a "contractor training program" to improve software procurement literacy over the "next several years to come."
- The organization intends to cultivate a "network of innovators" and a "tradition of public service" within the tech industry, expecting executives to gain a "ballpark idea" of possibilities like cloud costs to shift expectations from baseline floors to cost-effective small initiatives, all while recruiting additional personnel for critical missions.