That's a very different argument to the one you appeared to be making initially :) to say that GDS could be forced to become something it's not by the political will, is different than making equivalences in the present moment. Feels like you wanted to ruffle some feathers there, but maybe not. - ThreadSky

dominikanow.bsky.social • 35 days ago

That's a very different argument to the one you appeared to be making initially :) to say that GDS could be forced to become something it's not by the political will, is different than making equivalences in the present moment. Feels like you wanted to ruffle some feathers there, but maybe not.

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pubstr.at•35 days ago

The purpose of GDS is to implement the policies of the government of the day. If a future government has different policies, it will do different things or will cease to exist

It has no intrinsic or independent purpose beyond that.

dominikanow.bsky.social•35 days ago

Ofc, that's where my follow up post came from re: political will changing it in the future. Within that though, it still has its own organisational culture with principles & ways of working that emerged over the years. To change that would indeed be to disband it & create something new, as with DOGE

pubstr.at•35 days ago

I don't disagree, but there are ways of (entirely properly) describing GDS which makes it sound very much like DOGE, and there are other (equally proper) ways which make them sound like total opposites.

dominikanow.bsky.social•35 days ago

That I get, and I agree. The question is – what's the benefit of the exercise? What is the purpose of the comparison? Which is where my initial question came from :)

pubstr.at•35 days ago

I don't know @smithsam.bsky.social's purpose, but I think there is value in reflecting on what civil servants in GDS (or anywhere else in government) would do or should do if instructed to do DOGE-like activities for DOGE-like reasons.

pubstr.at•35 days ago

Ultimately, civil servants are individual moral affects and can't duck those questions (though they certainly can duck admitting that and acting on it).

dominikanow.bsky.social•35 days ago

Now that I'm fully on board with. Of course, it's only a conversation people outside of the civil service can have openly, as we are right now. As Sam suggested, civil servants would have to fall in line, or quit. So is there any safeguards we could be building externally? I don't know :)

smithsam.bsky.social•35 days ago

We may disagree whether GDS has (or at least uses) teeth, or perhaps we read Jen Pahlka slightly differently

dominikanow.bsky.social•35 days ago

Tbh I don't actually disagree because I still don't fully understand what your argument is! Are you saying that GDS should have/use more teeth and potentially emulate DOGE more?

dominikanow.bsky.social•35 days ago

Let's see how the change from USDC to DOGE happens.

Sadly, as the article suggests, others are watching that closely too so it's possible that there will be attempts in the future to undo all the work & org memory. That's why a strong civil society around gov is crucial imo; but that needs funding

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