18F alum here. While I appreciate the well-deserved attention the 18F team is getting, let's address a fundamental misunderstanding of why 18F was so effective in working with other govt agencies to improve their digital services and why starting a consulting company is not a substitute. 1/ - ThreadSky

angelacolter.bsky.social • 3 days ago

18F alum here. While I appreciate the well-deserved attention the 18F team is getting, let's address a fundamental misunderstanding of why 18F was so effective in working with other govt agencies to improve their digital services and why starting a consulting company is not a substitute. 1/

Reposted from Mark Cuban

If you worked for 18F and got fired, Group together to start a consulting company.

It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably create.

They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms.

I’m happy to invest and/or help

Comments

jdunck.bsky.social•3 days ago

In some ways, a diminished Federal government will make states more powerful, and thus effective vehicles for digital services. And 50 states may find cause for more open source.

midnightblue46.bsky.social•3 days ago

📌

angelacolter.bsky.social•3 days ago

What made 18F effective is that it was a team of government employees advising govt teams. Yes, it’s true that many (but not all) came into govt service from the private sector. But we inherited a lot of trust from the agencies that worked with us specifically because we were fellow feds. 2/

angelacolter.bsky.social•3 days ago

"Your team's advice carries more weight than an external consultant" is a sentiment I heard from agency partners on a regular basis. They knew we had their best interests, rather than self-interest, in mind when we made a recommendation. 3/

angelacolter.bsky.social•3 days ago

Despite much gnashing of teeth from the govt consulting class at first 18F never desired, was never in a position to, compete with private industry to any meaningful degree. There was too much work to be done! Our aim was to help agencies become better at buying and building digital services. 4/

angelacolter.bsky.social•3 days ago

18F was also massively effective in seeding its alums throughout not only other federal government agencies, but state and local agencies too. And also in -- you guessed it -- digital service consultancies like the many companies that comprise the https://digitalservicescoalition.org 5/

angelacolter.bsky.social•3 days ago

I don't know what the team's next step will be, but I hope it looks like the discovery sprints we did at the beginning of each project:

- What problem are we trying to solve?
- Will the proposed solution effectively address that problem?

18F is dead. Long live 18F. https://bsky.app/profile/team18f.bsky.social/post/3lje3qf3vu42t

6/6

jaseasterly.bsky.social•2 days ago

Thank you. Forgive me if somebody has already asked this, but is the team or are team members pursuing legal options? That way a record will be established that not even the most skilled Chekist can erase.

autiomaa.org•3 days ago

Thank you all of the former 18F team members. Your example of improving collaboration across the organizational silos inspired a lot wider than only in the U.S. itself. Several other countries did setup similar teams to improve public sector services, across the organizations. Your impact was big.

thulcandrian.bsky.social•3 days ago

As a government IT contractor I had a number of good collaborations with 18F. As you say, there is way too much work to be done in improving government services and a lot of what 18F did was foundational to making all government IT (and services) work better.

mai-ling1.bsky.social•3 days ago

18f is built on trust. And trust is the only fuel for real change.

elsargentogarcia.bsky.social•3 days ago

Besides, someone needs to say it, 18F is the coolest name in the whole federal government.

georgiafansd.bsky.social•17 hours ago

rrmadison.bsky.social•3 days ago

Do you think Musk wants to put together his own team and profit as a private contractor? He wouldn’t do the work but would hire others and take the profit for himself.

angelacolter.bsky.social•3 days ago

My point is he does not want the work to be done. By anyone.

chromatose37.bsky.social•2 days ago

And if they do encounter a need, they want the money funneled away into the private sector to one of his friends' consultants. 18F's lack of profit motive makes them really hard to compete with by private entities who must always scrape something off the top. 18F could get something done at cost.

realmaplesyrup.bsky.social•3 days ago

Random front end engineer here, let me know if I can be helpful in any way

jrosew.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes exactly, the problem is too much of govt is offloaded on private contractors and consultants! It’s so much better, less expensive and efficient to have expertise in house.

misshavisham.bsky.social•2 days ago

📌

waldo.net•3 days ago

18F was a *non-conflicted* consultant. That’s not impossible outside of government, but it requires grants and takes years to develop the goodwill required to build that trust. As a for-profit model, it’s implausible.

The same humans can do great consulting work! But that’s not the value of 18F.

angelacolter.bsky.social•3 days ago

Agreed