

White House picks Vivek Kundra to be the first US CIO - bdotdub
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/white-house-names-first-chief-information-officer/

======
cjoh
Over the past few months, I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with
Vivek Kundra in his job as the CTO of Washington, DC. Today he was today he
was appointed to the new position of CIO of the Federal Government. He's a
visionary -- a leader in the field of eGovernment who understands that
technology can be used to change the way government operates, can be used to
save money, as a way to inform citizens -- all for the sake of our democracy
for its citizens. From my interactions with him it is clear he believes in
three things:

1\. Using Alternative Market Models to Reduce Cost

A great example of an alternative market model is [Apps for
Democracy](<http://appsfordemocracy.org>), the project that he did with
[iStrategyLabs](<http://istrategylabs.com>) to get lots of ideas and
applications developed for the District of Columbia for a pittance. While
Kundra didn't invent the contest model, he was the first person inside the
Government to use it, and it was a smart move. Not only does it reduce the
cost of building early apps, it raises awareness and identifies talent. While
I suspect the operations of the Government will not be supplanted by running a
bunch of contests, I suspect we'll see some significant cost savings through
contest models and open source development.

2\. Data driven decisions

Kundra's into [using
markets]([http://www.nascio.org/awards/2008Awards/portfolioManagement....](http://www.nascio.org/awards/2008Awards/portfolioManagement.cfm))
to make data driven decisions. I took a tour of his DC CTO office a few months
ago and he showed me his "trading floor" of Government projects. Flat panel
screens of DC OCTO projects, their cost, their milestones, the teams
associated with them and a big score. Scores were associated with names as
well as projects, helping Kundra make decisions about how likely a project was
to succeed, and find inefficiencies. Each project was given a "buy", "sell",
or "hold" rating which helped Kundra make decisions on whether or not to
continue projects.

3\. Operational Data is Public Data

Perhaps his most profound move is to recognize that there should be no
difference between the data that government useS to make decisions and the
data available to the public. Government obviously needs to protect some
information-- we all agree that, for instance, there shouldn't be a feed of
everybody's social security numbers. But Kundra’s understanding that there is
no sense in creating a "public data source" and an "operational data source"
is revolutionary.

Another interesting thing about Kundra in his DC role is that unlike many
government agencies, Kundra had developers working for him rather than
contractors or outside firms. His research and development team in DC was led
by [Dmitry Kachaev](<http://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitrykachaev>) a man with
real technical skill who worked full time for the Government.

If Kundra can push all three of these philosophies inside of the Government,
we're in for a lot of change. It isn't exactly going to be easy. The federal
government has a lot more inertia in it than the District of Columbia. But I
suspect you can look for some strong shifts very soon. If I was a developer
looking for a job, I'd be scouring USAJobs.gov for opportunities in Office of
Management and Budget or perhaps the newly created Office of the Federal CIO.
We'll see where the legal home is of this new position. Some very interesting
things are about to happen.

~~~
sanj
Are you in a position to do intros? I have a service I think I can provide for
free that could save the federal gov't a couple of billion a year. Small
change, but a start.

~~~
pchristensen
_save the federal gov't a couple of billion a year. Small change, but a start_

I love that a couple billion dollars is small change now :)

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goodgoblin
Ok - this question isn't really related - but I noticed he has a Masters in
Information Technology.

Now, there is a local public program offering that near where i live that
offers a similar degree- the course offerings look pretty good - there are 2
business classes in there but the rest are CS related - Operating systems, AI,
etc. It costs about $12k to get the degree.

There is another place, private, that offers CS degrees, but it costs about
$40k and additionally doesn't offer graphics or AI, two topics I would like to
learn about.

So, my dilema is, getting one or the other is clearly cheaper, but in the long
run, how much difference does a Masters in Information Technology with a
concentration in CS differ from a Masters in Computer Science? Will I forever
be locked out of high end software engineering jobs with the former?

~~~
russell
Maybe. I learned a long time ago that degrees mean nothing. One of my best
hires had no degree at all. Another had one in education. However, all things
being equal, I would go for the candidate with a masters in CS over one in IT.
I probably would prefer a musician. I know this is unreasonable, but I tend to
regard business sounding degrees as the triumph of form over substance.

Also, is there a difference in quality or reputation between the two schools?

~~~
goodgoblin
One is Central Connecticut State, the other is RPI.

~~~
russell
Many, many moons ago RPI was on my list of schools. I have never heard of CCS.
Based on way out of date perceptions I would suggest RPI. If you can get into
Yale or the like, it may be cheaper than RPI because liberal scholarships.

------
endtime
_Mr. Kundra has moved to post city contracts on YouTube and to make Twitter
use common in his office and others. He hopes to allow drivers to pay parking
tickets or renew their driver’s licenses on Facebook._

I'm all for technology and transparency, but this just sounds silly and
gimmicky.

~~~
potatolicious
I don't agree with the YouTube bit - it can be a great platform for posting
public information (council meetings? press conferences?), and twitter is a
great way for the tech-savvy public to be kept in the know with what's going
on in their government. Apathy is one of the greatest enemies of democracy,
and anything you can do to keep your population engaged is good.

Renewing driver's licenses on Facebook is just stupid, though.

------
quickpost
Anyone have any idea how one would get a job working on all the new government
internet initiatives? I'd love to be a part of something like that...

~~~
cjoh
Check out <http://transparencyjobs.com> and keep a close eye on
sunlightfoundation.com and sunlightlabs.com .

------
Mistone
awesome! 34 years old. Indian born. Tight fisted and super web savvy.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
Is that awesome? Makes it hard to argue against H1B's when the US CIO is an
immigrant.

~~~
fortes
Is arguing against H1Bs a goal?

~~~
tptacek
Why couldn't it be? There's a controversy. The point he's making is, this CIO
pick has the White House taking a side.

~~~
sachinag
Problem with that is Vivek moved to the states at the age of 11. He was never
an H1-B holder.

~~~
Mistone
its just cool, not taking sides or speaking on policy. I'm all for lifting
this ban to get more super smart folks to the US. I guess the age part is what
really stood out. Obama is def down for youth and willing to take the risk on
a younger person (smart) with the hopes they can energize citizens and
implement real changes.

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chiffonade
The US government is finally starting to look like the US population.

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derwiki
If @VivekKundra is him... Weak sauce. I want a CIO who tweets!

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josefresco
I'm sorry but from what (very) little I know about Kundra, some of the
technology solutions he's recommended pale in comparison in scope to what this
country needs to address regarding technology.

Tweeting from the town's snow plows is cute/trvial but what about broader
issues?

~~~
neilc
Sure, but you wouldn't expect someone running the technology for the city of
DC to try to address the broader, federal issues.

