7 Tips from 25 Years in Government IT

Spent the morning checking out Federal Computer Week’s 25 years in review (great read check it out):

When reading it, I noticed 7 key themes that have been big over time

1 – Space/telework – Seems like GSA has been trying to consolidate/shrink space for 25 years

2 – Job Description – Problems with outdated IT job descriptions go back 25 years and is always a few years behind the technology changes

3 – Procurement problems -Love this quote from 1991 – The federal IT procurement was a persistent, systematic failure

4 –Always confusing about new technology – in mid-90s took a ruling to decide if email an official record. Was a big deal when 16 Congressmen got email

5 –Cyber – Cyber has always been an issue – Clinton put $1.9 B in budget for it in 1999

6 –Large system failures – Big systems have been tried and failed for years – FBI, IRS modernization among others

7 – Big change is tough but worth it – for all the complaints about how things stay the same, there have been real big changes with technology in government. It just takes awhile and is a long fight