So Sunday I did some epic reading (or say skimming) of the nearly 30 OpenGov Plans from the various agencies.
Here are my initial thoughts and descriptions
–Size – Ranged in size from 20 pages to 80 pages. While I usually lean towards shorter is better, often the shorter plans felt like they lacked substance
–New Ideas? – It’s tempting when creating a new plan to basically regurgitate what you are already doing and package it in a cooler way. I’d say about 50% of the plans fall in that camp – the other 50% are actually pretty interesting and have lots of new ideas
–Team – A number of agencies talked about staffing OpenGov either the continuation of the OpenGov working groups they have created. All the way to creating new innovation teams. I think staffing OpenGov is key and about 60% of agencies had something here.
–Budget – Only one agency mentioned the need for funding and budget for OpenGov. I think this is a big issue. No $, no power in government.
–Outreach/Participation – It seemed like a lot of the items counted as outreach/participation were pretty basic groups that already existed. Everything from Federal Advisory Councils to community groups. Yes, these are good to have. But I was hoping for more on the next steps and less on what is going on now.
–Training – I think training is so key with OpenGov and Gov 2.0/Social Media. HHS mentioned 2X/year training on OpenGov. I think that’s great.
–Flagship Programs – When you dive in deep, there are some pretty cool Flagship programs including
-OSTP – Vivo – Facebook for Scientists
-VA – Creating an Innovation Toolkit
-HUD – Business practice exchange
-OSTP – Vivo – Facebook for Scientists
-VA – Creating an Innovation Toolkit
-HUD – Business practice exchange
Generally, I’d say the plans once again show the diversity of the federal government. Lots of different agencies and some are much further along the others. Some have missions that inherently work better with OpenGov. Same with culture.
But I really think this stuff takes time. And the plans are a first step.
The next steps to me are proving out the use cases. And making sure the resources are there – staffing and budget.