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poor & unnecessary projectsPeople who do tech in Govt can feel disenchanted.
Poor Outcomes
Don't we always come across examples where we think the project's pointless but we're doing it anyway because a PS asked for it. Or a vendor is charging us an arm and a leg, but we need to do it anyway. Or a project under us is so unusable, but we've already sunk all our effort and money into it to u-turn.
Help ma, I can't keep up!
Tech moves so dizzying fast it's daunting to know where to start or keep up. So easy to get imposter syndrome.
AI, tech stacks, databases, cloud, software-as-a-service, hardware.
Individuals
Haven't we worked with people who know so little about tech or don't even know they're clueless? Yet we must consult them or get their approval just because it's in their job designation?
(Of course they're experts at "management" and "strategy", or because they were engineers 30 years ago working on Visual Basic.)
Common complaints from people on the ground.
Developers
Govt officers just don't get it. You wish you didn't need to spend so much time teaching them 101 stuff. And stop asking me to write papers or do shitty powerpoint slides to say obvious things.
Staffers
You feel stuck when those in charge and those who write policies cannot see the effects of their decisions. You're not sure what's all these terms being talked about. You feel the things being said, like daily scrum meetings, issues with authentication, cyber risks are dumb.
Planners
Can't tell if your plans are good or bad. But you see poor outcomes mushrooming across Govt. An unresolved root cause, repeating across teams, projects, tech stacks, eras.
Neither do these important people.
Middle Managers
You often get a sinking feeling, but you don't know how to express your doubts when the project lead says "everything's alright". You can't answer to your bosses when they ask you why something takes so long or performs so bad. Shit usually hits the fan anyway and you're left holding the can.
Senior Management
You feel trapped in fait accompli situations. Staffers don't give you the possible options, trade-offs, and risks. Worse, you can't correct them because you don't know what you're missing or what's applicable to the initiative on hand. Why does every change take months more than humanly believable.
Citizens
You wonder why Govt products suck. Surely no one's that dumb, right?
How Apptitude could help you.
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Learn more. Start with you.
Change starts with every person.
Every better decision, every dollar saved is a dollar better spent on a hospital or education. Not lining some vendor's Managing Partner or Sales Director peddling expensive white elephant project.
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Use my resources to upskill.
Choose how you want to learn. Use my lists of online resources as a starting point. Or use my guides if you just want to lob more relevant questions at your vendors or project teams.
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If things improve, keep at it!
If things still suck, shit happens. Rome wasn't built in a day. I myself still feel like an imposter the more I read up, the more I hear from entrepreneurs and product managers in person or podcasts. Persevere and live to fight another day against shitty policies!