“Get it right, and we deliver better programs—for less money and quickly. But if we keep getting it wrong, services will continue to worsen, costs will keep going up, and Canadians may start to lose faith that the government can do anything right. And they would be justified in that cynicism.” From @justinling: https://thewalrus.ca/ottawa-tech-strategy-is-broken/ #GCdigital

Policy Options: How #Canada could achieve #DigitalSovereignty

#gcdigital

https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2025/digital-sovereignty-canada/

New blog post! “Things that are happening” (on the dismantling of US civil service institutions and technology teams, and consequences for public sector reform elsewhere) https://sboots.ca/2025/03/04/things-that-are-happening/ #18F #uspol #GCdigital

"The PBO said that in the four departments it studied, IT services provided by outside contractors cost taxpayers between 22 and 25.7 per cent more than they would have if the services had been provided in-house."

#gcdigital #contracting

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/federal-it-contracting-cost-more-than-in-house-services-pbo-report/

New blog post! Speaking at the Government Operations committee this Wednesday (July 24) #GCdigital https://sboots.ca/2024/07/19/speaking-at-the-government-operations-committee-this-wednesday/

"One federal manager I spoke with said they wished Congress could see how crucial remote work has been to retaining incredible talent who could no longer stay in-person because of circumstances like a spouse taking a new job, or family caregiving demands." From @donmoyn: https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/inflexible-return-to-work-policies #remotework #cdnpoli #GCdigital

“I have zero confidence in the capacity of the federal public service to deliver on serious challenges,” from a former official quoted in @justinling’s latest piece.

Deputy ministers and ADMs in Ottawa haven’t seemed to be able to come to grips with the implementation crisis facing the federal government, and in many cases might be part of the problem. This is a must-read: https://thewalrus.ca/justin-trudeaus-last-stand/ #GCdigital

New from Prof. Amanda Clarke and I: “A classic response from Ottawa to this kind of report would be to add more rules, more oversight mechanisms, and more internal processes to prevent more scandals. But following this age-old pattern will all but ensure that failures like ArriveCAN and its IT scandal predecessor Phoenix continue.” https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2024/arrivecan-deeper-reforms/ #GCdigital #cdnpoli

"According to the complaint, Mr. Doan had said some files were lost when he attempted to move files between his laptop and the network drive in preparation for a new computer." #GCdigital https://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/7d551def969a8330a46f5465351ffe46d504315f2df97cf2349883fcdbc21672/FOPBIYCKVRAKPJ5AIONQAF56JE/

New blog post! “Twitter is dead. Let’s start live-tweeting conferences on Mastodon instead.”

If you’re at @fwd50 this year either in person or virtually, I’d love to see you on Mastodon! https://sboots.ca/2023/10/27/twitter-is-dead-lets-start-live-tweeting-conferences-on-mastodon-instead/ #fwd50 #GCdigital #mastodon

“It has been more than 24 years since the government first identified aging systems as a significant issue and the secretariat still does not have a strategy to drive modernization. As such, progress on modernizing applications and data centres has been very slow…”

From the Auditor General this morning: https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_202310_07_e_44340.html #GCdigital via @scilib

In the outdoors, we have a saying:

Don’t know knots? Tie lots.

But tying lots is a sure way for a knot to fail.

In #webcontent I’d suggest we’ve taken our own terrible approach, which is:

Don’t know tasks? Write lots.

And it is a sure way for a task to fail.

New blog post! “Hellos and goodbyes” https://sboots.ca/2023/08/15/hellos-and-goodbyes/ #GCdigital #Yukon #opendata

The Nova Scotia Digital Service is hiring 3 executive director roles – Cyber Security & Enterprise Risk, Digital Practices & Technology, and Service Design & Delivery.

Based in-person in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Closing date is 2023-03-19 (midnight Atlantic Time), salary range is $132,840 to $166,050 CAD.

Details here: https://jobs.novascotia.ca/job/HALIFAX-Executive-Director-Nova-Scotia-Digital-Service-%283-Opportunities%29-NS-B3J-1M5/568324217/

@jobs #GCdigital

Hello, I am a federal public servant, currently working at #TBS. Professional interests are how to affect sustainable #change in the #publicservice and how to break down the layers of #bureaucracy. Personal interests are food, wine, books and history. #Introduction #GC #GCDigital

It’s December which means it’s the annual call-out for updates to Is this blocked in my department!

If you’re a Canadian federal public servant, I’d love if you can take 5 minutes to update which online services are available, restricted (or only available by request), or blocked in your department.

You can submit updates via the different suggestion forms here: https://isthisblockedinmydepartment.ca/suggest/ Thanks so much! #GCdigital

Welcome to the #GCverse of the #fediverse. Are you a Government of Canada #GC #publicservant or interested in what your federal public service is up to? Start and share here!

Consider all toots personal to the individual and not necessarily endorsed by or reflective of their employer.

Consider using these #GC topic tags or create new ones to carve your niche, share your work, exchange views:

#GCdigital
#GCdata
#GChr
#GCtalent
#GCproject
#GCmobility

This is nice! It looks like the Government of Canada's Directive on the Management of Information Technology now says "Where possible, use open standards and open source software first" and goes on into detail with more guidance. I'm fully in favour of this sort of thinking, especially since it's a more free and sustainable approach https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=15249 #GCdigital #OpenSource #FreeSoftware