Post AVvzOo7KI54nGm7mPg by waldoj@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by waldoj@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AVvzOh7QJJzjZ37G5o by waldoj@mastodon.social
2023-05-22T18:30:49Z
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A little professional news: after six months of mostly being a stay-at-home dad, I've reentered the work force, joining my friends at U.S. Digital Response. USDR is a non-profit that a bunch of us started in March 2020—we help governments, nonprofits, and public entities respond quickly to critical public needs. I’m establishing a new practice within the organization: helping agencies with procurement, budgeting, and oversight of major custom software projects. https://www.usdigitalresponse.org/
(DIR) Post #AVvzOiD8Fa9gx2nKd6 by lauraolin@mastodon.cloud
2023-05-23T03:44:22Z
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@waldoj very cool, congrats!
(DIR) Post #AVvzOivnZVstBZh0Fc by waldoj@mastodon.social
2023-05-22T18:33:10Z
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I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by going to work at USDR many months ago (which I kind of did, by working as a very-part-time contractor for them starting in February). But I actually did a pretty thorough job of studying all of my options, doing a bunch of interviews, meeting with agencies at all levels of government, talking with commercial consulting firms, non-profits, etc. I considered a lot of possibilities, and it turns out that I could have used the ruby slippers at any time.
(DIR) Post #AVvzOkikuydijhbcCO by waldoj@mastodon.social
2023-05-22T18:38:58Z
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A lot of friends kindly took the time to help me think through what I could do next (thanks!) I want to optimize for impact. I have an unusual, specific skillset. @rklau shared this great “job decision matrix” framework, which I deployed to great effect. It turns out that what I really want is to be advancing a theory of change while working directly with agencies as a non-conflicted partner, to benefit the public. There are precious few places where that's possible. https://ceklog.kindel.com/2012/04/26/the-job-decision-matrix/
(DIR) Post #AVvzOo7KI54nGm7mPg by waldoj@mastodon.social
2023-05-22T18:42:19Z
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I'm only at USDR 30 hours a week! The other 10 is being held in reserve for Another Thing that I mustn't talk about yet, but hopefully in the weeks ahead. It is very much in line with the work I'm doing at USDR.There's a lot of funding flowing to agencies thanks to ARPA, IIJA, and IRA, and I don't want to see that money blown in a series of $100 million contracts for crappy software. I think I'm in the best possible position to help agencies meet the moment. I’m getting straight to work.
(DIR) Post #AVvzOpoxxJZuYPY94a by waldoj@mastodon.social
2023-05-22T18:44:44Z
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If you're with a local, state, or federal agency (or a non-profit that works hand-in-hand with government), and you need help with a gnarly software procurement, budgeting, or oversight problem, I'd like to hear about it. U.S. Digital Response may be able to help, but you can for sure get an hour of my time to talk it through. DM me here, or email me at waldo@usdigitalresponse.org.
(DIR) Post #AVvzOtDBLjjP4Nu1jc by waldoj@mastodon.social
2023-05-22T20:11:56Z
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My last day with the U.S. General Services Administration was a Friday. On Monday, I spent hours overhauling a document about best practices for state software procurement, after a friend asked for help. That really set the tone for the next couple of months, in which I ostensibly wasn't working, but in fact spent lots of time helping friends and colleagues with tech policy challenges at all levels of government.I've often said that I'd do this work for free. I meant it!