There is a classic management book called Re-engineering the corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy. When I first read it, I thought that there should be a book about re-engineering the government.
Today of course transformation of governments is a big theme.
But where to start that reorganization from?
There are a few possibilities: Data, Technology, Standards.
Of course these are all true but I think the starting point could be process.
Here is why:
I saw US CIO Vivek Kundra’s recent talk (video link HERE) about the future of Government, and the themes that come across consistently are process related. For instance: Cut waste in services, Social security admin not as easy to get as booking a table on OpenTable; Blackberry allocation based on seniority; Veterans benefits (simplifying); Patent and trademark offices workflow – (speeding up) etc etc.
But if the starting point is ‘process’ then this has two components.
On one hand we have internal processes (like speeding up veterans benefits) and on the other hand we have what I call ‘unpredictable processes’. These unpredictable processes need data to be liberated so that ordinary developers can create new services.
Today, there is a myth/emphasis on external/unpredictable (Web 2.0) processes and less on the core internal processes like speeding up veteran’s benefits. These internal processes are not related to liberating data but have far reaching benefits.
Are we getting too caught up in the Web 2.0 hype and focusing on liberating data but perhaps not giving as much coverage to optimizing internal processes?
Interestingly enough, the Vivek Kundra talk seems to be more balanced in this regard – which is good to see.
