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Government CXO

Beth Noveck, former US Deputy CTO in interview: part two

By Laurence Millar | 21 March 2011

You started with a few believers, and have seen that grow and spread across government – our readers would like to know how did the movement grow, and what is needed to cultivate it?

The first factor was having the Day One memorandum from the President, which definitely helped the innovators to self-identify and emerge from the woodwork - knowing that they were responding to a ‘call to arms’.

Second was the work that went into the day one memorandum. Creating greater openness in government through technology had been part of the campaign and during the transition. The values that were encapsulated in the memorandum were also criteria for the selection of presidential appointees. Throughout the campaign, we had a robust agenda on open government and connected democracy. So someone knew, when they were signing up to this administration, what they were signing up to, and as a result open government was embedded in the values of all senior appointees.

So Open Government was fundamental to the formation of the administration?

Yes, we had practised in the campaign, using open government values - so there was a very strong message that was sent from top-down.

Third, there was bottom-up activity that helped to generate momentum. We launched a consultation process in early 2009 with public sector employees to directly get their ideas and suggestions for what the open government policy should be (read more about it here). As far as I know, this was the first time that direct input had been sought on a government-wide basis from the rank and file, rather than formally through official comment from agencies. We used an internal website that was already in place for budget planning, one that everyone has access to; we had comments from 600 employees from 50 agencies in the first ever consultation of its kind. This meant we were able to begin to talk with a diverse and wide audience.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget, offices within the Executive Office of the President, were charged with making open government happen. I describe how we worked as an internal knowledge management consultancy. We went around to as many people as we could, asking questions like “How can openness help you to achieve your strategic goals?” “What is the mission of this agency and how can transparency, participation and collaboration help you?” “Here’s some ideas how you might use to make that happen in practice.” You go to one agency, then you go to the second agency and you say “You’re both interested in the same thing. Maybe you should talk to each other, maybe you could collaborate.”

As well as helping to build a community of innovators, this on-the-ground approach allowed us to understand the stumbling blocks, the opportunities, and the biggest areas of interest. Although initiatives were often on an agency by agency basis, we got an awareness of what the collective needs were. So for instance, better guidance on the Paperwork Reduction Act, or the need for free, simple and easy access to social media tools that allow agencies to be more collaborative. The developments grew out of talking to people, and also helped to build a sense of community.

We created the Open government Innovation Gallery where we could showcase success stories and get the word out. There is one page for each initiative with a description, a short video, a contact name and e-mail address. If you see something similar to what you want to do, you can get practical advice on to how to be transparent, participatory and collaborative.

The site was also a place to celebrate and promote the work of innovators. For so long, government employees have been beaten down by the system - the recognition provides a real reward for being innovative and open, and it also builds the community.