How to solve an impossible challenge, w/Megan Smith (US CTO, Google, shift7)

CTO Role

Megan Smith's tenure as the US Chief Technology Officer was marked by her efforts to modernize government technology and processes. She was initially approached by Todd Park, the second person to hold the CTO position, who emphasized the need for tech expertise in government. Megan's approach was to bring in tech voices to collaborate with existing government professionals, creating a dynamic team to tackle modernization challenges.

The people who work in government already are incredible, you know, service oriented people, lawyers and scientists and operators and communicators and policy people, all these people. But they were missing their technical colleagues at the table.

--- Megan Smith

Her first major task was to lead a tech policy task force, aiming to upgrade federal systems akin to the historical shift from the Pony Express to the telegraph 1.

   

Tech Integration

Ensuring efficient implementation of tech solutions in government was a significant challenge during Megan's tenure. She highlighted the importance of understanding both the technology and the process of implementation, as illustrated by the State Department's costly adoption of WordPress. Megan advocated for a method she called "wisdom of threads," which involved gathering diverse opinions to make informed decisions quickly.

My thesis is if you include everyone, you can fix nearly everything.

--- Megan Smith

This approach emphasized the value of open communication and collaboration to prevent mismanagement and ensure successful tech integration 2.