The Ideal Government Project, Part I

Over at Kable, William Heath has set up The Ideal Government Project (thanks Robin). William's idea is to brainstorm what we want out of e-gov, and feed the good stuff back to the upper echelons of government.

William's question is about outcomes, end products.

I also think we need to address how projects are created and proceed. The two are not unrelated. By modifying how projects are researched, selected, designed and developed, and the people involved and the boundaries of the problem, we can radically alter the nature of what is created.

Take a for instance. Isobel Harding recently described the work being undertaken by the Local e-Democracy National Project. Looking at the Project's website, I get the distinct impression that the idea is for local authorities to learn from other local authorities. But what about all the exciting projects that have been developed - innovatively and highly cost effectively - in the voluntary sector? Is this self-limiting approach a consequence of those involved in such projects being local authority people themselves, I wonder.

When I asked Isobel about tools - which is what she said they were promoting - she mentioned, amongs other things, avatars. Those in the not-for-profit sector groan. Been there, done that, sounds trendy but is largely a waste of time...Almost inevitably, the public sector seems to be - a few years? - behind the rest of us. There's perhaps a wish to learn from best practice, but only from public sector practice. What about learning from the mistakes and achievements of the private, or not-for-profit etc. sectors? What about saving money - that can then be spent more productively - by not trying to reinvent the wheel?

I don't think this is so much a question of 'not invented here' (though you do see this in any sector). It's more that the public sector has not really figured out how to relate to the rest of society: it's a little trickier, the structures are different, the relationships are not established, and so maybe it's easier not to.

It has to be said that other-sector initiatives may also seem a little scary to those in government. They Work For You - currently still in beta - has parliamentary proceedings with self-posted comments from ordinary people. How scary is that?! But in this context scary is interesting rather than bad. Risk is something that needs to be taken on board, but with an acceptance that there will be some failures as well as successes (and this is perhaps a good reason why we need to move away from the Public Accounts Committee model of accounting for what the public sector does).

I would encourage people in the public sector to explore what's going on out there, outside their own walls. There are some very bright people with some very interesting ideas and applications who are already making things happen, and who are largely doing this as a labour of love. They're not getting the funding they truly deserve. You need them and they need you.