In Matt Cutts' latest post, among other things he talks about his passion for Google, including this excerpt.
"Words can’t express how much I respect my colleagues at Google, but I’ll try. Googlers are smart, rational, and polite. They execute well on projects and listen to objections with an open mind. When they run up against an obstacle, they get creative and look for a new approach to solve the problem. Among the hundreds of Googlers I know, there’s also a strong streak of wanting to change the world for the better."
And in his thoughts on keeping his organisation on the "Google is good" side of the scales, he suggests:
- "Each project at Google should monitor the blogosphere for issues. Reduce the disconnect to reduce the danger.
- "Get more Googlers talking online. There will be some mistakes, but the conversations will be worth it."
The government could learn a thing or two from these thoughts. To me, the particularly important and relevant elements from Matt's musings are that "[t]hey execute well on projects and listen to objections with an open mind", and that they should "[r]educe the disconnect to reduce the danger".
All too often, I've experienced projects that are too tied to the scope and not sufficiently well tied to the business requirements or what is right. It's all about hitting the deadline (which isn't achieved as regularly as it might), often at the expense of doing the right thing.
And in many respects, government has become too far removed from its users. I like the way that Matt refers to this disconnect as danger: the further removed you are from interacting with your customers (in whatever context these customers exist), the more dangerous it is for your organisation.
Government needs to get closer to its customers, both in the isolation of a single interaction (e.g. HMRC getting closer to its tax payers) and holistically (government understanding more about a citizen's overall interaction with government). And it needs to be more focused on solving problems instead of delivering fixed items of scope.
