software for & by the public
TRANSCRIPT
Software
for and by the Public
Yiannis MavraganisSoftware Engineer & Certified Scrum Master
Founder of social recommendations platform www.laloon.com
Passionate Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner Athens 2012
Today’s Unemployed Educated Knowledge Worker
Government must do more with less!
• Public Sector runs on software
• High percentage of Government
IT projects fail
Better software in public sector
to improve people's lives
and boost economic development
We can combine both needs
and have thousands of skilled unemployed people
active and gaining experience
by building applications
for better public services
Combining the Two Needs
We have
the tools and methodologies
to support the idea
Peer Production and crowdsourcing
How do we do combine them?
Open Source Development MethodologyWorks
…collaborative open source projects demonstrate empirically that large, complex systems of code can be built, maintained, developed, and extended in non-proprietary settings in which many developers work in highly parallel, relatively unstructured ways and without direct monetary compensation.
Steven Weber “The Political Economy of Open Source Software.” Global Business Network March 2001
The time has come to open (not out) sourceapplications
Proposal
Government already using Open Sourceproducts in the lower layers of software stack (operating systems, application servers, workflow engines) and saving money
Agile and Lean
Software Development Practices
Save IT Projects
Self-organizing teams
Incremental delivery
Small batches of work
Customer involvement
Test-driven development
Minimization of work in progress
Visualization of workflow
Continuous process improvement
How a 100 mpg Car Was Developed in
Three Months*
* Forbes May 10 2012
Lean Startup in Government
"The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more
successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn
from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do.
I imagine Lean Startup principles applied to government
programs, to healthcare, and to solving the world's great
problems. It's ultimately an answer to the question 'How can we
learn more quickly what works, and discard what doesn't?'"
— Tim O'Reilly, CEO O'Reilly Media
We know the how but ….what to build?
Peer production for service design
Crowdsourcingapproach for requirements-gathering and problem-solving
Collaboration between People
who know the problem domain
and will be the producers of the solution
Let’s do it
√ Open source works
√ Agile and Lean work
√ Requirements Crowd-sourcing and
peer production work
X Public services do not work
at high quality
Well educated unemployed people
X don’t work
but
√ want to work
Win-Win Situation
The skilled unemployed
Practice their knowledge in the real work environment
Serve their country and have a reason to stay
The Government
Reorganizes Public Sector for free
Citizens
Enjoy better public services and can help their country
by contributing to this effort
Private companies
Have long term benefits
Challenges
• Intellectual rights
• Security Issues
• Coordination
• Conflict Resolution
• Architectural Decisions
• Government Adoption
Each of us Can Be a Part of the Solution
To exit the financial crisis, we have to use
the force of “the opponent” for our own good
in order to start the mechanism rolling…
“We fight because we like fighting, we sing even though there is no ear to hear us.
We work even though there is no master to pay us our wages when night falls. We do not work for others, we are the masters.
This vineyard of earth is ours, our own flesh and blood.
We cultivate and prune it, we gather its grapes and tread them, we drink its wine, we sing and we weep, ideas and visions rise in our heads.
In what season of the vineyard has it fallen your lot to work? In the digging? In the vintage? In the feasting? All these are one.”
“We fight because we like fighting, we sing even though there is no ear to hear us.
We work even though there is no master to pay us our wages when night falls. We do not work for others, we are the masters.
This vineyard of earth is ours, our own flesh and blood.
We cultivate and prune it, we gather its grapes and tread them, we drink its wine, we sing and we weep, ideas and visions rise in our heads.
In what season of the vineyard has it fallen your lot to work? In the digging? In the vintage? In the feasting? All these are one.”
Nikos Kazantzakis Spiritual Exercises: Preparation “The Third Duty.” Translated by Kimon Friar