tim o'reilly @ tech summit pr 2015

Government as a Platform

Tim O’Reilly@timoreilly

Puerto Rico Tech SummitMay 13, 2015

@timoreilly#TechSummitPR

2008: Change We Can Believe In

Technology helped President Obama get elected.

Could technology also help the nation do a better job of actually helping deliver services to its residents?

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Would it make a difference if we could bring together government innovators and tech innovators to work together on finding solutions to big problems?

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Rockstar tech talent in government


Modern Technology Best Practices

• User centered design• Agile, data-driven development • Cloud deployment and modern technology stacks• Open source software• Open data• Citizen engagement


Government as a Platform

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Government as a platform means an end to the design of only complete, closed “applications.” The government should provide fundamental applications, and services on which we, the people, can build additional applications.


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Source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/263795/number-of-available-apps-in-the-apple-app-store/

http://www.statista.com/statistics/263795/number-of-available-apps-in-the-apple-app-store/


Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956

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Dwight Eisenhower

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aid_Highway_Act_of_1956


High speed broadband

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Laying fiber under the streets is the 21st century equivalent of building superhighways, electric grids, and modern sanitation infrastructure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aid_Highway_Act_of_1956


Weather Data

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Up to date weather info?

A marvel from Google?

Actually, by way of government institutions such as NOAA (US) and other government agencies around the world.


GPS: A 21st century platform launched in 1973

Massive investment for uncertain returnPolicy decisions can have enormous impact

Marketplaces take time to develop, and go in unexpected directions

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“We’ve opened up huge amounts of government data to the American people, and put it on the Internet for free.... And what’s happening is entrepreneurs and business owners are now using that data -- the people’s data --to create jobs and solve problems that government can’t solve by itself or can’t do as efficiently.”

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President Barack Obama


Open Data


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@timoreilly#TechSummitPR53


What Went Wrong

Clay Shirky

“The preferred method for implementing large technology projects in Washington is to write the plans up front, break them into increasingly detailed specifications, then build what the specifications call for. It’s often called the waterfall method, because on a timeline the project cascades from planning, at the top left of the chart, down to implementation, on the bottom right. …the waterfall method amounts to a pledge by all parties not to learn anything while doing the actual work.”


How Modern Technology Companies Work

Break massive projects into smaller pieces

Release them iteratively and learn as you go

Focus relentlessly on user experience


What’s Still Missing?

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Some of what that entailsLow level “infrastructure as a service”

StorageComputation

Internal “Housekeeping” servicesSecurityPerformance monitoring

Connection to other servicesInsurance providersState exchanges

Data as a serviceIdentityLocationEmployment statusIncome verification

User InterfaceWeb siteEmailCall Center


Do we do all that just for healthcare.gov,

and then do it all over again for immigration reform?


I’m not saying changing the way government contracts for and manages major technology programs will be easy.

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“A platform beats an application every time.”

Tim O’Reilly and Jeff BezosPhoto: Duncan Davidson


Jeff’s Memo

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• “All teams will henceforth expose their data and functionality through service interfaces.

• Teams must communicate with each other through these interfaces.

• There will be no other form of inter-process communication allowed: no direct linking, no direct reads of another team’s data store, no shared memory model, no back-doors whatsoever. The only communication allowed is via service interface calls over the network.

• It doesn’t matter what technology they use.

• All service interfaces, without exception, must be designed from the ground up to be externalizable. That is to say, the team must plan and design to be able to expose the interface to developers in the outside world. No exceptions.

• Anyone who doesn’t do this will be fired.”


Create a modular set of fundamental services that can be used like building blocks

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You must build on them yourselves.

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And only then open them up to the world.

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Write RFPs to require government sites to be built on top of internal APIs that can also be used to support external 3rd party sites.

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Wholesale Retail


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Language from the recreation.gov RFP

5.3. Public Interface Support Services

The system shall be designed in such a way that it is easy for third parties to access the data and information contained within the Recreation.gov system in machine-readable formats, so that third parties may easily integrate this information into their applications, websites, products and services.

All elements of Section 5.3. shall be included in the R1S system at “Go-Live”.

The Contractor shall make it easy for a user of a third party application or website that has chosen to integrate with Recreation.gov to search for inventory and real time availability, and complete a reservation.

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5.3.1. Information Sharing

Objective: Third parties and members of the public shall be easily able to receive access to the sharing service following Government and industry best practices, such as self-provisioning. The information will play key roles in attracting new and returning site visitors, informing and educating visitors on a wide-range of topics and providing the basis of end-to-end travel planning experience.

The Contractor shall deliver automated and manual services in machine-readable formats for the sharing of the consolidated recreation information described herein.

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5.3.1. Information Sharing (continued)

The Contractor shall ensure the data available via the sharing service represent the most current data available on Recreation.gov, including (but not limited to) recreation area information, maps, photos, activities, links to additional resources, specific reservable inventory availability, and – when available – information about specific pieces of inventory (i.e. campsite descriptions). In general, all of the information available to users of Recreation.gov itself shall be made available to third parties via the sharing service.

The sharing service shall provide a method for third parties to search available inventory using common search criteria such as date range, location, site type, and other attributes. In general, the same search capabilities provided to users of Recreation.gov itself shall be made available to third parties via the sharing service.

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5.3.1. Information Sharing (continued)

The Contractor shall ensure the following information / data is not available via the sharing service:

Personally-Identifiable-Information from individual users, such as name, address, and birth date

User financial information such as credit card or bank account number

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5.3.2. Third Party Sales Strategy

Objective: Users of the third party applications, websites and services shall be able to easily initiate transactions and complete reservations in the R1S system with a minimum of hassle or complications following travel and hospitality industry best practices.

In order to provide the best experience for the user and insure a clear path for future innovation, the Contractor shall offer technology that facilitates the ability for users to initiate and complete reservations from within third party services.

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The Government has identified interest by commercial travel and recreation planning companies that help facilitate Recreation.gov transactions as a part of a commercial endeavor in which they could earn commissions on the inventory they help sell. This indicates that such an arrangement could benefit both the Government and the Contractor, by creating an additional sales & marketing channel for increasing the number of reservations processed using the system.

The travel and hospitality industry, where such third-party sales channels and commission systems are the norm, provides numerous examples of how such a commission system could work. Most of these systems involve some sort of “per-transaction” fixed or percentage-driven commission paid to participating third parties that originate reservations.

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Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos has one big advantage

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"No exceptions.Anyone who doesn’t do this will be fired."

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“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”

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Rahm Emanuel


“The legitimate object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they cannot, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves.”-Abraham Lincoln, July 1, 1854

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Data is the 21st Century PlatformWe need standards for:• Identity• Payment• Location• Credit history• Health history• Privacy• …

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Who sets the gauge rules the world

Sixty per cent of the world's railways use 4 ft 8 1⁄2 inch standard gauge, developed by George Stephenson in 1822.

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http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrns305.htm


You standardize railroads by building tracks

“The strategy is delivery!”

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UK GDS Director Mike Bracken

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