{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
    "content" : "news",
    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "Because It’s Hard |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Because It’s Hard",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/07/because-its-hard/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Because It\u0026#8217;s Hard","summary" : "Two years ago, federal agencies were set on a fast track to create a 21st century digital government. The Federal Digital Strategy served up a heaping set of deliverables on a tight timeline.","date" : "2014-05-07T10:00:35-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"gwynne-kostin" : "Gwynne Kostin"},"topics" : {
        
            "application-programming-interface" : "Application programming interface",
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "customer-experience" : "Customer experience",
            "innovation" : "Innovation",
            "mobile" : "Mobile",
            "product-and-project-management" : "Product and project management",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2014-05-07-because-its-hard.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2014/05/2014-05-07-because-its-hard.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/05/2014-05-07-because-its-hard.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/05/2014-05-07-because-its-hard.md","slug" : "because-its-hard","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/07/because-its-hard/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eTwo years ago, federal agencies were set on a fast track to create a 21st century digital government. The \u003ca href=\"http://www.whitehouse.gov/digitalgov/about\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eFederal Digital Strategy\u003c/a\u003e served up a heaping set of deliverables on a tight timeline.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/05/250-x-333-Rusted-door-to-JFKs-nuclear-bunker-by-Gwynne-Kostin-CC-BY-NC-ND-3797768429_12fe814c84_z.jpg-250x300.jpg\"\n    alt=\"The photo is the door to President Kennedy’s Cold War bunker on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.\"/\u003e\u003cp\u003eCreative Commons credit below.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAgencies opened data sets, built mobile apps and websites, published APIs, created and updated digital governance structures, and joined with other agencies in measuring digital services performance.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast May, as the final deadlines were met, some asked, “What’s next?”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHah! Agencies were just getting started. There are now \u003ca href=\"http://apps.usa.gov/\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003emore mobile apps\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https://www.data.gov/developers/apis\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003emore APIs\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https://www.data.gov/metrics\"\u003emore data\u003c/a\u003e that’s more available, \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/01/digital-analytics-program-dap-oceans-of-data/\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003emore focus on citizen service through data analysis\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/14/noaa-national-ocean-service-usability-case-study/\"\u003euser testing\u003c/a\u003e, more trials and, yes, even more errors, which means more learning!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut more isn’t enough. Agencies are working on better. And to keep pushing this rock of government forward, better means solving the tougher and emerging problems—like:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRethinking “websites” as the primary digital content delivery channel. Agencies are finding that simply \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/24/why-go-responsive-heres-what-feds-are-saying/\" title=\"Why Go Responsive? Here’s What Feds Are Saying\"\u003emaking a website responsive\u003c/a\u003e (so it can be viewed on any mobile device) might meet agency needs but does not equate to meeting user needs. This leads to…\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTaking \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/05/government-open-and-structured-content-models-are-here/\" title=\"Government Open and Structured Content Models Are Here!\"\u003econtent that is traditionally unstructured and making it easier to reuse by adding standard structure and metadata\u003c/a\u003e. This means delivery can be device-agnostic—content can be served on any device—as well as device-specific—content is more granular and can be targeted to specific devices and use cases. It preps us for all those unknowable devices of the future.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCrossing silos. \u003ca title=\"Census Bureau Adds Inflation and Employment Indicators to America's Economy Mobile App\" href=\"http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2013/cb13-127.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eCensus and Department of Labor are collaborating and bringing their datasets together\u003c/a\u003e to meet shared customer needs. This is hard because there are few rewards for cross-agency collaboration, at the same time there are barriers of budget, authorities and “ownership.” Our connected era is pushing agencies together to meet public expectations, even as policies are still catching up.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eImproving the usability of APIs because making them available but unfathomable doesn’t help developers, government or citizens. Agencies are getting to the next level of maturing their API strategy by streamlining APIs and focusing on clarity and minimal documentation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReimagining the workplace and staff development through telework arrangements, \u003ca href=\"http://gsablogs.gsa.gov/dsic/how-it-works/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003emicro-details and micro-tasking\u003c/a\u003e, and organizing work around deliverables.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDoing behind the scenes, unheralded work to update or even change the systems that drive government services. This one needs the most love—maybe because it’s the hardest and least sexy of all. Keep an eye on our colleagues at \u003ca href=\"http://18f.gsa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e18F\u003c/a\u003e who are working with forward leaning agencies to crack that nut.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd there’s more.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring this \u003ca href=\"http://publicservicerecognitionweek.org/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePublic Service Recognition Week\u003c/a\u003e, let’s let President Kennedy remind us why we are doing this.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv\n  class=\"video\"\n  style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\n\u003e\n  \n  \u003ciframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/6z1DidldxUo\" title=\"JFK: We choose to go to the moon\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" \u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinished? Nope. Just getting started.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat’s on your path? What do you need help with? Let us know in the comments.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis article is part of this month’s editorial theme on the Digital Government Strategy. Check out our recently published article on \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/05/government-open-and-structured-content-models-are-here/\"\u003eStructured Content Models\u003c/a\u003e, and check back for more articles related to this theme in May.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePhoto Credit: Gwynne Kostin, August 7, 2009. \u0026ldquo;\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/gwynnek/3797768429/\"\u003eRusted door to JFK\u0026rsquo;s nuclear bunker\u003c/a\u003e.\u0026rdquo; This work is licensed under a \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/\"\u003eCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}