Week 20 — A Sense of Urgency
For those who don’t know, I am an avid biker. Despite living in the suburbs of Ottawa, I bike downtown into work everyday the weather lets me. The bike ride is 21km each way and takes about 1 hour and 5 minutes on a good day. The city of Ottawa has seen a number of bike deaths this year with a lot of hand wringing and “studies” needed before any action is taken. There’s a reason people call Ottawa “autowa”. I’m not sure when it became a political issue to build infrastructure to keep cyclists safe in a world where they need to co-exist beside massive cars. I’m not sure why the debate is being framed as bikes vs. cars as if the two can’t peacefully co-exist. Lastly, I’m not sure why we pull tired troupes about why we can’t make it safer for cyclists like it’ll cost too much money, there’s not enough research into what will work or whatever argument is brought up. These arguments are easily debunked because cycling safety is something many countries have figured out, there is no need for further study because in Ottawa alone over the past 20 years (at least) study after study has been done. The whole argument over cyclists boils down to what I think ails society in general in modern times: a distinct lack of empathy. Many lack the ability to understand an issue from the point of view of someone else. When the debate over cyclists and motorists comes up, especially in the context of cyclist deaths, empathy is a powerful lens for us to consider our arguments. Is it not worth inconvenience and cost to save a human life? When did it become acceptable to intentionally devalue human life so someone in a car doesn’t have to take an extra 5 minutes in their commute to get to work?
As I described last week, it has been a mad rush to get agreements in place with our partner Departments to make sure the AI projects can move forward. I wanted to share a few thoughts on this process.
First, it is amazing to note how fast things can move when the urgency is there. Instantly, my mind wanders into thinking how that sense of urgency can be used in other spaces and for other problems. Is there a way to bottle up that sense of urgency?
Second, it is amazing to witness the challenges of securing funding commitments at this particular time of fiscal year. In past jobs and lives, I’ve witnessed many cost centre managers who are looking to rid themselves of surpluses identifying a lot of interesting opportunities they want to pursue. But at this time of year (July), budgets are much tighter. It makes me wonder if there’s a better way to manage budgets especially if we can remove the constraints that government fiscal years impose.
Lastly, it’s a reminder that the best laid plans will change. Despite an original not so rushed timeline, circumstances beyond our control crunched the timelines and forced everything to move faster than planned. It’s another reminder that no matter how much planning you do, you will need to be nimble and flexible because the world doesn’t shape itself around your plans.
This week, I asked a question on Twitter prompted from a conversation with a colleague. I’m sure it’s more a personal blindspot than something that has never happened before. I was left wondering whether an outside group (of any kind other than another government) could provide funding to the government so the government does work on a certain project or activity. Of course the most obvious answer is taxes but I’m not counting that. I’m also not counting legally obligated activities which are then cost-recovered. For example, could a company pay the government to offer specialized and personalized help with navigating the regulatory system?
Regulatory Experimentation Update (Incorporation by Reference, Regulatory Evaluation Platform and Rules as Code)
Incorporation by Reference: The server that the prototype is hosted on has been riddled with bugs after a recent server migration. We are ironing out all the kinks so testing can resume. In the meantime, the AI is identifying an incorporation by reference with 93% certainty.
Regulatory Evaluation Platform: The procurement paperwork has been submitted. It’s now a formality to issue the contract and finally get work started. I have a lot more to unpack about the process (more of an update from the last time I talked about the AI Source List).
Rules as Code: We asked for bids from 5 vendors. We’ve selected 1 vendor and have begun the process of entering into a contract. Rules as Code work in the federal government is now real and live. It’s scary to be the first!
We are also exploring two other Rules as Code Proof of Concept projects including use cases with the travel directive and with the Labour program.
Rebuilding the Public Service From The Ground Up: Week 7
The rules are no assumptions, no restrictions since we are rebuilding from the ground up.
Idea 7: Getting Back Into the Workforce
Shopify introduced a “Welcome Back” program this week for individuals out of the workforce for more than 2 years (often due to parental or medical reasons). It is a 3 month paid placement to get someone back into the workforce. I can’t speak for the level of interest or success rates but it’s a wonderful idea.
So I started thinking about what a public service version would look like. We have the mechanism for short term stints inside government (casuals). So why not make that more targeted? Then create demand by framing it as a chance for Departments to hire on a temporary basis for increases in workload, for new projects or as a trial run for an employee returning to the workforce. Stay tuned because I think this could be something the public service starts doing.
That is it for week 20. Thanks for reading and see you next week!
