White House launches “U.S. Digital Service,” with HealthCare.gov fixer at helm
I worked with Mikey on healthcare.gov and he's the real deal--wicked smart, but also humble, patient, respectful, grounded, and keenly insightful into how organizations work and how to fix broken ones.The day healthcare.gov launched, six people total got through. Six. Nobody even knew when the site was down, except by checking CNN. Two months later, Mikey had rallied the 20-something contractors into punching through dozens of problems, and had recruited a team of (now-) 30-something engineers from Google, Facebook, YC startups, and other fine places to come in on rotations to keep the momentum going. As a result, 8 million people got health insurance.If you haven't already seen it, I recommend this talk and Time article:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0albm_hhQzM&feature=youtu.be...
http://blog-assets.newrelic.com/wp-content/uploads/80893.pdfAnd those of you thinking about joining: do it please! You don't have to give up your life to the government—it's possible to help in short-term rotations—but this is the best shot we have in a long time to change the way our government works.(If you're interested in joining, feel free to email me a resume and I'll make sure the right people see it: brandon.ballinger@gmail.com)