A few days ago, I talked about the e-government programme in the USA getting some more money and, maybe, a new IT-head for the whole thing. Well, it looks like that isn’t quite what’s happening. In any government organisation anywhere, getting this stuff done is hard. Without authority (in line management terms), input into the compensation process of all those involved and direct budgetary responsibility for delivering projects (and for retiring old systems), it’s practically impossible. Not certainly impossible, but definitely requires superhuman effort – and there aren’t too many people able to put that kind of effort in for the length of time needed. If the USA don’t get this right, then despite all the great plans and proposals I have seen, I think the efforts will stumble a year from now. It will take a year because it takes time for the enthusiasm to die down.
USA drifting?
