Gavin’s Great Challenge: Digital Transformation
In the pantheon of American political life, the role of the California governor is unique. Beyond the burden for running the day-to-day operations of the world’s 5th largest economy, the occupant of this office has the duty and opportunity to lay out an expansive vision for the state, which by virtue of our size and influence almost inevitably becomes a blueprint for vast swaths of our nation and the world.
This responsibility can be traced back to Governor Hiram Johnson, who engineered the democratic reforms of the 1910s — initiative, referendum and recall — that created our modern political system. It continued in the 1950s through our great builder, Governor Pat Brown, who presided over the creation of the California water project and the development of UC, Cal state and community college system. And most recently, it was vested in the person of Jerry Brown, who brought us back from the brink of economic collapse, modernized our state’s finances and focused on combatting the single greatest threat to our way of life, global climate change.
Now, as Gavin Newsom takes his place among California’s most iconic and influential leaders, a new challenge has emerged which will determine whether California will continue its role as a lighthouse state or whether others will pass us by.
Simply put, as the home of innovation, California bears the responsibility to ensure that the benefits of technology will be extended beyond the portfolios of the privileged few and extend to all the residents of our great state.
Technology is today’s new “utility” it binds our society as much as water, air, electricity and local government — - in fact- these main staples of government services continue to evolve and result in citizens having a more transparent experience with today’s basic government offerings.
At a fundamental level, this is about transforming the compact between government and the state’s residents. It begins with radically rethinking how government services are provided; it extends to transforming our education system to keep pace with the modern economy; and it calls for beginning to reform our social safety net, particularly at a moment when automation and artificial intelligence threaten so many of the jobs that form the foundation of our economy.
Technology, today, allows many of us to work from home; we can order anything within minutes; and we have endless video streams to entertain us for the rest of our natural lives. Airlines are now even experimenting with using biometric identifiers instead of passports or drivers licenses to confirm travelers’ identities.
Yet in California, if we want to get a drivers’ license or register to vote, it’s like were living in 1954. We have to take off work, stand in line, fill out paper documents, and deal with a sometimes uncaring and uncompromising bureaucracy.
Here’s the reality — there are no issues at the California DMV that could not be easily solved by a new approach. The problem is that we continually try to build modern software that interfaces with systems designed 30–40 years ago.
Digital government offers a better way. Arizona, for instance, allows citizens to take driver’s test online. And yes, California has launched a successful pilot — known as GetCalFresh — that allows residents to sign up for food stamps in less than 10 minutes.
The next governor needs to launch a major initiative to transform how government services are delivered.
This should begin with the DMV and our voting systems, but ultimately expand to include determining eligibility for Medi-Cal, clearing records as part of criminal justice reform, modernization of legacy child welfare systems, and every aspect of how state government interacts with Californians.
Also, as a new Governor enters the morass of old technology mixed with the formidable and bold technology initiatives that will launch CA government as a leader- a State CIO must be appointed that is seasoned and well respected. The new appointee must bring a fresh perspective that will successfully represent the Newsom Administration- whether it means to unplug failing projects or empower our public servants to implement technology that moves our great state forward.
If done right, these systems can significantly improve the services the State offers to the public, to both increase utilization and decrease cost to the state.
Governor Newsom, when he was Lt. Governor, sponsored legislation that funded and implemented the state’s comprehensive plan for computer science education. This was a huge step in the right direction and a clear recognition that our education system was built for a different era.
Yet, the reality is that we have to go well-beyond simply adding computer science education to our already burdened teachers and schools. We have to rethink the curriculum for the modern age. As we move from a service economy to a digital economy, we have to determine what the jobs of the future will be and what skills are needed to fill those jobs.
For some, this will mean computer science education at the college and post-graduate levels. But for millions more, we need a broad expansion of vocational training and apprenticeship opportunities. Government, alone, doesn’t have the solutions here. This will take close partnership with the private sector.
The third, and potentially most important, piece of the puzzle is reforming the state’s social safety net. We are in the midst of a fundamental transformation of our economy, which has opened the door to profound questions:
As a compassionate and generous society, we have to come to grips with this question. The solutions go well-beyond California, but the federal government, tied up in gridlock and chaos, is either unwilling or unable to take it on.
Governor-elect Newsom should bring together the brightest minds in technology, government, unions, and academy to form a blue-ribbon task force to tackle these major Future of Work and Technology questions.
There are two parts to governance: building the right policies to serve the public and then building a government engine to execute the policies effectively. Too often we get the first part right and then miss on the execution. Under Governor-elect Newsom’s leadership, California needs to do three things to get the execution right.
First, the State must develop the capabilities to build these new systems in collaboration with commercial software development vendors. To be effective at managing these collaborative efforts the State must modernize our IT workforce. Further, the State IT workforce must be capable of doing some of the work themselves. You cannot manage work when you do not have a deep understanding of the effort required. State workers are smart and dedicated public servants. But they have not been given the opportunity to participate as peers in software application development. We can fix this.
Second, it becomes imperative that Government require their procurement practices are aligned with the future direction needed to insure success.The times of government dusting off the ten-year-old RFP and reissuing with minor tweaks can’t continue. The ability to transform is directly linked to the method of purchase. This will take a close and meaningful partnership between public and private sector.
Next, the State has to embrace the fact that technology change is now constant. The shelf-life of technology is 5–10 years… and we cannot again let systems age for 30–40 years. Finally, we have to build cost-effective systems that run on secure, modern computing infrastructure. Today, this means cloud-computing. Cloud computing can reduce costs by 10X or more. We will begin an aggressive program to move to the cloud and cut costs, and use these cost savings to drive modernization in other areas.
Finally, we have to build cost-effective systems that run on secure, modern computing infrastructure. Today, this means cloud-computing. Cloud computing can reduce costs by 10X or more. We will begin an aggressive program to move to the cloud and cut costs, and use these cost savings to drive modernization in other areas.
The reality is that these challenges don’t just touch one aspect of government. Technology is the “new utility” running through all of state government. Up to this point, IT systems have been the province of state CIOs and system administrators.
Like water infrastructure, education and high-speed rail, digital transformation now must be the central focus of the Governor, who like his predecessors, has the opportunity to make his mark and lay out his bold vision for how California can lead the way.
Gavin’s Great Challenge: Digital Transformation
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