The Hypersonic Speed of Government

This is not a political post; this is about government efficiency and consultants.

Watching DOGE shake up federal agencies makes me think about my experiences helping governments adopt technology to be more efficient. I’m writing this post to figure out what I think. (Note #2)

Disclaimer: All content here is my own. I do not use AI in my writing except for spelling and grammar checking. (I do use AI images!? See Note #1)

The Tectonic Speed of change… on Fast Forward

After 30 years working with government organizations, I agree that they can be bureaucratic, illogical, and inefficient.

I’m not against government change - I’ve spent a career trying to create it - but what we’re seeing right now is unprecedented. I’m fascinated and yet horrified at the way it’s being carried out.

Given my career both inside and outside of government, I’m looking at this in two ways.

Perspective as an IT Consultant to Government

My whole career has been helping governments use technology to improve processes.

Like the DOGE teams, I was once the fresh-out-of-college consultant asking two state employees to help me map their process so that we could automate it. (Specifically: moving a math-heavy Cost Allocation process to computer routines instead of their manual process with calculators.) Let’s be clear: I was replacing their main role; those two people were losing their own area of unique expertise and would have to learn new jobs. ?In this case, they didn’t resist and graciously walked me through their steps.

But it isn’t always easy to work with government employees. I have seen people push back due to distrust of technology (or consultants), aversion to change, fear of losing their job, or similar reasons. Important: it was rarely that the employees were lazy or corrupt; usually it was that they felt that their process worked – and were concerned that we would screw it up.

Consultants get frustrated with the push back. We don’t understand why people object to improvements, why they didn’t see the benefits of the new system, and why they delighted in throwing weird scenarios at us to show how ridiculously complex their jobs were.

Here’s what’s different with DOGE: normally consultants consult and don’t have the leverage that DOGE seems to wield. (We’ll see if the changes stick… the process is still in early stages.) What power they have! Not only to suggest changes, but to force compliance, close offices, and gain access to systems.

Perspective as a Government IT Manager

This is where I think DOGE is going to fatally overstep. The average citizen may not care if DOGE is disrupting bureaucratic processes, but they do care if their IRS records are open for review by people who haven’t had a background check.? (Note #3)

If (sorry… when) secured data leaks (Note #4), I think the tide will turn and even Republicans in Congress will object – as they have when their States are hit by funding cut-offs. (https://fortune.com/2025/02/13/republicans-speaking-up-against-billionaire-elon-musk-doge/)

I’ve seen change in government – and I’m proud to say that I’ve enabled it, too. Normally it is slow, with short bursts of change based on an opportunity, like replacing a software system.

This is the central metaphor of my whole blog about the Tectonic Speed of Government: like the Earth’s tectonic plates, efforts for government change barely move the landscape – until pressure builds and the change eventually breaks through. We’re certainly in that earthquake process right now! (For more: https://blog.tectonicspeed.com/2020/01/why-is-it-tectonic-speed-i-originally.html) ?

However, the metaphor describes organic change that arises from gradual efforts. The change by DOGE is more like dropping a bomb. Yes, it moves the ground, but it also does tremendous damage at the same time.

That’s my problem with what’s going on.? Right now, DOGE is pushing hard, and the pendulum has swung far. However, they are moving too fast and breaking too many things. The opportunity to make lasting change is being squandered.? When the pendulum swings back (and it will) the story told by the federal agencies will be “DOGE tried change, and that didn’t work out.”

If only DOGE could restrain itself to working with the agencies to gradually root out inefficiencies and fraud. What a missed opportunity this will be!

Notes

Note #1: Bing Image Generator created the image from this prompt: A beam balance scale. The left side of the scale has shiny new DOGE coins with the DOGE dog's face on the coins. The right side of the scale has a messy stack of paper and no coins at all. ?I was trying to capture the idea of a balance between the static bureaucratic process and the flippant young consultants.

Note #2: A favorite quote, from the author Joan Didion: “I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking.” I shared this quote in a piece I wrote about Documentation, see Note #1 in that piece here: https://blog.tectonicspeed.com/2022/05/tectonic-speed-of-government-part-7.html

Note #3: Insufficient background checks was a concern raised here about Treasury Department access by Senator Jack Reed: https://www.reed.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/sen_reed_letter_to_bessent_re_bureau_of_fiscal_service_2325.pdf.

Note #4: Data leaks will happen when DOGE employees access secure data from unsecured laptops and then purposefully share the data, unknowingly share the data with threat actors, or lose unsecured laptops. Probably we’ll see all three of these scenarios.