I have not worked in the government because I haven't been willing to submit myself to that level of inflexibility in my work.

However, I know a lot of people who have worked or currently do work in government, up to and including innovation fellows at the federal level.

I think you're responding to a point that I didn't make. I never said that government tech workers are top notch; in fact I know they generally are not.

My point is that even if you could fire anyone with no process, you would still be stuck with the inflexible structure that government tends to impose on any employee. You would still have trouble recruiting. Why aren't you a government employee? Because it would be too hard to get fired there? No, because it's more enjoyable to work in private industry. Me too.

Management basics: you cannot fire your way to success. You have to hire and empower great employees.

Firing is about efficiency; but what customers and stakeholders really want is performance. It's like saying "my car is running out of gas--I better take off the roof rack." Cutting does not provide forward momentum.

Fundamentally, people want to believe that the reason that government sucks, is because government workers suck. The reality is that government sucks because it imposes structural limits on the empowerment of employees, which harms flexibility and recruiting too.

And those structural limits were put in place, because everyone thinks government workers suck! It's a circle of pain.

BTW I would not spend too much time feeling superior to government tech workers. Governments waste a shitload of money on contractors too. And the rest of the tech industry tends to look down on government contractors about the same as government employees.