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A comment on The ten year anniversary of the Healthcare.gov rescue.

Re:The ten year anniversary of the Healthcare.gov rescue by dekhn on Friday October 20, 2023 @04:06PM (#37960901)
One thing I will say, from talking to the various people who worked on this and then USDS, they were almost entirely burnt out at the end because they were having just non-stop meetings and doing constant firefighting and trying to get large government contractors to act like tech startups.

In retrospect, maybe we shouldn't worship "heros who drop in, save a project, then leave", especially if it leads to non-sustainable lifestyle for the heros, or creates further technical debt that makes it hard for contractors to develop sites.

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Re:The ten year anniversary of the Healthcare.gov rescue by boris-ning-usds on Friday October 20, 2023 @06:20PM (#37962135)
It's a tough job. USDS can often be in a unique position to take the technical lead in a fire situation such that it doesn't happen again, and that can steer enormous positive outcomes for both the public servant, the contractors, and the general public.

As for non-sustainable lifestyle, it differs from person to person. It's an appointed position of 2 years, with one chance of renewal for that reason. It's an unique opportunity to see the government from a position of power, so it's expected for USDSers to try to make it count.

It's not always the case USDS will create further technical debt for contractors to develop sites. During cutovers, consider creating playbooks and provide context in those non-stop meetings to the contractors, and best of all, provide a phone number and an email for emergency.

And some of those people from USDS never left the government. ;)

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