An Open Letter to the New NYC PIT Crew

Dear Mayor Mamdani and Chief Technology Officer Gelobter, 

When government works well, people barely notice; it’s just easy. This is what New Yorkers deserve – a responsive government is not only about good policy; it’s about the ability to deliver public services that are accessible, simple to navigate, and meets their needs. We are practitioners who have built, led, and supported successful digital service initiatives around the country, including leading IRS’ Direct File – which is why we are so encouraged by the launch of the NYC Public Interest Technology (PIT) Crew. 

This initiative can improve services for millions. We are excited to see this investment in:

• People-centered delivery. The fastest way to build trust is to make government easier to navigate – trust is built or broken at the counter, on the phone, in the app that either works or doesn’t. Treating service delivery as a priority and putting people’s needs at the center will help the PIT Crew deliver for New Yorkers.

• Building lasting government capacity. The most responsive governments invest in their own people. Building in-house expertise in product management, engineering, design, and data creates the internal capacity to improve services, adapt to change, and reduce costly outside vendors – building public services that are by and for New Yorkers.

• New ways of working. The best digital service teams don’t just build better technology, they rethink how government works by organizing around the needs of people rather than the boundaries of bureaucracy. This is a new model for government – and what’s being built in New York can help cities around the U.S. learn how to deliver better services. 

 

Recently, the Federation of American Scientists and the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University talked to more than 100 government leaders who built and led digital service initiatives across local, state, and federal government. Their experiences revealed important information about the conditions that allow public interest tech projects like this to create lasting impact.

The announcement reflects many of those lessons already. We hope you’ll consider several principles that are essential to radically redefining the relationship between people and their government:

• Set a standard that changes expectations of government. Take a page from the work of Direct File, which increased trust in the IRS by 86% – don’t just build services that are better than before, build services that are so intuitive, accessible, and reliable that New Yorkers expect every interaction with government to meet the same standard.
• Move beyond agency siloes. Organize around services, not agencies. People come to government at different moments in their lives: a new baby, a lost job, a business they’re trying to start. The most effective digital service teams organize their work, including funding, staffing, and operations, around the outcomes that public services are trying to achieve.
• Empower and hold accountable service leaders. The only way to scale your impact is to empower teams and hold them transparently accountable. The highest performing organizations succeed because a single team is empowered to own a service end-to-end and answers for its success. Giving teams clear responsibility for outcomes – paired with the authority to actually make changes and tough choices – creates the conditions for faster, better, and more durable results. 
• Live or die by good gov-ops. Move to outcomes-based everything – from hiring, to procurement, to budgeting and, of course, product launches, taking an agile, outcomes and deadline-driven approach will ensure delivery happens on time. We are encouraged by the COGE and believe a similar, challenging approach to all types of policies and processes should be taken. 
• Go big or go home. Be bold enough to become the model. You have the opportunity to not just improve New Yorker City’s services, but to create open, reusable approaches – from open source public options to services with 100% uptake – that raise the standard for governments anywhere.

 

This is a tremendous opportunity to redefine what people expect from government, and in doing so, inspire cities across the country to raise their own ambitions. We are excited to see this initiative lead the way and look forward to cheering your success.

Sincerely,

Merici Vinton, Loren DeJonge Schulman, Laura Sigelmann – Federation of American Scientists

Lynn Overmann, Kirsten Wyatt – Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, Georgetown University

 

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is a nonpartisan science and technology policy organization dedicated to bringing evidence-based expertise into government to help solve the country’s biggest challenges.

The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University is dedicated to improving how people experience government by strengthening the design and delivery of public services.