I want a more efficient public sector, just cutting top line costs with no regard does not make it more efficient.

Banning Microsoft laggardly software would be one thing. They’ve built a walled garden and they want you to use it, and that’s at the expense of better tools that do get the job done faster/easier/better. Eliminating make-work jobs would be good. Dumping seniority rules in the union would be good.

And you know what else: hire a full time per-department dedicated digital service. No, centralized isn’t good enough. No, contracts aren’t good enough.

Software is not a business. It is a strategy and a requirement. Our government needs to grow up and act like it, but it’s infested with tech-illiterate boomers. Stop the endless rounds of dependency gathering to try to get one solution that does it all with one mega contract, and endless red-tape legal barriers that make it impossible for non-US mega-corp contractors to get contracts.

A dedicated digital service would always meet requirements because they would be involved in them. It must be embedded inside departments for continuous feedback and iteration, no other model works, ever. It needs to pay competitively, and acknowledge the fact that there are thousands of tech workers like me would never meet the insane public sector hoops, or deal with the low pay scale, or the large amounts of bureaucracy.

Last year I actually looked into how I could help either the government or the armed forces, and basically, I am not “qualified” for any of their listings, despite over a decade of experience and delivering hundreds of projects.

It’s asinine.

I agree with this comment on unions AND contractors (though not all). I think the problem is when service becomes a game or grift and not actually being efficient.

City of Toronto was one of the worst performing unions in most sectors and stank of corruption and over employment, and then on the other side you have MetroLinx which has been one of the biggest wastes of money a government has ever seen.

Then on the flip side you have Parks Canada and the National Archives doing amazing work with limited budgets.

I know with Toronto the culture came from the top, but these days I think contract farming and middle management bloat is what is really killing efficiency.

Also let the damn people work from home.