Innovation in Government

Ken Urban

As a former U.S. Government employee, I know just how innovative government teams can be. The cutting-edge concepts and visions that have been infused across many different programs and agencies is remarkable – they have big impacts on the mission too. But as any good engineer knows, innovation isn’t always easy!

So I’d like to start a conversation about innovation, and see if we can share ideas and concepts with each other. Who knows where we might improve our own capabilities? You’ll see a post a week over the next few weeks from me and other Atlassians with some ideas and a few questions to get the conversation started.

Please chime in; it would be great to hear your experiences and perspectives. And like all innovation discussions – there are no wrong answers, only paths yet to be explored!

For this week:

• How do you see innovation in government, is it easy or is it hard?

  • If you think it’s hard, what would you change if you could?

  • If you think it’s easy, what do you think is fueling it?

• And, what do you think about innovation in government. Do you think we’re keeping pace with our global peers?

Robert Wen_Cprime_

I think having that innovative mindset is a muscle.  You need that time and space for exploration to nurture the continuous learning needed, just as you need regular exercise to grow muscle.

The realization that innovation requires that time and space to grow is just starting, with some early adopters in some pockets.  This isn't a problem to just U.S. government agencies, but with other countries' agencies as well.