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Rapid implementation of policy as code
on May 12, 2020
No policy or rule stays the same forever. In response to a crisis, policy changes often come much faster, and stakes can be higher.
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18F is here to help during critical times
on April 9, 2020
Government agencies are seeing their systems and staff stretched to the max as they do their best to serve the public. 18F is a team of government employees with expertise in modern digital tools and practices, and we’re here to help
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Long-term teams, not sudden handoffs
on December 3, 2019
Don’t let your agency waste knowledge and opportunity. Instead of planning for a handoff to operations and maintenance, plan for a long-term team. Instead of launching your project and then keeping it running, plan for ongoing development.
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Human-centered design for IT centralization, part 5 - Centralization gone right: A case study on the U.S. Web Design System
on May 21, 2019
This is part 5 and the last post in a series on the importance of human-centered design when evaluating IT centralization. Learn through a case study how The U.S. Web Design System came together to create a centralized design tool that allows agencies to build consistent digital experiences quickly and at a reduced cost.
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Human-centered design for IT centralization, part 4 - What happens after you centralize
on May 9, 2019
This is Part 4 in a series of posts on the importance of human-centered design when evaluating IT centralization. In this post, we’ll share some helpful recommendations for navigating how to be an in-house IT service provider in a user-centered way
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Human-centered design for IT centralization, part 3 - Working with vendors to build a centralized solution
on May 7, 2019
This is part 3 in a series on the importance of human-centered design when evaluating IT centralization.In this post, we’ll share some helpful tips on how to effectively work with vendors.
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Human-centered design for IT centralization, part 2 - Deciding whether or not to centralize
on April 11, 2019
This is Part 2 in a series of posts on the importance of human-centered design when evaluating IT centralization. In this post, we’ll help you decide if IT centralization makes sense for your agency. After interviewing several folks who’ve been through a centralization initiative, we’ve developed some best practices for navigating this big question in a more user-centered way.
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Human-centered design for IT centralization, part 1 - Why prioritizing users is important during IT centralization
on April 3, 2019
At 18F, we believe directly engaging users while evaluating IT centralization will result in services that work better for the people they serve. As part of a 10x project, we’ve talked to users who understand how centralization has impacted their day-to-day work and gathered lessons learned and best practices.
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We asked everyone at 18F to reflect on the most meaningful project they worked on this year
on December 23, 2015
2015 was a big year for 18F. We almost doubled in size, worked with 28 different agency partners, and released products ranging from Design Method Cards to cloud.gov. Internally, we improved onboarding and our documentation by releasing guides on topics as diverse as content, accessibility, and creating good open source projects. To mark the end of the year, we reached out to everyone at 18F and asked them to reflect on a meaningful project they worked on this year.
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Learning how to build a better “front door” for the federal government
on December 8, 2015
Over the last several months, staff from General Service Administration’s USAGov and 18F teams have been talking to Americans around the country about the good, the bad, and the ugly of interacting with their federal government. The goal of the research is to gain a better understanding of how we can build a better “front door” to the federal government by building new digital services and enhancing existing ones.
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What exactly do we even do all day?
on December 7, 2015
We've always been open about our code, but we decided to experiment with being open with our project management as well. We've opened up the Trello board for a project we're working on with the Environmental Protection Agency to the public, and the results have been fantastic.
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The EPA's new Environmental Digital Services marketplace
on December 3, 2015
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working on ways to contract with high-quality digital service vendors, which is why they just released a Request for Information (RFI) for creating an Environmental Digital Services marketplace.
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New playbook details what it's like to work with 18F Delivery
on November 19, 2015
If you or your agency have thought about working with 18F but are unsure of how we work with our partners, we have a new set of guidelines to help you out. The 18F Delivery Partnership Playbook is specifically targeted at federal offices interested in working with 18F to build digital services.
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Announcing 18F Consulting’s Digital Economy Practice
on October 7, 2015
We’ve come to realize that there may be opportunities to achieve high impact in targeted areas by aligning our subject expertise with our digital expertise. To test our hypothesis, we’re launching an alpha version of our first policy vertical (or niche market) within 18F Consulting: the Digital Economy Practice.
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How a two-day sprint moved an agency twenty years forward
on September 9, 2015
At 18F Consulting, we experiment with ways to empower agencies to build cost-efficient, excellent digital solutions. Recently we partnered with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division to run a two day “Design/Dev Agile Sprint” to help them modernize their Field Operations Handbook.
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How 90 minutes with Lego bricks taught these executives agile
on August 31, 2015
The Small Business Administration was ready to try something different. So they asked 18F Consulting to run an “introduction to agile” workshop for their executives. With the help of a bucket of Legos, the executives were able to learn the basics of agile development practices in only an afternoon.
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Avoiding cloudfall: A systematic approach to cloud migration
on June 22, 2015
18F has been working on reducing the costs of entry to the cloud and thinking about good practices for cloud migration. One good practice is to adopt a scaled approach to cloud migration to avoid cloudfall.
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Hello, world! We are 18F
on March 19, 2014
18F is a startup within GSA, encompassing the Presidential Innovation Fellows program and a cutting edge digital delivery team. We’re doers, recruited from the most innovative corners of industry and the public sector, who are passionate about “hacking” bureaucracy to drive efficiency, transparency, and savings for government agencies and the American people.
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