In Plain Service

  This story is not really about technology. It is about dignity. Last week in Salt Lake City, I met ten Americans whose lives were shaped by information blocking. One had lost a child. Another had been in a coma. Others were disabled and are now helping other disabled people try to get the benefits they earned. Every one of them ran into the same wall. They could not easily get their own medical records. That may sound like a paperwork problem, but it is really a rights problem. In practice, the burden of collecting medical evidence often falls on the sick person. Many disabled people are asked to track down hospitals, specialists, imaging centers, and mental health providers on their own. They are told to call again, pay $1000's in fees, wait, and resubmit. Some are cognitively impaired. Some are grieving. Some cannot organize a stack of papers, yet we expect them to navigate multiple portals and fax machines. The public believes the government can instantly access any med...

Federal IT procurements are often treated as technical paperwork. In reality, they are long-term strategic decisions. They shape how systems are built, who can compete, how risk is shared, and how innovation shows up in real services. The Social Security Administration ITSSC recompete is one such decision. This is a ten-year, multi-billion-dollar opportunity. It will shape how SSA designs and operates its technology well into the 2030s. At this scale, procurement is architecture. The documents released as RFI do more than ask vendors what they can do. They define who can realistically compete, what solutions are viable, and whether innovation is built into the foundation or added later. That is why the early artifacts matter. What they reveal is not just poor wording. They point to deeper problems that risk locking old assumptions into the next decade of SSA modernization. The Request for Information addresses modernization, data, and artificial intelligence, but it does not provide ...

Leadership is often described as vision, authority, or decisive action. Those things matter. But one of the clearest signs of leadership is gratitude. Gratitude is not public praise or a polite thank you at the end of a project. It is the habit of noticing people and recognizing effort. The most important work is done quietly by people who show up every day and do the right thing without attention. That lesson does not only apply at work. My mother is in her 80’s. She is frail now. At times, she is erratic. Sometimes she is paranoid. She sits up late watching television and YouTube on her iPad. She scrolls through Facebook for hours. Some nights, she sends me a series of messages at 2 am filled with worry or anger that cannot wait until morning. None of this is easy. Aging takes away certainty, independence, and control. Fear shows up in unexpected ways. When I remember that, it helps me slow down and respond with patience instead of frustration. I am grateful for her. Gratitude ...