#215 Beyond the HealthCare.gov fix: making better government software

The HealthCare.gov launch debacle has led to vigorous effort on several fronts to course-correct the way the government creates software. The new agencies USDS and 18F are premised on the notion of rebalancing the public sector with private sector talent from within. At the same time, a new breed of technology vendors, drawing on the same talent pool, is emerging to provide services to government from without.

Paul Smith, one of the people who fixed HealthCare.gov and co-founder of government sofware agency Ad Hoc, will touch on what’s happened in the nearly 3 years since the president’s signature domestic policy was nearly upended by poorly-developed software. From the perspective of a new small company working in this space, there are reasons to be optimistic that change is happening and starting taking root across government.