Thread by @naderafzalan

How to manage a civic tech project at a governmental organization, from the procurement stage to launching the product? Here, I'll explain what I've learned from managing one of the most visible and fast-paced projects at the State of California. Ideas are mine not my employer's

1. Contract requirements: Don’t add tons of requirements. Focus on the ones that bring value. You may get criticized for not adding too many detailed requirements. But, you need to face criticism, otherwise, you'll spend a lot of time figuring out how to meet those requirements.

2. Procurement: If you are asking for POC (Proof of Concept), make the process simple and short. Focus more on learning about the vendor’s team and how they interact and respond.

3. Procurement: Focus on vendors' soft and technical skills: coachability, leadership style, past experience w/ gov projects, design skills, and technical expertise. Try to explore these as you interact with them. Don't focus too much on technical capabilities.

4. Procurement: Vendor's team is a package. Don't pick them based on only one or two team members. Ask them who is going to be their project manager or the scrum master.

5. Procurement: when negotiating, clarify the contract's requirements. Ask them to include the staff you liked during the POC in the team for XX hours/week. Be open to get rid of the contract requirements that are unnecessary.

6. Procurement: when negotiating, focus on the project deliverables, outcomes, and "people", rather than focusing on the cost. Consult w/ experts in or at other agencies on your negotiation strategy.

7. Development: Building data systems at gov't organizations are much more complicated than building them at a startup or private firm. You need to navigate relationships and project needs while responding to processes designed to increase accountability, responsibility, etc.

8. Development: set up concurrent meetings to keep high-level executives or political staff of your organization in the loop early on. You don't want to surprise them later in the project. You don't have time to focus on consensus building. Follow the contract and get direction.

9. Development: If you are using Agile methodology, pure Agile may not work for you since the vendor should respond to project deliverables and requirements in a limited time. You need a hybrid model to mix Agile and Waterfall methodologies.

10. Development: Be comfortable with saying NO. Do not get distracted by comments/ directions you constantly receive from your oversight or supervisors. Your job is to wrap up the project.

11. Development: start by calling the project MVP (Minimum Viable Product), especially when you are talking to high-level figures at your organization. this will put the pressure off of the project, and, shows them that they can still iterate on the product after the launch.

12. Development: your team is your asset. Spend time on team building. Organize occasional social gatherings and remind everyone about the real impact of the project. Avoid too many social events though, as your team needs to catch up with their personal lives.

13. Development: You may get very busy. Try to limit your work hours. In fast-paced environments, you may easily work 60 h/ week for several months. Focus on streamlining your work as much as possible.

14. Development: You are not designing the next iPhone! Set the expectation within your organization and team. Focus on delivering a "pretty good" working product and remind yourself that great is the enemy of the good.

15. Development: Be firm but collaborative with your vendor. Put yourself in your vendor's shoes and understand that they are also juggling a lot of details while dealing with governmental bureaucracies. Empower them and give them a sense of ownership.

16. Development: If you have to work with oversight managers, use them as a resource. e.g. ask them to review the development process and let you know the shortfalls. They can do much more than bugging you every now and then or criticizing your work. They can be great assets.

17. Development: Don't drown in the project. Set up no meeting Wednesdays. You do not need to know about every detail of the project. Empower your team and keep project stakeholders engaged, and, you'll be fine.

18. Development: Find great advisors outside of your organization. You don't need tons of advisers. A few great ones can make huge positive impacts. In our case, @JoyBonaguro generously played that role.

19. Launch: Launching the project can easily take 1 or 2 months after the build, depending on the nature of the project, its political visibility, etc. Engage your organization executives & political staff early on and work on your message, branding, and elevator speech.

20. Launch: By the time you wrap up the development phase, you and your team may be exhausted. Or, your mind may be too much hung up with the details. Give everyone a break (even a half-day break) so that they can use their mind and creativity to get ready for the product launch

Again, these are all based on the context of the project, your organization's capacities, your team, and your vendor's team. Select a vendor that culturally fits your team's culture. You may not have a lot of time for creating norms and culture.

In the end, I loved my experience. If you are interested in working on these kinds of exciting #civictech projects, they are many opportunities for you. Follow @civicjobSF, @kristallakis, @JoyBonaguro, @hondanhon.