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Healthcare.gov, the government health insurance marketplace website, launched in October 2013 only to buckle under the weight of just 2,000 simultaneous users. As millions of Americans stared at error messages and frozen screens, a political crisis unfolded, but so did a new era of government technology. The result was 18F, an in-house digital services consulting agency that brought Silicon Valley expertise to government, challenging decades of outdated procurement practices and introducing a radical new approach to building digital public services. Founded on March 19, 2014, by Presidential Innovation Fellows, 18F was housed within the Technology Transformation Services department of the General Services Administration, or GSA. The name 18F was derived from the address of GSA headquarters: 1800 F Street. On March 1, 2025, just a few weeks shy of 18Fs 11th anniversary, the Trump administration eliminated the agency and laid off its staff. As a researcher who studies public administration and technology, I have observed the transformational role 18F played in government digital services. The units elimination raises the question of what the future of those services will look like. Impact of 18F 18F served a unique role as an in-house digital consultancy for the U.S. government, drawing on innovative strategies to improve public service through technology. Within 18F, teams consisting of designers, software engineers, strategists, and product managers worked together with federal, state, and local agencies to not only fix technical problems but to build, buy, and share technology that helped to modernize and improve the publics experience with government services. Over nearly 11 years, 18F built an impressive portfolio of successful digital projects that transformed how people interact with the U.S. government. Even if the average person is unfamiliar with 18F, the odds are quite high that they have at least encountered one of its many products or services. For example, 18F supported the Internal Revenue Service in creating IRS Direct File, a free online tax filing tool that provides taxpayers with a simplified filing process. As of today, IRS Direct File is available in 25 states and is expected to serve 30 million eligible taxpayers during the 2025 tax filing season. 18F has been pivotal in modernizing and securing digital systems to help create more streamlined and secure user experiences for the public. For instance, Login.gov is a secure single sign-on platform that simplifies access to multiple government services for users. Perhaps the most notable of 18Fs modernization efforts that touches nearly every aspect of government today is the U.S. Web Design System. The comprehensive design system was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Digital Service in 2015. It helps support dozens of agencies and makes nearly 200 websites more accessible and responsive to user needs. How 18F worked What set 18F apart was its approach. Rather than spending years on giant information technology contracts that often failed to deliver, 18F championed agile development. Agile and lean methodologies have been popular in Silicon Valley startups and software companies for decades due to their flexibility and focus on rapid iteration. By applying agile development principles, 18F focused on breaking down large projects into manageable pieces with incremental improvements based on frequent user feedback. This approach allowed continuous adaptation spurred by user feedback and changing requirements while reducing risk. Another cornerstone of 18Fs innovative approach was its focus on user-centered design. By focusing on the needs of the people who actually used government services, 18F was able to go beyond merely satisfying technical requirements to design digital products that were more accessible and user-friendly. The idea was to understand the end users and the problems they encountered in order to effectively design products and solutions that addressed their needs. It also aimed to provide a consistent user experience and earn the users trust in the services. By prioritizing open-source development and collaboration, 18F also helped to make government IT more affordable. Making project code transparent meant that agencies could reuse the code and reduce the cost of duplicate development efforts across agencies and levels of government. 18F also had a hand in helping agencies develop their own technology capacity, whether by teaching them how to build software using open-source development and agile methodologies or by teaching agencies how to hire and oversee technology vendors themselves. This model was especially beneficial for state and local agencies following 18Fs expansion in 2016 to provide services to state and local government agencies that receive federal funding. End of an era The elimination of 18F marks the end of an era, raising concerns about both current and future technology projects. As of now, there does not appear to be a succession plan, leaving many federal agencies without ongoing support for their digital transformation efforts. Critics also argue that the loss of 18F means the loss of significant technical expertise within the government. These changes come at a time when agencies are experiencing substantial personnel shifts, rendering digital services potentially even more critical. As agencies brace for more personnel cuts, the public may need to rely more on digital services to fill the gap amid growing staffing shortages. Since the news was announced, current and former 18F team members as well as advocates of the unit have taken to social media platforms, including X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn, to share stories of its successes, honor its legacy, and share 18F resources. Kayla Schwoerer is an assistant professor of public administration & policy at the University at Albany, State University of New York. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump talks of big change in his second term of office. But he’s not forgetting small change, either. Trump ordered the Treasury Department to stop making pennies with a February 10 sentence on his social media account that followed years of conservatives pointing out that putting a copper-coated zinc disc in your pocket costs the government more than a centalmost 4 cents today. Will Trump’s order make the penny disappear? There is no sign that the U.S. Mint will stop pressing pennies in Denver and Philadelphia, and Mint officials did not respond to requests for clarification this week. But the presidential penny pledge is already being felt in one niche world. It’s a little-known world that depends on buying pennies wholesale, loading them into machines and persuading parents to feed a few dollars into machines that stamp designs on the penniesPaw Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesas they are stretched between metal rollers at funfairs. Small orbits of collectors and craftsmen have developed around them. And without the penny, the whole thing faces an uncertain future. The last pennies? New copper pennies vanished from circulation in 198273 years after the first Lincoln penny was minted. They were replaced by coins of mostly zinc thinly coated with copper. The solid copper old ones were more pliable and easier to stamp, making them hot items for kids at funfairs. Theyll clean em so when they elongate the dino or shark of the printed coin it maintains a ghost image of the printed head of Lincoln, said Brian Peters, general manager of Minnesota-based Penny Press Machine Co. Pre-1982 copper pennies, they bring those. Jeweler Angelo Rosato worked for decades in the 1960s and 70s hand-printing pennies with scenes of their New Milford, Connecticut, hometown and historical and sentimental scenes. Everything was obsessively cataloged, including more than 4,000 penny photographs. Were big fans of the penny. Keep the penny,” said Aaron Zablow of Roseland, New Jersey, who was with two of his sons at the American Dream mall. I like the pennies, his 9-year-old son Mason said. Some dont want the U.S. to stop making cents Critics say the rise of electronic commerce and the billions of pennies in circulation mean the U.S. could stop printing the copper coins tomorrow and see little widespread effect for decades. But some people are watching fearfully to see if Trumps public critique of the penny will affect their business. Alan Fleming, of Scotland, is the owner of Penny Press Factory, one of a number around the world that manufacture machines that flatten and stamp coins. A lovely retired gentleman in Boston sold me over 100,000 uncirculated cents a couple of years ago but he doesnt have any more, Fleming wrote. I will need to purchase new uncirculated cents within the next 12 months to keep my machines supplied and working! Regardless of what happens to niche businesses like Fleming’s, penny defenders say theyre an important tool for lubricating the economy even if theyre a money-losing proposition. Since the invention of money, humankind has wrangled with the question of small change, how to denominate amounts so small that the metal coin itself is actually worth more. In 2003, Thomas J. Sargent and another economist wrote The Big Problem of Small Change, billed as the first credible and analytically sound explanation of why governments had a hard time maintaining a steady supply of small change because of the high costs of production. Why pay money for coins? In a digital world with the line blurring between the real and the virtual, tactile coins have been reassuring. What this all tells you about the United States as a country is that its an incredibly conservative country when it comes to money, said Ute Wartenberg, executive director of the American Numismatic Society. Pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters are sometimes designed by artists laser-sculpting tiny portraits of leaders and landmarks using special software. Its pretty cool because when I tell people what I do I just say my initials are on the penny, Joseph Menna, the 14th chief engraver of the United States Mint, said in the 2019 film Heads-Up: Will We Stop Making Cents? Fleming is hoping some lobbying may help: Maybe we should take a trip to Washington and ask to speak to President Trump and Elon Musk and see if we can cut a deal on buying millions of pennies from them.” By Michael Weissenstein and Joseph B. Frederick, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
As artificial intelligence begins to devour the world, job seekers must adapt their strategy to stand out in the hiring process. Hiring managers have begun to populate their interviews with questions about how prospective employees use AI in their work. According to industry experts, these types of questions will become more common as time goes on and AI continues to advance. In fact, 88% of C-suite leaders say speeding up AI adoption is important over the next year, according to LinkedIn’s 2025 Work Change Report. This can be daunting for people who dont work in technology. You certainly dont want to tell a hiring manager that you use ChatGPT to write and ideate everything for you, but you also dont want to seem behind. We asked three hiring experts in different industries how non-techies can best navigate questions about AI in a job interview. Tip 1: Show curiosity Good news! Not being skilled in AI isnt a deal-breaker. Even if you are far from an AI expert, you should highlight your curiosity about the technology in your interviewing process, notes Gillian Davis, chief people officer at strategic communications firm Mission North. She recommends that job applicants speak about a willingness to learn and adapt quickly. Its most important that youre interested in AI, that you have a curiosity about it, and that youre willing to look at it as a powerful complement to talent, Davis says. AI is most powerful in the PR and communications space when it’s used as a way to tackle the mundane tasks, she says. Davis suggests showing off your understanding of what AIs capabilities are, how you can apply it to real-world scenarios, and your willingness to continue learning about and adapting to the new technology. For example, you could talk about ways youve used AI to be more productive and to free yourself up to perform the highest-value parts of your work. Davis says when she speaks with potential hires who are wary of integrating AI into their work, she sees it as a red flag for Mission North. Thats just not the world we live in anymore, she says. Tip 2: Know who youre dealing with Most of the largest organizations in the world are adopting AI and looking for creative ways to use the technology, according to Siobhan Savage, CEO of workplace intelligence platform Reejig. To best understand any companys outlook on AI, Savage recommends combing through its most recent earnings report, noting that CEOs are often very vocal about their companies AI attitudes. Savage suggests providing specific examples about how you use AI to optimize your work if youre interviewing for a company thats embracing the technology. If instead the company hasnt spoken much about AI adoption, she suggests highlighting the fact that youre keeping up to date with all the latest developments. For example, you could share that youve used AI to automate the more mundane parts of your job, or discuss how youve heard other people use it in your industry. Whether youre in tech or PR, it doesnt matter, Savage says. Everyone in a company cares about productivity. Tip 3: Even if theres no right opinion, have one When interviewing potential hires for his PR firm, Shore Fire president Mark Satlof likes to use questions about AI as small talk. But he treats applicants answers like a Rorschach test where he learns a lot about their work ethic and values, he says. You can answer it a million different ways and I dont know if theres a right or wrong answer, Satlof says. He notes, however, that he would not be interested in hiring someone who says they will never use AI. He wants prospective employees to have a stance and show engagement with technological developments. Its okay if someone is skeptical of AI or, alternatively, completely gung ho about the technology. Satlof just wants your opinion to be grounded in research and knowledge. He recommends that job applicants do their research before any interview about the various areas and capabilities of AI. For example, he says applicants should understand the difference between the broad catchall of AI versus the specifics of what a large language model is. (If youre wondering: AI refers to everything a computer does that simulates complex tasks, and LLMs are a type of AI that interprets and generates human language.) Applying for jobs can be a stressful experience, and it can be hard to know the right thing to say at all times. But by researching the company, brushing up on the basics of AI, and expressing a willingness to learn, you can present yourself as a good fit for any job.
Category:
E-Commerce
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