A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide

The civil service that performs most of the actual work of delivering government to the public is designed to be a long-term institution. Its role is very specifically to provide continuity across the partisan shifts and fads of mere administrations, which come and go. This can be frustrating to changemakers, but as the saying goes, it’s a feature, not a bug. If it throws friction in the way of an administration you agree with rapidly implementing policies you like, it also throws friction in the way of an administration you disagree with rapidly implementing policies you don’t like.