Vivek Kundra, D.C.’s Chief Technology Officer, invited me to his office yesterday to discuss the upcoming inauguration and government operations with the other Apps for Democracy winners. I walked away from the meeting thinking one thing – Vivek Kundra is a bad ass! I never in my wildest dreams thought a government official would make it to my top 10 technology hero list. He now sits along side Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Kevin Rose and Michael Arrington to name a few.
Forget about the fact that he manages a staff of 600 people that provides technology services and leadership for 86 agencies, 38,000 employees, residents, businesses, and millions of visitors, his approach to technology and government spending is unbelievable. He has taken a $500 million yearly budget and visualized it in such a away that a 4th grader could understand it. His rationale was that before he arrived, the government was spending an unforeseeable amount of tax payers’ money and nobody could account for it. Now, everything is elegantly displayed on dashboards that surround what looks like the trading floor of a stock exchange. The custom built Ruby on Rails solution displays everything you need to know, including budgets, time lines and even a ‘happiness’ factor. I’ve seen a lot of cool things and just recently went to the Google I/O conference and the TechCrunch 50 but nothing tops the operation I saw at his office.
If you ever get an opportunity to meet him, don’t hesitate.
