On the Forum on Modernizing Government

Here’s a YouTube playlist of videos published by The White House, which includes the complete forum sessions that followed the President’s opening remarks. 1

The forum is a series of round table panel discussions, featuring executives from the private sector (CEOs, CTOs, etc), as well as government officials brainstorming, sharing their experiences, and making recommendations.

One of my favorite parts comes at 0:56:25:

If the inefficiency isn’t captured and measured, and staring you in the face, it isn’t gonna be tackled as a project in the first place… If the government takes on a culture of streamlining, and attacking inefficiency, and looking for resource maximization, you’re going to start looking introspectively and measuring things that will — for the first time — put a line of sight on the inefficiency.

Watching all of these isn’t exactly an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride, to be sure, but think about how many times you or I have even had the opportunity to be a “fly on the wall” during official government discourse. The very idea that this forum was live-streamed and published for free public access is a fantastic example of the sorts of operational practices that I deeply hope to see continue growing in practice, particularly even after the present Administration has completed its term in Washington.


  1. 1.Start from video 2 in the playlist if you’ve already seen the President’s remarks, and just want to skip to the round table discussion.