Steven VanRoekel, CIO of the USA, speaks at Xerox PARC [Telecom]

The livestreaming details appeared on PARC's site today (24-OCT-2011):

Additional background on Steven VanRoekel also appeared: " " Steven VanRoekel is the second Chief Information Officer of the United " States, appointed by President Obama on August 5th, 2011. Mr. VanRoekel " plays a key role in ensuring that the Federal Government is operating, " in President Obama's words, "in the most secure, open, and efficient way " possible." VanRoekel works closely with the chief technology and " performance officers. " " Mr. VanRoekel directs IT policy, strategic planning of Federal IT " investments, and oversight of Federal technology spending. He " establishes and oversees enterprise architecture to ensure system " interoperability and information-sharing, and maintains information " security and privacy across the Federal Government. VanRoekel's " priorities include openness and transparency, lowering costs, " cybersecurity, participatory democracy, and innovation.

On 10/24/2011 3:34 PM, Thad Floryan wrote:

A reasonably complete report of the material that was discussed can be read here (appeared online at 4am PDT) though the meeting place was incorrectly stated -- it was at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto CA whereas the Churchill Club is in San Jose CA:

The first several paragraphs are:

" The nation's top technology official on Tuesday unveiled a "future " first" strategy designed to minimize the delays that routinely " sentence government technology projects to early obsolescence. " " In an interview, federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel " said the plan centers on building small applications that can be " quickly and cheaply plugged in and upgraded. " " For example, in the past the federal government would take years and " spend hundred of millions to install one broad software package " covering every aspect of financial management. Going forward, it's " more likely to rapidly put in place separate ledger, auditing and " payroll components that can be updated or replaced independently, but " work together seamlessly. " " "The hope is that the future of government is modular and future- " ready," VanRoekel said. "The government really needs to switch " to lean startup mode." " " VanRoekel was set to present the strategy, which he believes will make " the federal government more efficient, nimble and cost effective, " Tuesday night in a keynote address at the Churchill Club in Palo Alto. " " The critical problem with the old approach is that systems often " arrive over budget, past deadline and deeply flawed. " " "We have many cases where these long, very expensive projects are " obsolete by the time you're done," he said. " " Famously, the FBI's Virtual Case File initiative, an effort to bring " the agency's antiquated case-tracking systems into the 21st century, " took $170 million and five years to build. In the end, it was so buggy " and unusable that the system was scrapped.

{ article continues at the above SFGate URL }