#What do we need for better digital government in Berlin?
##List of problems
- No responsiveness in BER government to "User Needs"
- No/few APIs to build government services off
- No receptiveness to email as an official channel of communication (to make a FixMyStreet clone)
- Too few staff in Bürgeramte to avoid feeling overburdened by new processes
- Lack of political understanding of implications of digital government
- Lack of holistic understanding of services as they are currently constituted
- Entrenched monopolies of IT providers
- Poor procurement leading to heavy handed OJEU process stopping small firms from being competitive
- "Not Invented Here" syndrome/no code re-use from other EU countries
- Lack of in-house digital knowledge leeds to an "if we build it, they will come" mentality, ignoring user needs and behaviour
- Lack of customer service mentality in customer service parts of government
- No feeling of competitiveness - other countries' experiences can be shooed away because they are not the same situation as Germany/Berlin.
- No money to make change (perception of expense)
##List of opportunities
- Case studies (UK, NZ, USA, FI, EE, LV)
- Money (savings)
- Money (doesn't cost that much to do, comparative to the status quo)
- Reduces strain on front-line staff
- Plenty of code already in the open, free and adaptable (GDS/MySociety/OKFN etc.)
Can we get this in to a more discussable format? Something with commenting would help. Google Doc? Also many of the problems read like the usual suspects. Many of them are obviously true but some might not be so bad.
Now what do you think is the right strategy? Are there concrete projects we could do (e.g. FixMyStreet) where nothing or just a tiny bit is missing? Which of these projects do citizens actually care about? What are their gripes with city services? Can we make this a coordinated effort of the user research crowd, the OK Lab and the City?
What are the steps in your opinion?