Our Guiding Principles
The emergencies of 2020 strained the state’s operations and highlighted the importance of technology in supporting Californians in their time of need. These principles are the bedrock of how we use technology. By applying them together, we will bring our vision to life.
1. Put people first
In 2020, doing our job required a clear focus on putting people first.
In 2020, putting people first meant a multi-agency team building covid19.ca.gov in order to meet Californians’ need for understandable, accurate and up-to-date information.
We achieved this by doing the hard work to understand what Californians and the public servants working for them needed, applying disciplines like user research, analytics, product management, continuous delivery and more.
2. Continuous, timely improvement
COVID-19 showed us how public services are ready to adapt quickly and flexibly in changing circumstances. But those improvements must be timely, too.
Across all of government, we must develop and nurture a culture and the skills needed to update and improve systems and services every day, rather than waiting for large, complete replacements of IT systems.
3. Working together beats working alone
We saw the best of public service when small multi-disciplinary teams came together from different departments and agencies to solve big challenges.
With a common goal of putting people first, diverse disciplines, state staff, civic technologists and private sector partners designed and delivered compassionate, human-centered services at speed, improving every day through fast feedback.