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Tishler: Tell us about your internship and what sparked your interest. Why this project?
Rasmus: I am working for the U.S. government at the Office of Management and Budget. OMB is part of the Executive Office of the President. OMB oversees the budget for all federal agencies, provides management guidance, and studies the costs/benefits of regulations. I am working in the Office of Information Policy and Technology. We are working on many exciting, multi-agency e-government initiatives…Unlike so many staid [job] interviews I've had, this one asked me to really think through enormous policy issues. Additionally, OMB is decidedly unlike the negative stereotype of the federal government. It is fast-paced and exciting—the people are talented and hard working.
I really wanted to see if government was for me—if it could offer the same stimulation that the private sector could. I have been very impressed so far. Certainly, though, it's hard to be a saint—there are tradeoffs and they are important to consider—it takes a lot longer to repay your loans on this salary. But there are enormous upsides too: you can have tremendous impact.
Q: What's a typical day like? Who do you work with?
A: My days vary a great deal. I go to several meetings a day, many of which are with representatives from other agencies. I am working on authentication policy (how the government will know that you are you when you access federal Web sites), so that requires reading best practices (from the private sector, and from other countries). I review business cases for IT spending. Agencies must submit a business case for capital expenditures and OMB reviews and comments on them. I review current IT projects to determine duplicative areas. A lot of activities are related to Homeland Security as well. I have worked on several spreadsheets calculating the potential costs savings from the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
| I really wanted to see if government was for me—if it could offer the same stimulation that the private sector could. I have been very impressed so far. |
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— Susan Rasmus, intern, OMB |
I work with people in OMB and people from all federal agencies (Defense, State, Labor, etc.). Often, requests for certain data come from Congress/Congressional staff. I have spoken with many technology vendors (Microsoft, Entrust, etc.) because they are all very interested in the twenty-four e-government initiatives that my office is working on. These initiatives are citizen-centered projects that could truly revolutionize government.
Q: Did your HBS class work impact your experience?
A: I used finance and EM when reviewing the business cases: Both were very helpful. Obviously, there are some differences in reviewing a business case for government. I was looking at the case for an integrated Disaster Management site—for prevention and assistance. Obviously, we all understand the need for one-stop information for citizens who have been affected by disaster. So the case is there in terms of value to citizens.
I've also thought of BGIE (Business, Government and the International Economy) a lot as I've had the opportunity to meet delegations from the Chinese and Singapore governments. It is actually exciting [to see] how many best practices are openly shared with regard to e-government.
Q: What business lessons, or personal lessons, did you take away from this internship?
A: E-government is an exciting area to work in now because it is one of the President's five initiatives in his Management Agenda—you really can't ask for any stronger sponsorship. I have really bought into the potential for e-government. Technology is a catalyst: It allows organizations to rethink how they are structured, how they meet citizens' needs. E-government isn't about making forms accessible via the Web. Instead, it involves thinking through every dimension—why does the form exist? Is it too cumbersome? Do citizens have to submit duplicate information? Do they need to access other information via the Web in order to fill the form out more accurately? And the questions become even larger: Is this the organization to serve this need? Is there a need at all? Is the need greater than we knew?