Other long-time bloggers will recognize the phenom: a post written years ago suddenly gets lots of hits. I suppose it's no surprise why this post, written a month after the 2008 election, would be popular right now: "For Pres-elect Obama: Create transparent digital org chart."
Jeff Stamps, who invented OrgScope, the software that allows for digital mapping of complex organizations (all OrgScope posts at this link), took the lead in writing this post -- and he (not I, credit truly due to him) did the hard work of mapping the then-incoming Obama administration. In a few hours (we hope this doesn't drag on--it's election day in the US, all non-American readers), it will be time to update this chart again. We published this as a memo to the transition team, encouraging a style of open governing that would make it immensely easier for people to navigate government -- both those in the government and those needing government.
We've reprised these ideas more recently in regard to crisis mapping.
And while I'm on the subject of a single citizen/thinker/business person taking responsibility for researching and publishing information just because he knew it was important, I also want to point to Jeff's detailed work on following the money of the TARP (remember TARP?) funding back when the Bush administration first started bailing out the financial institutions.
OK. It's election day. What do I think? We need to update this chart with information for the turnover in the Obama administration that begins tomorrow.
