Today marks my last day at Ad Hoc, a software design and engineering company focused on developing, delivering, and operating fast, stable, and well-designed digital services on behalf of U.S. government clients.
My work at Ad Hoc has been super-rewarding. I created and launched Cohorts, a service for recruiting and managing people who participate in user research. I also served as the program manager for CMS WDS, overseeing dozens of team members working on the 2016 Open Enrollment period for HealthCare.gov. This year, my role has been focused on marketing, working on how Ad Hoc engages with the emerging market for government digital services and promulgates it playbook.
I’m especially proud of my contribution to the rapid growth of Ad Hoc. Since I joined in June 2016, it has grown from 13 to more than 140 people. In that time, I lead business development for contract wins on CMS Website Development Services (Healthcare.gov) and QPP Front-End (qpp.cms.gov), and helped grow its top-notch user experience research practice with a key subcontract award last year around hospital quality reporting. I love open data and open government, and earlier this year I led our efforts in winning a subcontract for work on Blue Button 2.0, one of the earliest modern examples of creating government technology that empowers people to make decisions based on data.
I’m grateful to Ad Hoc co-founders Greg Gershman and Paul Smith for giving me the opportunity to take part in this growth. I had never done federal government technology sales— it’s unheard of for someone like me to be entrusted with such a responsibility.
It’s been gratifying to be a part of the team, and I’ve enjoyed the labor associated with setting up others to make great things for people. I learned a lot, and I feel it’s been a key part of my life mission— to make technology work for people, not the other way around.
The other cool thing is that I am at inbox zero so if you’re wondering what’s next, you tell me 🙂