Musk's DoGE and Project Management
Did you know that Elon Musk’s DoGE first took over an important project management office within the Federal Government?
Per the Washington Post, “DOGE’s grab of personal data stokes privacy and security fears” Gift Link https://wapo.st/3QzOnj5
Let me first quote a portion of that article:
On Tuesday, 21 staffers of the U.S. DoGE Service, the entity formed as the U.S. Digital Service under President Barack Obama and renamed in Trump’s Day 1 executive order establishing DoGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, announced their resignations in protest. The group — consisting of engineers, designers, product managers, and IT and operations staff — said they had been subjected to questions about “political loyalty” as part of a DoGE interview process that introduced “significant security risks.” DoGE’s actions, they wrote, have included “mishandling sensitive data” and “breaking critical systems” in ways that are incompatible with the original USDS mission.
I have done quite a bit of project management training for the Federal Government. In that role, I am familiar with the U.S. Digital Service (https://www.usds.gov/), which is the group that DoGE and Musk took over to have some legitimacy.
Per its mission statement, which is still available on the Internet as of 02/26/25, the USDS strives “To deliver better government services to the American people through technology and design.”
One of the ways they achieved that mission was through promoting excellence in project management. In my teaching, I always pointed out the Digital Services Playbook (https://playbook.usds.gov). The Playbook encourages good project management, and enumerates a set of best practices including “Understand what people need” and “Use data to drive decisions.”
For the 21 employees who resigned, these past weeks must have been a nightmare. They understand the importance of planning and risk management, yet they have been asked to work in a completely ad hoc way that is the opposite of good project management practices. I salute their bravery in standing up to the chaos and resigning rather than compromising their integrity.
✅ NEXT STEP If you don’t want to be running your projects like DoGE, message me here on LinkedIn. Let’s set up a Discovery Call to explore how I can help you achieve your project goals.
