Quote of the Day - “Adding technology to a bad process…”

Jim Geringer, former governor of Wyoming and ESRI’s director of policy and public sector, and speaking at ESRI’s FedUC, had a few pointed words for those in the public sector who think technology solves most problems: "Adding technology to a bad process only adds speed to a very bad process," said Geringer. Geringer, during his time in office, recognized overlaps and redundancies to processes that could have benefited from best practices. He proded the audience to understand the nation’s processes as a system. "GIS must provide a ‘simple’ way to explain the system and grasp the issues, said Geringer.

As an example, Geringer told the story of how as governor he was asked to evaluate a particular environmental problem. He received several reports some coming from his health department, the EPA and others. He asked, "Why can’t we have one report for this project?" After not receiving the answer he expected, he said, "W-E-L-L G-E-T O-N-E!"

While GIS may not eliminate the number of reports we get from various constituencies, it should be an imperative of our government, federal, state or local, to provide a common picture, a common base map and a common set of criteria to decision makers.