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Report: San Francisco IT Inefficient, Siloed

A recent grand jury report found several major problems with IT in a city known for tech innovation.

San Francisco is known as a breeding ground for technologically innovative ideas, but recent reports criticize the City by the Bay for waste and inefficiency in its internal technology-related endeavors. Response to these criticisms has been mixed. While some officials agree with the reports, the San Francisco Examiner reported that consensus on the best path forward is elusive.

One recent civil grand jury report concluded that the city wastes money by duplicating efforts in multiple agencies and that IT progress in the city follows “a path of least resistance.” The report, titled “Déjà Vu All Over Again: San Francisco's City Technology Needs a Culture Shock,” stated that “most technology leaders in large departments complain that the services provided by DT [Department of Technology] are slow, costly, and often poorly conceived, thus making it reasonable to go it alone. Communications between and among departments, the City CIO, and COIT [Committee on Information Technology], are poor and limited. Departments find it difficult to feel part of a large, cohesive technology system.”

The report recommended that technology policy and decisions in the city should be more unified, and also that the mayor should assume a stronger role in how technology is managed. Mayor Ed Lee is among those who disagree with some of the report's key findings.

The San Francisco Examiner has the full story.