Government Technology

Playing the Hand You Have Been Dealt


By the Center for Digital Government

The Center for Digital Government’s feature thought leadership paper of the year uses a poker analogy to explain how government leaders can improve the poor hands they have been dealt by finding the right cards (in this case, information technology) and combining them to create a good hand (or strategy).

In this era of budget deficits and program cuts, government leaders are looking to information technology to provide a sustainable environment and help government operate faster, better and cheaper. It is against this backdrop that IT leaders take their seat at the table and begin to assess the cards in front of them. Government does not have the option to fold, but also has a tendency to hold bad hands too long. By virtue of its mission and mandate to serve all, government cannot walk away from the table. It must play, but play strategically. This paper draws exclusively from state and local government case stories and discusses how thoughtful, innovative and risk-taking leaders have built and played winning hands – providing a model for state and local governments to place the right bets on information technology.



Government Technology
Public CIO
Emergency Management
Digital Communities