Today Fronde hosted a very different type of open-invitation conference at our Wellington office - a BarCamp on eGovernment. BarCamp is very social, very participative, and free.

There’s a great deal of interest and ideas around how government can enhance its interactions with and between its citizens, its institutions and its community. I was impressed with the quality of the many attendees, where they came from, their ideas and their participation. There were 4 conference rooms going all day, with presentations and discussions self-organised by the participants.

I couldn’t do justice to the sessions I sat in on, but I learnt heaps, including, for example, a whole new way of thinking about places, and how rich the information possibilities are when you move away from simplistic approaches to location.

For obvious reasons, I also sat in on a session which looked at why public sector CEOs blog, or rather, why they don’t. This led into a much wider discussion on audiences, branding and positioning, and the constraints on government employees.

I must have got very enthusiastic at one stage in a session on Agile methods. Apparently, I’ve volunteered to talk to the top levels of the government service about achieving smarter outcomes via Agile management, design and development methods, both in IT and in wider strategy/policy initiatives. That needs a major shift in executive thinking and procurement processes, not just within operational departments, but also within those arms of government and the legislature responsible for funding, audit and oversight.

A great day. Congratulations to the organisers, and thanks to our fantastic Fronde reception team, who ran an awesome coffee production line.

Here are other people’s views on the day and any presentations posted on the web (to be updated as and when I find them): BarCamp eGov 2007 website, Eduard, Sandy, Thomas, Mike (great organising, mate).