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2 interviews · 11 quotes
In conversation
The challenges societies face today, from inequality to climate change to systemic racism, cannot be solved with yesterday’s toolkit. Solving Public Problems shows how readers can take advantage of digital technology, data,…
Elsewhere in the archive
In this interview, I spoke to Jesper Kouthoofd, founder of Teenage Engineering, about why he still refuses the title of designer, why he thinks every product is an illusion and the honest…
From the archive
Distrust in government is very dangerous – what follows is the ability for authoritarian and totalitarian forms of government to take control, and that doesn't do anybody, any good.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
The process of problem definition is a discipline that we rarely teach or learn. It is one of the most important things that we can invest our time in.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
Today, we have the tools to enable institutions to operate simultaneously at micro and macro scales. We have the tools today to allow us to get smarter faster. But we do have to learn how to do it.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
We need to shift our thinking about what government does, and what civil servants do, away from this relentless focus on policy and ideology and onto project management and problem solving.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
The danger is that when we jump too quickly to the solution, not only is the floor littered with the inventions that never worked, but we risk designing solutions that never fit the problem.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
We don't need bigger or smaller government; we need better government. A leaner, more agile, more innovative government can solve problems faster, without necessitating more money being spent or the overall size of government increasing. This isn't a left or right issue; I think we can all agree on the fact that we want efficient government.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
It's not enough to sit in our ivory towers or offices and think we have to go out and talk to people who are affected by a problem to understand what's going on, on the ground.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
Distrust in government is very dangerous – what follows is the ability for authoritarian and totalitarian forms of government to take control, and that doesn't do anybody, any good.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
We need to shift our thinking about what government does, and what civil servants do, away from this relentless focus on policy and ideology and onto project management and problem solving.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
The danger is that when we jump too quickly to the solution, not only is the floor littered with the inventions that never worked, but we risk designing solutions that never fit the problem.
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
The process of problem definition is a discipline that we rarely teach or learn. It is one of the most important things that we can invest our time in. What are the true underlying causes of a problem? How are people really affected?
— Beth Simone NoveckChief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
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