Hi, I'm Pete (he/him) and this is my GitHub account for Gov work!
I’m not fancy and don’t give much thought to appearances or formalities. You can approach me about anything and I’ll listen, regardless of your job title, age, background, or whatever.
- I live in Washington DC near Capitol Hill.
- I generally work from 8am to 5pm Eastern. I prefer to have focus time without meetings in the beginning and end of the day.
- My external email is [email protected] - I read everything that folks send.
- Please send speaking or media invitations to [email protected] instead of directly to me.
On this page you'll find:
I communicate a lot. My communication can usually be taken at face value, I’m not really good at being subtle and rarely bother to try. (case in point, this doc 🤣)
I think out loud as I work through things. Sometimes I seem to confidently state something when I intend it to be something to discuss. I know it can be confusing and I’m always trying to be better about it but my brain is just wired different and I won’t catch it all the time. I promise that on the rare occasion my perspective is inflexible I will be explicit.
For example, I might say “we should use blue, it’s the best color!” (and accidentally shut down discussion 🤦) when I mean (and should have said) something like “I’m thinking blue is the best color but I'm open to different thoughts, where do you all land on the blue situation?”
I love new information and perspectives, especially when it changes my thinking. If you have some, please, please share. New information impacting your thoughts on something is so great.
I think people should be treated equitably instead of fairly or equally. To me that means people should get the attention and support they need to have similar outcomes as everyone else, even if it’s more or less than others are getting. Don't just treat everyone the same.
I think we should consider, address, and protect the most vulnerable first. We should avoid actions that create undeserved outcomes for vulnerable folks even when many others may benefit. Generally, everyone benefits from improvements for the most vulnerable so there’s rarely a good reason to ignore this approach.
I lean towards action, movement, and change. I like to have plans but plan to change them. Try the thing but try something else if it’s not working. Act on feedback. Make hard decisions often. (and, of course, seek to minimize harm while doing all of this)
If it’s good enough then let’s go. Always consider the negative impact of waiting to start addressing a problem until everyone agrees on every detail of a solution. We should learn and improve things by using or applying them so we can change them based on real world feedback. Build momentum and flow.
I expect things to go wrong and don’t blame folks for it. We primarily learn about the world by trying things to see what does and doesn’t work. Learning drives improvement, so let’s focus on continually improving.
I worked in the private sector for over twenty years before jumping into government service; I'm still a noob by gov standards but I've been around a bit as all of these jobs required me to work with a lot of folks at a lot of different agencies.
- Aug 2024 - current: FedRAMP @ GSA
- Why I "retired" from federal service in early 2024
- Sep 2022 - Feb 2024: Technology Modernization Fund @ GSA
- Aug 2021 - Sep 2022: U.S. Digital Service @ EOP/OMB
- Jun 2019 - Aug 2021: U.S. Digital Service @ DHS
- Why I joined the U.S. Digital Service