Lessons learned in local government

I’ve been working as a data scientist in local government for around a year and a half now. Not long, but long enough to learn some things and update a few of my opinions.

None of these lessons are specific to my organization or role. Friends in other agencies confirm they generalize well to most positions at the intersection of data and local government.

I’m sharing these lessons with two goals:

  1. To help myself remember them and to keep a running log of what I’ve learned.
  2. To (hopefully) help other people avoid the same painful mistakes.

Things I’ve learned

Things I’ve changed my mind about:

Opinions that haven’t changed: