The prior CTO came from much larger, highly regulated startups. His only experience was very large scale systems with complex requirements. He took the approach that worked there to this much smaller, mostly unregulated startup in a very different industry.

It happened because he was the only semi technical person who was an FTE. Everyone else was from a consulting firm that the private equity owners “suggested” they use.

Government is not only compatible with competence; it is a profound source of competence. When we recognize our place in an immensity of people and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of public life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely civic. The notion that government and competence are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.