[Grandpa is thrilled!] The Digital Agency is going to change Japan's administration and society!?

I just introduced a story the other day about how I was thrilled by the final note post from the Digital Agency (currently in preparation), but I'm changing the day for my 'Grandpa Saw It!' series to share another story about being thrilled by the 'Digital Agency'.

One of the achievements attributed to Mr. Suga is the launch of the 'Digital Agency'.

I really wanted to share the story that the Digital Agency seems to hold real promise before the Prime Minister changes on October 4th.

Today's article is about how I was thrilled by an article written by Mr. Seki, who has started working at the Digital Agency as a project manager (civic tech).

👆 The article above is long and contains many technical terms, so even if you don't read it, I, Grandpa, will explain the main points. What thrilled me, Grandpa, is this passage.

There is a philosophy that by releasing software developed with tax money as open source, intellectual capital that society can use is accumulated, and the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU) are actively utilizing open source software.
The U.S. has an open source strategy called the People's Code, and the EU also has an open source strategy.

Utilizing open source software not only contributes to eliminating vendor lock-in and realizing a healthy competitive environment, but also has the potential to lead to co-creation with civic developers.

Recently, programs are called 'code' or 'source'. Open source means that the 'program' is made public so that anyone can make improvements.

In short, it's the idea of using a program repository that can reflect more diverse opinions, rather than developing everything from start to finish within your own village society and creating a system that only people in the village understand.

It is the so-called platform concept.

It's the idea of taking parts from a common repository to build programs with high productivity, but this way of thinking is something Japanese people (only those from the Showa era?) are not good at.It wasn't possible until now.

👇 'GitHub' appears in the next passage. It is a platform for program development operated by GitHub, Inc., a subsidiary of Microsoft.

For example, for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's COVID-19 countermeasure site, the site's source code was openly released on a service called GitHub, and we were able to receive over 5,000 contributions from more than 300 civic engineers.
As a result, this has led to improvements such as better accessibility, improved performance, and the addition of new features.

On the other hand, for COCOA, which was developed by the national government, although the source code was kept open, they did not respond to warnings from private developers, and unfortunately, a major bug occurred.

After that, I also took charge of the reconstruction project as a government CIO assistant, and now that communication on GitHub has resumed, the bug has been resolved and we are receiving improvements from private engineers as well. (There is still work to be done, though.)

Going forward, we will prepare an environment where government design systems and libraries to be developed can be released as open source whenever possible.

👆 In other words, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's COVID-19 countermeasure site adopted an open source strategy and was improved faster and faster by accepting improvement ideas from many private citizens, the national government's COCOA adopted a closed operational policy, which led to the bug.

First of all, the fact that they are disclosing information so honestly is not like a central government agency, isn't it? Don't you think so?

The very idea that a bureaucratic organization would honestly admit its mistakes and improve them with the wisdom of the private sector is refreshing.

Where does that kind of thinking come from?

I, Grandpa, think it is the same thinking that supports the actions of Audrey Tang (Taiwan's IT Minister), whom Mr. Seki also introduces in the article.

I think the article below is easy to understand for the origin of that idea.

In short, what it means is that the origin of Mr. Seki's and Audrey Tang's thinking is 'open' and 'cooperative/collaborative'actions to change society.

If I had to express it in one word, I think it is 'Inclusive'.

On the other hand, I, Grandpa, believe that the thinking that supported Japan's economic recovery after the war until 1985 was a "closed" and "exclusive" village society (the village of the medical association, the village of the industry <keiretsu village>, the village of local governments).

If I had to express it in one word, I think it would be "Exclusive."

We Showa-era businessmen aimed to conclude exclusive contracts, and we worked hard thinking only of the prosperity of our own company and our own keiretsu.

The result is that since 1985, we have fallen behind to become the country with the lowest economic growth among developed nations, yet Showa-era people who cannot escape their past success experiences stand at the top of the hierarchy and continue to engage in exclusive activities as always.

The fact that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's COVID-19 response site, introduced by Mr. Seki, has become a product packed with improvement ideas from open and cooperative citizens is a thrilling fact that suggests Japan might be able to change.

I will end with my usual catchphrase.

Go for it, Gen Z! Grandpa is thrilled by Mr. Seki's article.

Thank you for reading until the end.

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If you leave a comment, I'll be jumping for joy 😂😂😂