An important thread running through my thesis is the need for sorting out the infrastructure before implementing e-government. This isn’t just the hardware or architecture but also the human resource one, the change management and the carrying-out of re-engineering where necessary.
This also the explains my proposal for systems thinking as part of transformation of services.
There are two not-recent but very accessible papers available on the Internet on the subject of government needing to use system thinking. These are:
System failure – Why governments must learn to think differently by Jake Chapman with the second edition published in 2004
Systems thinking and The Practice of Government by Geoff Mulgan from an OU conference in 2001
Since systems thinking still has some way to go in government, these are stll very relevant! At the same time a hot-off-the-press government consultantion on Digital Inclusion manages to state on page 12 that: “Balancing individuals’ preferences must be balanced with the efficient delivery of public services so that the cost to the taxpayer is not unreasonable compared to the cost of choice.” The only way that new technolgies should be paid for is improving systems and we have a long way to go…
Posted by greatemancipator 
The Great E-mancipator 