Who's Your Customer?

Many government web managers work in organizations that don't value serving citizens. Yep - it's true. Remember that most federal level work is done through intermediaries - state and local governments, nonprofits, small businesses, industry partners, etc. So if you were to go to a federal government boss and ask him who his audience is, most times he'd say "partners."

Government web managers know that the internet has changed all that - in fact, citizens do expect to come face-to-face with the federal government. But so far, the organizational culture has not changed. That's probably the biggest rub for federal government web managers - they know their primary audience is (or should be) citizens...but their bosses see it as someone else.

The challenge: bridge that gap.