I attended WordCamp US in Washington DC on August 25 + 26, 2023. What an interesting world!
I would like to tell you about this talk that really resonated for me:
(There’s a link at the bottom to watch it for yourself.)
During the intense whirlwind of the Biden transition team collaboration that wasn’t and the attack on the Capitol, these WordPress developers (not even wearing capes!) were forced to develop a WhiteHouse.gov website from scratch. They were not being given access in ways that every incoming President ever Has. Been. Given.
In a way it was a gift. The WhiteHouse.gov website began under Bill Clinton and had just been added to over the decades. Kind of like adding rooms to a one-room cabin. This rebuild enabled the design team to create a structure that really worked for the Biden Team.
What is really fascinating about this story though? It is the cloak and dagger storyline!
Andrew Nacin, Helen Hou-Sandí and their team of a dozen developers crafted WhiteHouse.gov in only 6 weeks. Here’s the cliffhanger moment: they presented the entire plan to the transition team on, GET THIS: Jan 6, 2021!
With perfect comedic timing, they quipped, “Something else was also happening that day?” Do I laugh or cry?
At the conference lunch table, I sat with Mindy from wordpress.com. She told me that at that time she was working at same company as one of the developers.
Nobody at the company knew what the developers were doing until Jan 20th! They kept it entirely secret. For obvious reasons. And you know for sure if the new Biden website had been in a shambles at noon on January 20, 2021, this would have been the headline on certain news channels: “WHITEHOUSE.GOV A FAILURE FOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION”.
To watch the talk for yourself, go to Timestamp 6:04:35 of the livestream for Friday.
https://us.wordcamp.org/2023/livestream/woodrow-wilson-friday/
How is this Uplift? First, it makes me feel great! LOL
But also because a group of people was fighting back using their superpowers. And through that we had a government that was ready to serve the people. I am old enough to remember a time when everyone wanted the President to succeed — even if you hadn’t voted for that person to be President.
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