Collin County

Putting Public Data in Residents’ Hands 

One of the best parts of working in local government IT is the chance to make a tangible difference in how residents experience their community. That belief has shaped a career spanning more than three decades in IT and GIS, and it comes down to a simple idea: the public paid for this data, so the public should be able to use it.

I was hired to launch our GIS department, and early on, it struck me that the information my team was collecting and maintaining belonged to the public in a very real sense. Residents had already paid for it through their taxes, so it made sense that they should be able to benefit from it directly. That realization changed the direction of my team’s work.

Instead of treating data collection as the end goal, we started building applications that put that information directly into residents’ hands. That’s really been the through line: using technology to make public information more accessible and useful to the people who own it.

Balancing Public Access with Security

That mission comes with a constant balancing act. We receive a large volume of public information requests, and deploying public-facing applications gives residents direct access to much of the data they’re already asking for. But every new application is also a potential vulnerability, so more access can mean more exposure.

The way we’ve managed that tension is by earning trust between teams. Our application development team has built security controls directly into everything we deploy. That consistency has given our security team confidence that innovation and security aren’t competing priorities. They’re built together from the start, not bolted on afterward.

Creating Reliable Data for Local Decisions

My application development, GIS and records teams are all agile and practice visual management, using tools like Kanban boards and Obeyas to keep our work transparent and coordinated. That collaborative foundation has let us build tools that directly support decision-making for a growing community. For example, we developed a population estimate model that allows us to calculate population figures for any geography within our county, whether that’s a fire district, a commissioner precinct, or another custom boundary. 

"My job isn’t to be the smartest person on any given team. It’s to bring in people who know more than I do about their specific discipline, then get out of their way and support them."

As tools like this become more embedded in decisionmaking, governance becomes just as important as the technology itself. We’re working to formalize a policy around our population estimate model so that every estimate is built from the same reliable data sources. That consistency is what makes the data defensible and trustworthy over time, not just useful in the moment.

Letting Expertise Lead the Work 

All of this depends on having the right people in place, and hiring has taught me the single most valuable lesson of my career: hire people who are smarter than you. It’s a lesson I had to learn to be comfortable with. Early on, there can be a temptation to hire people who won’t challenge you or make you look less essential. That instinct, I’ve learned, works against you in the long run. The work across applications, records, and GIS moves too fast for any one leader to be the expert in every area.

My job isn’t to be the smartest person on any given team. It’s to bring in people who know more than I do about their specific discipline, then get out of their way and support them. Getting out of the way is the part leaders often struggle with most. We are knowledge workers, and knowledge workers do their best work when they’re trusted to find their own path. Once I’ve hired someone smart, my job is simple - let them cook, and remove roadblocks along the way​.

Putting Service before Technology

 For IT professionals looking to build a long-term career in public-sector technology, think of it as Service as a Service. Everyone in tech is used to talking about Software as a Service or Infrastructure as a Service, but in public-sector IT, the product you’re really delivering is the service itself. If that idea resonates with you, a long-term career in the public sector is going to be a strong fit. You have to be a public servant at heart first, and a technologist second. Beyond that mindset, think about job crafting. 

The public sector often gives you more room than people expect to shape your own career path. Instead of waiting for a title to open up, look for the gaps in your organization’s needs and build a role around solving them. Be patient. Publicsector pay increases are typically slow and steady rather than the rapid jumps you might see in the private sector. If you go in expecting that pace, and you’re building your career around genuine service rather than quick advancement, the long-term reward is a career with real staying power and real impact.