WHY MIKE BRACKEN AND JASON HARE LEFT OPEN DATA...

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I didn't want to be vain and write a piece about why I decided to not pursue open data any further. I waited until someone else's reason matched mine. That someone was Mike Bracken!

Mike Bracken, whom I respect greatly, summed it up nicely. "I just got tired." He is right. Only those who have done it, managed an IT department, been a police officer or worked in open data know what the pressure is like. My only addition to Mike's words below is that we only have power to open data as much as we have the nerve to push public sector to do so.

This is a quote piece from Computer Weekly- the article is written by Bryan Glyck and can be read here:

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251662/Interview-Government-digital-chief-Mike-Bracken-why-I-quit

Mike Bracken, the outgoing director of the Government Digital Service, talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about his departure from Whitehall
Sometimes what is not said can be just as important as what is; reading between the lines can offer as much insight as the spoken words. That’s how it feels talking to Mike Bracken, in his valedictory interview with Computer Weekly as the UK government’s digital chief.

Only a year ago, in a previous interview with Computer Weekly, Bracken talked of his “utopian vision for digital government” and said: “I’m not going anywhere. I’m completely bought into what we’re trying to achieve.” So what changed?

“I'm still completely bought into what we're trying to achieve. My commitment to digital public services hasn't changed,” he says. But he admits he is tired, and seems worn down by the demands of the job.

“The stresses and strains of this job are almost impossible to tell people before you start, to understand how complex government is and the different pulls on your time and emotions,” he says. “What we do is profoundly important, and you have to sustain that to be able to motivate you to work every day and work as hard as we've done. I’ve never worked as hard in my life as the last four and a half years.”

So long and thanks for all of the fish. 

Original article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-mike-bracken-jason-hare-left-open-data-jason-hare-apm-gaiq-?trk=mp-reader-card

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