Janell Schafer, Digital Service Expert, Colorado Digital Service (CDS) Focus: Collaborates with a diverse team to tackle Colorado’s most pressing technical challenges through human-centered solutions Innovation: First state, after Washington, D.C., to launch COVID-19 exposure notifications using Bluetooth technology “It really matters how you define failure, and what you’re tying it to. When you define failure, sometimes you don’t know what that looks like.”
Depending on the nature of your work, your job description may not tell the full story of your reach. That’s both the challenge and beauty of what makes problem-solving impactful and rewarding for the cross-functional group at CDS. The team joined forces with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to launch CO Exposure Notifications. The free and voluntary service, developed in partnership with Google and Apple, notifies users of possible exposure to COVID-19. Users opt in with an Android or iPhone device, and the phones share anonymous tokens with other CO Exposure Notifications users via Bluetooth. We extrapolated key details from Schafer about that project, including what was vital to success and how an unconventional yet healthy perspective on failure worked in CDS’s favor. Lessons From State & Local Innovators on the Ground
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