Spoke and NYCDA are teaming up to talk working with the government

What happens when a government official, a designer, and a programmer walk into a room? They host a panel discussion.

At least, that’s how we assume D.C.-based design company Spoke got its idea to host their upcoming panel discussion with the local chapter of New York Code + Design Academy (NYCDA).

The two D.C. offices are joining forces to discussing design and programming constraints, which crop up when working with federal clients. Spoke will be hosting the joint event with NYCDA on October 19 at Spaces in NoMa.

We caught up with Spoke CEO Sam Bays and and NYCDA’s D.C. community director, Manny Pérez, who said one of the discussion topics will be reconciling the fast pace of private sector product development with lengthy public sector approval processes.

Joining Spoke and NYCDA are three panelists to lend their expertise on federal relations:

• Laura Kadamus from the United States Digital Service;
• Robbie Holmes from the Department of Veterans Affairs;
• Julie Kanzler from the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer.

“I think a lot of people don’t have the opportunity to see “behind the curtain” of government and how it operates internally,” Pérez told us in an e-mail. “So providing insight on how progress is quantified could be really impactful.”

If you can’t make it on the 19, never fret: Pérez and Bays are planning a second and third panel discussion in the series, details TBA.