TTS is proud to present the 2024 Andrew Hyder Government Service Improvement Award to Ryan Ahearn.
Ryan is the lead Security Engineer on the TTS DevTools program, an internal shared service focused on providing key secure software development tools and building blocks in order to reduce the time and cost of starting and maintaining public digital services. Ryan synthesizes his extensive development skills, applied technical security expertise, and his battle-tested ATO experience to bake it all into everything DevTools provides in order to allow dedicated civic technologists to focus on solving problems for the public instead of meeting ever-growing compliance requirements.
In a Hyder Award first, Ryan was nominated by two different people for his work on the IRS Direct File project. From his nominations:
In 2023 and 2024, the IRS partnered with the U.S. Digital Service and 18F to form a blended team of federal employees and contractors to design, build, and implement the IRS Direct File pilot. Direct File gave taxpayers the option to file their federal tax return directly with the IRS for free.
Ryan joined the effort as a lead engineer during the summer of 2023 and the project was successful, in part, because of Ryan's involvement, experience, and working approach. Throughout the process Ryan collaborated with colleagues at the IRS and USDS to advocate for the end users and to implement agile, iterative development practices.
Although the approaches and preferences of each group were different, Ryan was able to find common ground between them to push forward a high stakes, stressful project that was ultimately one of the most successful government tech stories of the past decade.
Ryan led Direct File’s work to achieve Authority to Operate (ATO) and One Solution Delivery Life Cycle Guidance (OneSDLC). Both were secured on a remarkably fast 9-month timeline, enabling Direct File to be released to the public for tax filing season.
Simultaneously, with three months until a launch deadline, he flagged critical opportunities to strengthen the production environment, setting Direct File up for success. Ryan then organized and led a vital Path-to-Production sprint across organizations within IRS ahead of the pilot launch. Ryan’s unwavering commitment to get the pilot into users' hands for the tax filing season made it possible for many people to file taxes with less confusion and anxiety.
Ryan’s leadership and unwavering commitment to iterative and secure development also allowed the team to practice agile and user-centered design and development while still meeting governance and compliance requirements. This directly resulted in a secure, safe, and stable Direct File pilot that protected the privacy of taxpayers.
Not only did Ryan bring these ideals to the IRS, he also openly shared what he learned from the Direct File experience with TTS colleagues to better prepare them for future, similar engagements. His current work building internal compliance tools at TTS enables teams to more quickly and reliably build secure software for partners across the government.
“I am proud of what we were able to accomplish this filing season. I’m proud of the success of the Direct File pilot. I also acknowledge that there’s a lot more work to do and as I look across the IRS, there are areas where we can learn from the success of the Direct File and our own technology operations and our own management success. I’m going to learn from it as well.” – IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel.
Ryan lives in Baltimore with his wife and their two school-age daughters. He describes his hobbies as “pretty varied, which inevitably leads me to not spending as much time on any one of them as I’d like”. Those hobbies include bicycling, hiking, camping, woodworking, cooking, baking, and yoga.
His career aspirations include being part of a build-to-buy team writing software that is released to production for real end-users. He’d also really like to have an impact on the ATO process by working directly with an OCIO shop to improve their workflows, instead of just working within the confines of a single application.
The Andrew Hyder Government Service Improvement Award commemorates the life and work of Andrew Hyder, a dedicated public servant and community organizer who brought together activists, technologists, community members, and others to improve the way that governments delivered services to those in need. It is presented annually to one or more federal employees who demonstrate both excellence in their work and a commitment to improving the public’s experience with government.