18F Blog

Technical debt is a financial metaphor that software developers use to talk to managers about the “hidden” costs associated with a system’s architecture and codebase. Over a series of upcoming posts, we’re going to explain what technical debt is, how to manage it, and some ways to prevent accumulating it.

Our hope is that our new Communicart tool will streamline the purchase card approval process so government employees can spend more time performing their essential work and less time on the paperwork required to buy a new chair.

The Open Source Style Guide is a comprehensive handbook for writing clear, accessible, and user-friendly documentation so that your open source code repositories are accessible both internally and externally.

Shortly after joining 18F Consulting, the opportunity to work on a Department of the Treasury project came my way. I didn’t stop smiling for what seemed like an hour (or three) after I found out the scope: Treasury was putting a woman on the $10 bill!

18F uses HTTPS for everything we make, and the U.S. government is in the process of transitioning to HTTPS everywhere. As part of this effort, we've recently partnered with DigitalGov University to produce a two-video series introducing the why's and how's of HTTPS.