Blog

Finding your place on Ad Hoc's research team

September 23, 2020

Ad Hoc researchers come from a wide variety of backgrounds from archaeology to anthropology to museums to education. The team is proudly a place where we accept and encourage the diversity of people and their experiences.

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Grow your design career at Ad Hoc

September 17, 2020

We recently launched a new career ladder for the design practice. Each step has clearly-defined competencies and responsibilities that help staff chart a path for how to grow at Ad Hoc.

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Automating Terraform modules

August 25, 2020

On a recent project, my team identified the need to transition from a directory in our main DevOps repository that contains all of our Terraform modules to a discrete repository for each module.

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The new Ad Hoc Government Digital Services Playbook

August 18, 2020

The 2020 version is now a standalone playbook that any federal agency can use to replace enterprise software with proven techniques from the world of commercial software.

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How agencies can scale up digital services in the wake of COVID-19

July 21, 2020

Every agency, from federal to local, needs to envision a way they can serve their constituents with as little in-person contact as possible.

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For remote work, try starting with trust

July 16, 2020

If your team is new to remote work, spend as much time setting up an environment based on trust as you are setting up technical tools to make it possible.

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The problem might not be COBOL

July 10, 2020

The government's problem isn’t using old code or older programming languages. The problem is often that they’re using code that wasn’t designed to meet the needs of people who use it.

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What does product thinking look like at Search.gov?

June 30, 2020

Search.gov is an enormous opportunity to improve interactions between government and the people it serves. However, like any tech product, there is more to build than we have resources for.

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How to create an inclusive user research environment

June 18, 2020

As researchers, we’re on the front lines of understanding the people who use our services, and that means we need to be inclusive in how we conduct our research.

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Ad Hoc, Fearless, and Ellumen win contract to continue support of Blue Button 2.0

June 09, 2020

The Blue Button 2.0 program is a pivotal part of the move towards a more interoperable healthcare system that will give people more control over their healthcare data.

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Ad Hoc statement on Black lives matter

June 01, 2020

We at Ad Hoc denounce police violence, intimidation, and oppression, which is antithetical to a free, equitable democracy.

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Accessible design for cognitive considerations

May 27, 2020

It’s important for designers and developers to consider the more nuanced difficulties that “thinking” disabilities and impairments can cause for users.

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