On October 1st, 2013, healthcare.gov launched and crashed within hours. It wasn't a coding problem. It was a coordination problem.

A dozen different people all claimed to be in charge of the project. CMS believed one contractor was the lead integrator. That contractor didn't agree. Everyone shared the same goal, launch on time, but nobody had agreed on what success actually looked like or who got to make the call when priorities collided.

In this episode I break down what went wrong at healthcare.gov and how an engineer on loan from Google turned it around in about two months, not by touching the code, but by fixing how people talked to each other. Two daily standups. No finger pointing. Knowledge determines who talks, not rank.

I also touch briefly on the UK's National Savings and Investment Project as another example of the same pattern, then get into the three things every team needs when multiple people or organizations have to work together: a clear decision making process, upfront and ongoing agreement on success criteria, and the ability for anyone to speak up without fear of recrimination.If your team shares a goal but keeps hitting friction underneath it, this episode is for you.

Links to this week's article on stakeholder alignment: https://neuroconversantleadership.com/stakeholder-alignment-takes-more-than-just-common-goals/

More on the healthcare.gov turnaround: https://www.4sighthealth.com/healthcare-govs-death-defying-2013-launch-implications-govt-led-payment-reform/