Add chapter on distributed government

contents.md

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 - How to run an online community meeting (in 11 steps)—Laura Hilliger (We Are Open Co-Op)
 - Building a movement from home—Chad Sansing (Mozilla)
 - What I learned about working openly after one year on a distributed team—Anupama Jha (Red Hat)
+- Distributed government is the path to a truly open, empathetic, inclusive civil society—Luke Fretwell (ProudCity)
 
 ### Leading and managing
 - Understanding self-organization and management—Alexis Monville (Red Hat)

fretwell-distributed-government.md

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+# Distributed government is the path to a truly open, empathetic, inclusive civil society
+Luke Fretwell
+
+Society has reached a point in the organizational and civic evolutionary cycle where [distributed government teams](https://distributedgov.com/) will play an undeniable and critical role in the future of highly effective, empathetic, and inclusive public services.
+
+As civic leaders wrestle with and seriously address the issues of our times—disasters, pandemics, climate change, health and wellness, economic empowerment—operating through distributed teams is the obvious solution for delivering responsive and resilient government services.
+
+In this chapter ... 
+
+## Defining distributed
+In his excellent book on the subject, [Distributed Teams: The Art and Practice of Working Together While Physically Apart](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732254907/ref=cm_sw_su_dp), author John O'Duinn, explains why distributed teams are important and how they can be even more effective than their physically collocated counterparts.
+
+While people may flippantly use antiquated terms like "telework" and "remote," O'Duinn makes clear [distinctions](https://oduinn.com/2020/02/25/distributed-team-vs-remote-work-and-work-from-home/) between key terms, such as "distributed teams," "virtual teams," "virtual employee," "remote work," "remote employee," "work from home," "work from anywhere" and "telework."
+
+And the subtle differences in each drastically impact our perceptions of and assumptions about distributed teams.
+
+O'Duinn describes "distributed" this way:
+
+> All humans on the team work together, even though they are physically apart from each other. This is not a collection of individuals who each do solo heads-down work from different locations. Instead, this is a group of humans who coordinate their work with others on their physically distributed team. Because everyone on the physically distributed team is "remote" from someone, it is clear that everyone on the team has equal responsibility to communicate and coordinate their work with coworkers—regardless of whether any individual human is working from a building with the company logo on the door, from home, from a coworking space, a hotel or a parked car! Example usage: "I work on a distributed team," "my team is distributed."
+
+_XXX_
+
+Distributed work has an undeniable appeal. A 2019[ Owl Labs survey](https://www.owllabs.com/blog/remote-work-statistics) highlights the varying benefits of the distributed model.
+
+Here are just a few:
+
+* Remote workers earn salaries higher than $100,000/year, 2.2 times more frequently than on-site workers.
+
+* Remote workers say they're happy in their jobs 29% more than on-site workers; 71% of remote workers say they're happy in their job, and only 55% of on-site workers say they're happy in their job.
+
+* 34% of U.S. workers would take a pay cut of up to 5% in order to work remotely.
+
+* 42% of remote workers plan to work remotely more frequently than they currently do in the next five years, and that more than half of on-site workers want to start working remotely.
+
+* 55% of remote workers would be likely to look for another job if they were no longer allowed to work remotely. And 61% of remote workers would expect a pay increase if they were no longer allowed to work remotely.
+
+* 68% of remote workers say they are not concerned working remotely will impact their career progression, while 23% say they fear it would.
+
+* The top reasons remote workers choose to work remotely include: better work-life balance (91%), increased productivity/better focus (79%), less stress (78%) and avoiding a commute (78%).
+
+* Remote workers say they work more than 40 hours per week 43% more than on-site workers do. However, on-site workers are also working longer weeks because it's required of them, while more remote workers are doing so because they enjoy what they do.
+
+_XXX_
+
+## Why distributed is important
+Approaching work from a "distributed" perspective means taking a more holistic approach to work, one that better accounts for a society's values. And accounting for those values is something civic institutions must address if they are to stay relevant.
+
+Here are key reasons why distributed teams are critical, especially for government:
+
+* Representation: A geographically distributed government workforce more closely matches the needs and concerns of the broader population.
+
+* Resiliency: Distributed teams have the ability to maintain operations regardless of whereabouts, especially if physical locations or regions have been compromised for a prolonged period of time.
+
+* Recruiting: Working in a distributed fashion expands your talent pool to include people of diverse backgrounds, ages, abilities and experience.
+
+* Cost savings: Leasing and maintenance of physical buildings become flexible expenses as agencies shift to partly or fully distributed.
+
+* Sustainability: Fewer people commuting means decreased carbon footprint from travel.
+
+* Work/life balance: Government employees spend less time commuting and can invest more energy into their families and communities.
+
+* Economic empowerment: Financial employment benefits are distributed across multiple local communities rather than centralizing in one.
+
+## Increased empathy
+In addition to the above reasons, distributed government teams can tap into a stronger sense of empathy—a value inherent in the role of authentic public service.
+
+Once you truly experience distributed culture, you have a stronger understanding of what digital services really mean and how they can make or break an end-user experience. If public servants don't place themselves in digital environments of their own, their ability to empathize with those they serve is lessened.
+
+Distributed digital government service teams have more potential for empathy with their end users. Immersing yourself into a distributed team is the ultimate digital service user research experience.
+
+## We have the means
+We now have low-cost, high-reliability tools—G Suite, Slack, Trello, GitHub and Zoom to name just a few—that better empower asynchronous, instant collaboration. Training on the tools is of course important. And just as important is the training on how to work in and lead distributed teams, fostering a culture of distributed work, and implementing policies to support highly effective distributed teams.
+
+## Government is doing this
+[18F](https://18f.gsa.gov/) has actively socialized the benefits of distributed teams and demonstrated how this model has made its teams more effective. Some documentation on their recommended best practices:
+
+* [18F's best practices for making distributed teams work](https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/10/15/best-practices-for-distributed-teams/)
+
+* [Leading dynamic and distributed teams](https://product-guide.18f.gov/we-do-product-well/leading-dynamic-and-distributed-teams/)
+
+* [Making a distributed design team work](https://18f.gsa.gov/2016/04/27/making-a-distributed-design-team-work/)
+
+* [3 ways to manage research projects remotely](https://18f.gsa.gov/2017/09/27/three-ways-to-manage-research-projects/)
+
+The COVID-19 pandemic has forced government at all levels to fast-track distributed work, and many are planning for its indefinite use. For example, the U.S. Defense Department has [said](https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2284622/work-effectiveness-is-a-product-not-a-location-dod-official-says/), "a big DOD success story during the pandemic has been that employees who are teleworking have increased their productivity over what it was when they were required to go to an office. The department is looking to preserve that productivity and resilience after the pandemic is passed, and part of that challenge will be to embrace this new normal and have a cultural shift in thinking and attitudes across the force."
+
+## Vendors are doing this
+Many government contractors and vendors are fully distributed. [CivicActions](https://civicactions.com) is a 90-person government digital services firm serving federal, state, and local governments throughout the United States. There are many others—particularly [newer, more innovative government and civic technology vendors](https://digitalservicescoalition.org)—operating in the same way. Being able to work in physically distributed teams allows government agencies to work with the best vendor for that project, not just the best nearby vendor.
+
+## Distributed government
+For government to authentically deliver meaningful public services of the future, it will need to embrace the inevitable relevance and importance of distributed teams.
+
+If government leaders truly value representation, resiliency, sustainability, work/life balance, hiring the best and brightest, economic empowerment, instilling exponential passion for mission-driven work and the many other possibilities for civic innovation, embracing the distributed mindset is the new requisite for defining the next phase of public service.