Departure Dialogues Project: Submit an Interview

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Departure Dialogues project — and for your federal service!

As a reminder, the primary purpose of this project is to collect insights into federal programs that can be used to inform Congressional oversight and policymaking — anything that you wish Congress knew about your agency, your work, and how it can work to remove obstacles to running an efficient, effective program. We hope this is an opportunity to get some things off your chest!

We want to reiterate that this is a nonpartisan project, and responses will be made available to Congressional committees, policy researchers, and the general public.

Please do not include any of the following:

  • Personally-identifiable information (other federal employees or members of the public)

  • Personnel complaints

  • Disclosures of fraud, malfeasance, or criminal activity (these are best directed to agency OIG teams, OSC, Congressional committees of jurisdiction, or law enforcement)

Take a moment to review our FAQs if you have any questions, and reach out to anne@popvox.org if you have any trouble with the video or written response links.

Please note that all submissions are screened by our team to ensure that participants meet eligibility requirements and submissions.

Questions we’ll ask:

  1. Tell me about your role(s) with the federal government. What agency did you work for, what programs were you working on, and what was the scope of your most recent role(s)?

  2. How frequently did Congressional or legislative intent/language come up in your work, and in what contexts?

  3. Can you describe a situation where conflicting, outdated, or overly-burdensome legislative requirements made your work/your program less efficient or less effective?

  4. If you could rebuild your program/agency from the ground up, without changing its overall scope and mission, how would it look different when you were done?

  5. How could Congress do a better job of learning about programs in your area of expertise, with the goal of legislating more effectively?

  6. If you had 5 minutes to brief a Congressional committee about fixing bureaucratic inefficiency in your area, what specific legislative change would you recommend?

  7. If you had 5 minutes to pitch agency leadership about changes they should make within the agency, what specific changes would you recommend?

  8. Is there anything else we haven't asked that you would like to share about your career with the federal government?

  9. What are your plans post government service?