Reinventing IT in Government

If you want a masterclass in how to shift a government IT organisation out of legacy inertia and into the future, look at what Scott Jones is doing at Shared Services Canada (SSC).

Scott leads the federal agency responsible for delivering digital infrastructure and services across the Government of Canada. But this isn’t just an IT executive managing systems. He’s actively reprogramming the culture - taking it from “maintenance mode” to what he calls “continuous evolution.” That mindset shift, from static systems to living, adaptive platforms, is exactly what we mean when we talk about Government 3.0.

Scott shared his approach with the Future Government Institute, and what stood out wasn’t just the big initiatives. It was the way he talks about thinking, learning, and leading. This is someone who gets that modern government is not just about technology - it’s about pace, humility, openness, and accountability.

Stop Maintaining, Start Evolving

One of Scott’s biggest provocations? Stop thinking about maintenance altogether. In his view, the term is a hangover from a previous era. You don’t maintain a digital service - you evolve it. It should either be improving or it should be decommissioned. Anything in the middle is dead weight.

It’s a simple but powerful shift. If you treat digital assets like products, not projects, you invest differently. You build differently. You fund differently. You stop pouring money into status quo systems and start building agility into the DNA of how things run. That’s the core principle of Government 3.0 - and Scott’s putting it into practice.

Agile Isn’t a Buzzword. It’s a Necessity.

Scott is blunt about the dangers of “big bang” IT. The kind where governments try to launch everything at once, get stuck in analysis paralysis, and deliver too late (or not at all). He sees that approach for what it is: a way to avoid discomfort and control risk—but one that often backfires.

Instead, he pushes for incremental delivery, small feedback loops, and iterative progress. “Build, test, learn, repeat” is his mantra. That doesn’t mean reckless shipping, it means smart, managed experimentation.

 Critically, he’s built a culture that tolerates failure when it’s fast and transparent. In government, that’s rare. He makes a point of saying: If something doesn’t work, say so, learn out loud, and adapt. That ability to own the learning curve is what builds credibility over time, and it’s what enables real innovation to happen.

Building Government as a Platform

Three of the biggest plays Scott is driving show how he’s applying this evolution mindset at scale.

1. A Common Digital Workspace

He’s building a unified desktop environment for all federal public servants. Right now, if you switch departments in Canada, you have to return your equipment and start over, with all the setup and accessibility tools gone. It’s clunky, inefficient, and frustrating, especially for people with disabilities.

The new approach is a common digital workspace that travels with the user. It’s platform-based, inclusive, and built for seamless cross-department collaboration. In his words, “All our issues are horizontal, we need tools that reflect that.”

This isn’t just an IT solution. It’s a statement about interoperability by design.

2. Application Platforms as a Service

Instead of 180+ departments all building the same basic tools in parallel, SSC is developing shared application platforms that everyone can plug into. Productivity apps, AI-enhanced tools, and citizen service modules can now be built once and reused across government.

It saves money, sure. But more importantly, it liberates people to focus on higher-value work, custom services for citizens, not duplicative back-office admin. The idea is simple: build what only you can build, and share the rest.

3. Next-Gen Hosting Strategy

Scott is leading a full rethink of where and how government systems are hosted—balancing public cloud, private cloud, high-performance computing, and on-prem infrastructure based on fit-for-purpose criteria.

There’s no one-size-fits-all here. He’s not dragging everything to the cloud just to tick a box. Instead, it’s a thoughtful, layered hosting approach that reflects the complexity of public sector workloads, and future-proofs the government’s digital backbone.

Transparency Isn’t Optional. It’s the Strategy.

Scott sees transparency not as a risk, but as a precondition for trust.

Citizens need to understand what government is doing, why it’s doing it, and how their data is being used. That’s the only way to earn a “license to operate” in a digital world. Scott makes that point repeatedly, and backs it with action.

From publishing Responsible AI guidelines to using Algorithmic Impact Assessments, Canada has been ahead of the curve in putting ethics frameworks out in the open. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Even when it slows things down.

And it’s not just about the public. Transparency builds internal trust too. By publishing roadmaps and architectural plans, SSC brings departments, and even vendors, into the conversation early, which aligns decision-making and reduces resistance down the road.

AI and Innovation - Done Safely

Scott’s approach to generative AI shows what responsible innovation looks like in practice.

Instead of banning tools or pretending they don’t exist, he launched CanChat, a secure, internal GenAI platform that lets public servants explore the tech safely, inside the government firewall. No public cloud data leakage. No ambiguity around usage. Just a sandbox for learning.

He saw the risk before it became a problem: “If we don’t offer a secure option, people will use ChatGPT with sensitive info.” And he acted. Now, departments can test use cases and build confidence internally before scaling. That’s how public sector AI should be done—on our terms, not Silicon Valley’s.

Leadership that Covers, Not Controls

One of the most important things Scott’s doing is leading from the front, not from behind.

When his team suggested a multi-year rollout plan for introducing Mac computers into a historically Windows-only environment, he told them to start a 30-day pilot instead. When integration issues cropped up, he didn’t throw anyone under the bus. He said, “We’re going to regroup and try again.”

He gives his people space to move, and shields them when things go sideways. That’s what real innovation leadership looks like. It’s not just about vision; it’s about protection. He calls it “giving cover,” and it’s a muscle more public service leaders need to build.

The Bigger Message: This Can Be Done

Scott Jones isn’t waving around vision decks or writing blog posts. He’s doing the work -from infrastructure to AI to culture. His case is proof that even the most complex government environments can evolve, if the mindset is right.

So here’s the takeaway for anyone in the public sector trying to lead digital change:

• Stop maintaining, start evolving
• Design for reuse
• Think big, start small
• Show your work
• Secure trust by design
• Lead like you mean it

It’s not easy. It’s not glamorous. But it’s working.

And if Canada can do it across 180+ departments, there’s no reason others can’t follow.