May 27 2025
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Former Deputy Controller at the Office of Management and Budget, Tim Soltis, joins Francis to explore a bold vision for
Soltis begins by challenging the tendency to critique government programs based solely on perceived failures. It’s easy, he says, to identify issues and label them as waste, fraud, or abuse—but these labels often overlook the complex operational and policy contexts behind them. For instance, a program initiated under one administration may be dismissed by the next, but that doesn’t mean the civil servants running it acted improperly.
Instead, he urges listeners to focus on the operational structure. “What’s the managing structure?” he asks. Every issue—be it in grants, acquisitions, or IT—should be examined through a lens of process control. The real task is determining whether a problem stems from an operational breakdown or a policy disagreement.
Throughout the conversation, Soltis returns to two essential principles: being deliberate and being strategic. To achieve operational efficiency, agencies must first define what they are supposed to do. Only then can they improve how they do it.
He illustrates this with the example of grant-making. If an agency shouldn’t be administering grants, that’s a policy issue for Congress. But if it should, then the next step is to analyze current practices, apply technology like AI or automation, and reduce redundancy where possible. True efficiency, Soltis insists, stems from understanding workflows, not simply slashing budgets or headcounts.
Soltis elaborates on a concept he recently shared on LinkedIn: piloting a lean management structure. His proposal calls for placing agency C-suite functions—finance, HR, acquisition, IT, security—under the authority of a small, centralized team. This team would include political appointees for leadership, data experts, and just 10% of the pre-2021 career staff.
He argues that this pilot model, tested over six months, could reveal whether a top-down management structure improves performance. It would also clarify lines of accountability, much like a military command structure, where a chief operating officer serves as the single voice of the agency, supported by function-specific experts.
Soltis closes with a candid observation: political appointees rarely want to manage day-to-day operations. They prefer to steer policy. So the government faces a choice—either trust the career civil service to execute policy priorities or restructure operations so political leaders take control. But half-measures create confusion and inefficiency.
With that, Soltis leaves listeners with a call to action: prove the concept. Run operations with intentional design and evaluate the outcomes. It’s not about pointing fingers—it’s about building a government that works better for everyone.
You can read Tim’s full piece here