VanRoekel: Don't Let Sunk Costs Sink Innovation

Too many federal officials believe that to do more you have to spend more, but in fact that opposite can be true, acccording to the Obama administration's top technology official.  

"There's a general culture of big failure," said Steven VanRoekel, federal chief information officer. Big ideas too often lead to big vendors and big contracts -- generallly an unsustainable approach to implementing major changes, he said. 

VanRoekel spoke at an innovations awards program sponsored by ACT-IAC, a government-industry partnership organization.