The Hidden Costs of “Affordable” for the 2020 Iowa Caucus | WillowTree
Summary
Though it will take some time for a full understanding of what went wrong to emerge, one thing is clear: problems with a mobile app played a critical part. There are reports of problems across the app’s user experience, including downloading, onboarding, account creation, and use. Faced with an app they couldn’t rely on, volunteers at caucus sites fell back to a phone system that was itself quickly overwhelmed. While it likely would not have been necessary for the Iowa Democratic Party to build the most expensive possible app, there is a certain threshold where additional costs provide quality assurance, security, and overall functionality that will help ensure that the technology works. From large-scale events like a state-wide caucus or the Super Bowl, to everyday occurrences such as transferring money between a checking and a savings account or reserving a movie ticket, the the stakes are high when building software that matters, not just for the organization, but for millions of people who need the technology to work as promised.
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