Sahil Lavingia recently published a diary recounting his brief tenure with Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative. Lavingia’s involvement lasted 55 days, providing insights into the temporary government organization formed by an executive order from President Trump.
Lavingia is recognized in Silicon Valley, having been an early Pinterest employee and currently the founder of Gumroad, a platform for creators. Additionally, he is a known seed and angel investor.
He joined DOGE as a software engineer for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in mid-March. His account reveals his surprise at the structured nature of the 473,000-employee agency, particularly regarding layoff protocols. Lavingia noted that DOGE was not as efficient as he had anticipated.
Volunteering with a salary of $0, he was tasked with identifying “wasteful” contracts and potential VA layoff targets. He was taken aback to learn that factors such as seniority and veteran status heavily influenced layoff decisions, with performance considered less critical.
Lavingia compared DOGE’s advisory role to that of a McKinsey consultant, noting that DOGE held no direct authority. Decisions were ultimately made by agency heads appointed by President Trump, who allowed DOGE to absorb blame for unpopular actions.
Elon Musk expressed similar sentiments, describing DOGE as a “whipping boy” in Washington, D.C., blamed for every unpopular decision.
Lavingia joined DOGE after campaigning for Bernie Sanders in 2016, hoping to use coding to enhance government efficiency at scale. With minimal responsibilities, he pursued personal projects, such as improving the VA’s chatbot UX.
During his short stint, he created various tools but did not complete major projects like improving veterans’ disability claims processing. Although he couldn’t implement production changes, he was authorized to open-source much of his work, including tools for analyzing contracts and building organizational charts.
He noted the lack of organization within DOGE, expressing surprise at the absence of a centralized playbook for software engineering.
Lavingia was dismissed from DOGE on Day 55 after discussing his work with a Fast Company reporter, resulting in a sudden revocation of access.
Despite his experience, Lavingia acknowledged that the VA, while slow, remained functional. He described a culture of many meetings with few decisions, but recognized the government’s efficiency as better than expected.
His experience highlights the challenge of modernizing large government agencies while maintaining functionality. Although improvements are desirable, the approach of introducing Silicon Valley methods may not be the ideal solution.
Lavingia did not respond to requests for additional comments.
