Nandan Nilekani Quotes

If you see something that doesn't make sense, ask. Change it. Think about dollars, think about your soldiers' time, think about efficiency.

How can any company know if its processes, products, people are safe? Only if everyone is watching and telling the truth. The first part can be assumed; the second cannot.

Every new computer program is basically doing some task that a person used to do. But the computer usually does it faster, more accurately, for less money, and without any health insurance costs.

I believe that people are too complacent about technology.

We're going to have to find a way to serve our constituents and our taxpayers better and quicker and more accurately with fewer workers. I'm convinced we can do it and we don't have a choice.

There is a constant need for new systems and new software.

As an engineer, I tended to maintain my own equipment along with developing the processes for it.

At a time when we're having to take such difficult decisions about how to cut back without damaging the things that matter the most, we should strain every sinew to cut error, waste and fraud.

In my daily work, I work on very large, complex, distributed systems built out of many Python modules and packages. The focus is very similar to what you find, for example, in Java and, in general, in systems programming languages.

One could always do more, faster and cleverer, but democracy has its own rhythm.

People would say, 'You can't say negative things about the company.' But you have no credibility if you can't tell people that they need to do better.

We think we have the best matching algorithm, we think we have the best members. So why wouldn't we want to just shine the light onto just how our processes work, what the real data are, and let people come to their own conclusions.

I'm not a programmer myself, but I am a very, very picky end user of technology. I like my machines to work they way they're supposed to, all the time.

I got to get the right people in the right job. Because a lot of costs can be taken out in the context of your administration without the legislature. For example, using technology to do more with less. Using technology to fight fraud. Reorganizing and streamlining can be done within the context of the administration.

Transformation in the nature of work tend to brings wrenching social changes in their wake.

I will not change my beliefs to win votes. I will offer a choice, not an echo.

Armed with purity of intentions and firmness of purpose, I may reasonably entertain the hope of being able to clear the administrative agency of all corruption and incompetency, and impart to it the maximum of honesty and efficiency. I now warn my officials of all ranks that I have fully made up my mind to put down corruption and intrigue wherever they may be found.

Trust is an important lubricant of a social system. It is extremely efficient; it saves a lot of trouble to have a fair degree of reliance on other people's word. Unfortunately this is not a commodity which can be bought very easily.

If we play our cards right with the media, the Press will be our Inspector General’s Office. Encourage them to find any dirt on our programs and tell us. Then we can fix them or at least start to and everyone will be better off. We will learn of and fix out weaknesses, the press will have good stories, and the public will get better service. I can see some of you wondering what our own Office of Inspection is supposed to do. It is to find out about our problems before the press does, not to wait for complaints and then start looking. When a reporter comes to us with a scandal story of one of our programs, I would love to say, “Good reporting. That’s a serious problem and this is what we have been doing about it. Give us a hand and keep monitoring it, and let us know about our progress.” No one expects us to not have problems, but they do expect us to find them and fix them quickly, and that is what we must all expect of each other.

A key feature of the digital age is that technology changes incessantly to sate user demands

New technologies, however remarkable they might seem, are fundamentally just tools made by people for people.

I push reforms. I tell the truth to people, even when it's tough for the country.

I don't believe in wasting anybody's time. I like to be honest. I like to be clear.

We've got technological wonders around us, and we've used them to abrogate all responsibility for everything in our lives.

When I think about developing solutions, I think about how we can use technology to make a difference.