Hi, I’m Ron Bronson. I work in deployment and interaction policy, helping large institutions ship tech and AI — moving pilots into products, policies into working systems, and stalled programs back on track.
I run Occupant (independent advisory for state and local government) and State Capacity AI (decision infrastructure for institutional AI), write the Making Public Work newsletter, and teach at the University of Michigan.
I work with state, local, and federal institutions on deploying AI responsibly, stabilizing programs that have stalled, and building decision infrastructure that makes procurement and delivery tractable.
More about my work →I publish Making Public Work, a newsletter on public-sector technology, teach at the University of Michigan, and speak with leadership teams about AI and institutional capacity.
More about speaking →IxDA Oslo
Most design work is repair — patching the gaps between intention and reality, between policy and the lived experience of the people who depend on public systems.
Read article →futureperfectbook.club
Co-hosted with Joel Goodman, exploring the intersection of design, technology, and the future of institutions.
Read article →Piccalil.li
Navigating design leadership, building influence across organizations, and positioning yourself for strategic impact.
Read article →
Cascadia Open Source Fall Conference
Why civic tech fails when it ignores maintenance, repair, and the invisible work that keeps public services running.
Service Design Show Podcast
Exploring how service design must evolve to address the challenges and opportunities of AI-driven systems.
Read article →YouTube
Discussion on service design, public sector innovation, and building decision systems that work at scale.
How to eliminate tanking from the NBA draft lottery, while raising the incentives to win.
I’ve done lots of random music analysis over the years — Spotify Wrapped, Last.fm charts, playlists for every occasion — but never anything quite like...
I've been thinking a lot the past year about the decision layer of the AI race. You can both be excited for the potential of what's to come,...
Reading this Atlantic piece on the multisided problem that is War & AI in 2026. We’re not yet talking about how it impacts pensions and make 2008 ...
I’ve owned oregontennis.org for five years. For most of that time, it hosted All-State team archives and not much else. It’s not that I didn’t want to...
Thinking about anti-delegation as a retort to a world that’s fascinated with giving away all of its thoughts. We’re rapidly encasing private knowledge...
I’m back at the University of Michigan again, this time as a part-time faculty member in the Urban Technology program. I’m teaching two classes this t...
The other day, I stumbled onto a video of DJ set from the artist & producer KAYTRANADA. He was playing in an elevator, the set is marked by people...
Today, in our rush to kill backlogs and modernize services, we are liquidating the human loop. We see a win when New Jersey uses AI to sign up 100,000...
Today, in our rush to kill backlogs and modernize services, we are liquidating the human loop. We see a win when New Jersey uses AI to sign up 100,000...
Culture builds teams, leadership with foresight manage organizations that support strong teams. Teams don't build themselves.
Prediction markets let people place bets on real-world events, including geopolitical ones, often using knowledge most of us will never see.