Working at Nava

It’s hard to describe what a typical day at Nava is like because no two days are ever the same. Every day brings new projects, challenges, and opportunities. So we’re sharing just a glimpse of what work is actually like for different people at Nava. Here’s what Angela Colter (she/her), Program Director has been up to lately.

The path to Nava

After spending a four-year term of service with 18F, an office within the U.S. General Services Administration that partners with agencies to improve the user experience of government services, I was looking to join an organization with a similar mission. Many of my 18F colleagues made their way to Nava after their government service concluded, and I found that its mission aligned with my own.

Current projects

On the Caseflow project for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the team developed an online process for Veterans to appeal benefits decisions and schedule virtual hearings with a judge. This helped Veterans get a decision about their benefits faster by reducing the backlog of appeals cases from 400,000 to 150,000, over one year. Other government agencies have taken note of Caseflow’s virtual hearings process and are eager to bring that functionality to their own systems.

With the state of California, we’re building a tracking system that will give people more information about the status of their unemployment claims. We expect this will reduce some of the anxiety for claimants waiting for their payments as well as the amount of time claims processors spend answering questions.

A typical day at Nava

A typical day at Nava would involve meetings with project teams; meetings to discuss staffing, contracts, finances, and business development on my projects; meetings with my direct reports; meetings with stakeholders; and candidate interviews. Basically a lot of meetings!

On government

I believe that people have a right to expect that the services their government provides are clear, accurate, and easy to use.

Professional development at Nava

The projects at Nava are a master class in so many areas of software development: user-centered design, agile processes, stakeholder management, team dynamics, and business operations. The folks here are highly skilled and more than willing to share their knowledge and approach to new team members.

Outside of work

When I’m not at work, I can be found serving as an elections officer in my local precinct, gardening, and training my rescue puppy, a pit bull/Great Dane mix named Moxie, not to chew on my sneakers.