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Re: Two follow up items

From:robbymook@gmail.com To: hrod17@clintonemail.com CC: john.podesta@gmail.com, cheryl.mills@gmail.com, daplouffe@icloud.com Date: 2014-10-14 18:27 Subject: Re: Two follow up items

Madam Secretary, Happy to do a call. Team, I will have Marissa follow work on finding a common time for us all. Looking forward to it! Robby On Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 4:22 PM, H <hrod17@clintonemail.com> wrote: > Robby, > > Thanks for the follow up. Could we do a call Wed or Thursday to discuss. > Happy to include anyone who can participate. H > > *From*: Robert Mook [mailto:robbymook@gmail.com] > *Sent*: Monday, October 13, 2014 03:45 PM > *To*: H > *Cc*: John Podesta <john.podesta@gmail.com>; Cheryl Mills < > cheryl.mills@gmail.com>; David Plouffe <daplouffe@icloud.com> > *Subject*: Two follow up items > > > Madam Secretary, > > > > I hope all is well and congratulations on a fantastic event in > Pennsylvania. I was on the phone with the Wolff team for some DGA work and > they couldn't have been more pleased. Obviously the press was fantastic as > well! > > > > Two things I wanted to relay: > > > > First, I hope the most recent binder was helpful. I know there were A LOT > of big and small issues in there, including an ambitious schedule for > interviews. Understanding that everyone has incredibly busy schedules > before Election Day, I think it makes sense to push the interview timeline > later and spend as much time as we need in November to align on the needs > and structure of the campaign architecture and a hiring process that meets > those needs, as well as other key operational pieces like media and > technology. Hiring should not be rushed, so if giving you and everyone > else the time to discuss, reflect and and agree on a process that meets > your needs slows things by a week or two, that’s perfectly fine, assuming > you’re comfortable with it. > > > > Let me know if you agree (or want to try something different) and I can > work with Cheryl to ensure we have time on the schedule in November. > > > > Second, I also understand that you wanted to learn more about what's > happening on technology and the website, so below is a quick snapshot of > the state of play. I've also attached the memo that was in the most recent > binder. Feel free to call if you want to discuss this in more detail, or > we can set up a conference call to discuss as a group. This is an > important aspect of planning, so by all means I want your flag on any > issues or questions. > > > > *The big picture: * > > We are laying the groundwork for a website that can go up if and when you > decide to announce an exploratory committee. The purpose of this site is > to allow visitors to donate, sign up, and invite other people to the site > via social media (this would be the "new" feature). All the features of > this site will be fully tested and backed up. A significantly > expanded--and very different looking--website will go up if/when you > officially launch your campaign, with many more features, some of them > new. This is all outlined in the attached memo. > > > > *Eric Schmidt's company "Groundwork"* > > Eric has a small staff of about ten people in Brooklyn working on two key > tools for the web page, which are listed below. Both tools would be great > to have in the exploratory site and would help the site work better in the > future; however, we are prepared to move forward without them and have > tested backup alternatives from the Obama campaign that are ready to use at > any time. > > > > I deliberately told Eric's team that we would need any tools he might > create by mid-November so there is plenty of time to test them should you > decide to use them. As of this week, they still say they will meet that > deadline, but I remain cautious/skeptical until the tools are complete and > tested. > > > > These tools are: > > > > *1. Sign up function*: this tool will allow a committee to more > dynamically optimize sign up pages in the future. For example, it would > permit a committee to find out if sign up page A generates more sign ups > than page B. > > > > *2. "Quick donate"*: this is the tool that would allow a committee to > save someone's credit card information so that any future donations can be > made in one click. This is obviously a huge revenue booster. > > > > Contrary to what Eric sometimes implies in his conversations with others, > his team is NOT building a complete website. Speaking candidly, it's > fantastic that Eric has devoted resources to creating these new tools, but > we are not relying on him to have these tools available; we would consider > anything his team delivers as "gravy". This is by no means meant to > disparage his team’s work, but rather to help you understand where they fit > into the big picture. > > > > Eric’s team may continue to build new tools well into next year and/or the > campaign may choose to hire some of his staff, but this is not integral to > what your tech strategy should be. > > > > *The website team* > > The team building the website itself is led by Dan Ryan, the website > developer for President Obama's 2012 campaign, and Teddy Goff, President > Obama's Digital Director. We are operating under the precautionary > assumption that legally we cannot begin designing the visual part of the > site until 4-5 weeks before you decide to announce an exploratory > committee, since they are candidate specific and would require contracting > with designers (there's also a risk of leaks). So, the back end > architecture is being built (and can be used by any candidate should you > not run), but what you can see on a screen and interact with will not be > developed until a month before your exploratory is officially constituted. > > > > The features for the site will be a mix of off-the-shelf tools from major > web companies, as well as tested tools used by the Obama campaign. > > > > *Leadership* > > > > One of the reasons I think the CTO should be slated early in the hiring > schedule is that she or he should act as a guide on the technology strategy > as a whole, working with you and the campaign leadership from the start to > develop a true vision for the role tech will play and actual projects the > campaign should invest in. It's important that the campaign not simply > hire engineers and invest in technology for its own sake, but rather work > with technological experts to identify specific ways that technology can > make the campaign more efficient and then develop a plan and timeline to > build solutions. For example, we know right now that developing the tools > that will make volunteer offices “paperless” will save thousands of hours > of data entry and administrative work. We also know that developing new > technologies to target emails more effectively will yield millions more > dollars. The question is whether these solutions can practically be > built and whether they can be built in time to be useful. The CTO can be > a vital early partner in answering these sorts of questions. > > > > Technical experts like Eric will come to a campaign with different and > valuable points of view and a campaign should routinely consult them via > some sort of tech “working group”. A CTO firmly grounded in the > realities of the campaign and the end-user’s experience will be able to > synthesize this input and guide a campaign’s ultimate vision. I would > suggest that we discuss how to make the process of hiring the CTO as > enriching as possible for all of us, from who we consult for prospects to > perhaps asking the final candidates to present their ideas so you can see > different perspectives. Regardless, I think this person should be seen as > an early hire to bring some concrete thinking to the myriad of > technological possibilities. > > > > Thinking through the process of hiring this person and who else you want > to consult should be a priority action item after the election. > > > > I hope all of this is helpful and don't hesitate to call with questions. > > > > Best, > > > > Robby >