Ron Bronson

I build systems for how people connect, make decisions, and navigate the services that shape their lives.

Frameworks in Action

Solving Dating with a Fantasy Draft

Swiping is a social disaster. My fix? I replaced the infinite swipe with a 15-pick weekly draft.

Pricing the AI Futures Market

Compute is the new crude. I built the index to track it. From Civic CPI to reasoning models, I engineered the metrics that turn “black-box” AI spend into tradable data.

Infrastructure

Engineering portable trust

Bad actors thrive in silos. I engineered a decentralize clearinghouse that makes niche apps scalable by creating a cross-platform trust layer.

Currently

Assistant Professor of Practice in Urban Technology at the University of Michigan Taubman College. Organizing Yearsahead.io. Building frameworks for Agent Experience (AX) and decision engineering at State Capacity AI. Probably retiring from pro skeeball.

Selected Work

18F — Building Design Practice & Federal Leadership

I built and scaled the design practice at 18F from 21 to 40 practitioners, then served as Chief of Staff at the Technology Transformation Services. Eight years learning how to make institutions work differently from the inside.

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Portland Digital Corps

Volunteer effort bringing together 50+ practitioners to rebuild six nonprofit websites. Following the closure of 18F, a community-focused alternative for digital service work.

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Design For The Public 24

Two-day unconference bringing together 80+ civic technologists and designers to discuss what we build and envision future directions for public-facing work.

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Featured Writing

Essay Design as Repair Rethinking design practice through the lens of maintenance and repair work Analysis Who Holds the Pen? Why AI agents need a manager, not just a manual—on judgment routing in automated systems