When Elon Musk first floated the concept of DOGE – and President Trump picked up on it and ran with it in his pre-election rallies – I had flashbacks to my former days as a consultant.
After all – what DOGE promises is as sexy as corporate earnings calls that blow expectations out of the water. Getting rid of fraud, waste, and mismanagement? Sign me up.
The rest of America seemed to think so too, and even while DOGE is making headlines every day, there is widespread support for the concept. A Feb 2025 poll of over 2400 registered voters found broad support across party lines for the concept of a department that cut government waste – over 9/10 Republicans, and 6/10 Democrats, 72% overall.
DOGE Changing Government Is Messy
I’ve seen the inside of the organizations – government and private – and I know there is a long way to go to rebuild trust. I’ve cut the costs, changed the organizations, and been there. And I also know that while there is beauty at the end, the process is – while insanely valuable – messy.
I was an analytical gun for hire. A former consultant at Bain and Company in the early days of my career, I did the dance – working for high-powered execs who had full fiscal responsibility for the organization, and next to the people who held the data captive – the very data we needed to make decisions.
I also conducted the external research – showing how something should be done based on a best practice exhibited elsewhere.
And I will say this – from being on the ground, everyone loves the idea of change and the metamorphosis into a healthy organization. But no-one loves the process.
Is D.O.G.E. – the Department of Government Efficiency in Trump’s administration – like a consulting firm?
In its raw form, it is. After all, consulting is a 3-step process, repeated over and over again:
- Figure out the problem
- Analyze the data
- Determine what the solution should be
So, is DOGE like consulting? Absolutely.
The problem? Runaway debt, an insurmountable deficit, and sticky inflation are a recipe for economic catastrophe. And our spend? Overused inducements, laundered through a network of NGOs and companies, with bloated cost and negligible impact.
The data? Americans are funding frivolous projects overseas. Dead people are getting Social Security. Our systems don’t serve the people. And it’s getting worse every day.
Is DOGE A Good Solution?
The solution? Stop paying dead people and fraudulent entities. Cut funding. Fix systems. And do it fast.
But many of us – even those of us who have seen consulting adapt and change over time – have never seen anything like this. The reason that everything DOGE is doing is unrecognizable, even to many current consultants, is that its pace is so fast. No-one has seen data gathering and decision making happening in the same day. We never had the authority, the green light, or the mandate – and certainly not at the scale of the DOGE impact.
So yes – DOGE is like consulting. But it’s also not like anything the world has ever seen.
Conclusion
For years to come, DOGE will have impact beyond the government - pushing consulting buyers to demand faster timelines, shorter (and cheaper) projects, and an emphasis on rapid results. After this, expectations for consulting projects from firms like McKinsey, Bain, Deloitte, and more will never be the same.
Jenny Rae Le Roux
Managing Director (Management Consulted)
Additional Resources:
- US Business Cycle: Expansion & Retraction
- Top Corporate Training Topics
- The Pyramid Principle: Applied