About this site

I’ve spent much of my career asking questions.

I started as a journalist, where asking questions was quite literally the job. Later, as a public information officer, I learned that the questions people ask, and the questions organizations are prepared to answer, can shape how people understand an event, an institution, or a decision.

My career eventually took me into parking and transportation, first as a practitioner, then as a technology company employee, and now as a consultant. Along the way, I’ve confronted problems from several different sides: as the person responsible for an operation, as someone helping organizations use technology, and as an advisor helping institutions decide what to do next.

Those experiences have reinforced something I learned much earlier in my career:

The quality of an answer depends on the quality of the question.

The question underneath the question

In consulting, the question a client initially asks is not always the question that ultimately matters most.

Do we need more parking?

Maybe. But first: Is the parking we already have being used effectively?

Which technology should we buy?

Before answering that, what problem are we actually trying to solve? What happens to the data? Who has access to it? How could the system be misused? What happens when the technology meets the realities of the people and processes surrounding it?

I’ve become increasingly interested in those questions—the ones hiding underneath the question we started with.

What I write about

This site is where I explore ideas that span my professional experience across technology, mobility, organizations, communication, leadership, decision-making, and human behavior.

Some of the writing will inevitably involve parking and transportation. I’ve spent a significant portion of my career in the field, and it provides a rich laboratory for understanding technology, policy, human behavior, public space, and institutional decision-making.

But the questions extend well beyond parking.

What happens when good technology is used badly? When does more data make a decision worse? What should we refuse to automate? Why do organizations continue doing things long after the original reason for them has disappeared? What assumptions are hiding inside the way we've defined a problem?

And most importantly:

What aren't we asking?

About me

I’m Victor A. Hill, PTMP, MPA. I’m a mobility and parking consultant with Walker Consultants, where my work focuses primarily on higher education, parking and mobility operations, technology, policy, and organizational strategy.

Before consulting, I served as a university parking and transportation director and worked in the parking technology industry. Earlier in my career, I worked in journalism and public information.

I write and speak about parking, mobility, technology, communication, leadership, and the ways people and organizations make decisions.

This website is my space for exploring those ideas. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer or the organizations with which I am affiliated.