Elizabeth Segran

Over the last eight years, President Barack Obama has upended the way the executive branch of government interacts with technology. When President-elect Donald Trump moves into the White House in January, he'll find the place buzzing with tech talent. As part of his legacy, President Obama will be leaving President-elect Trump with an in-house startup called the United States Digital Service that pairs the nation's top tech talent with public servants, and a consulting firm called 18F that government agencies can hire to build websites, manage data, or do user research.

But, it took a lot of effort to bring the government to this level of ease with technology. All of President Obama's hard work is now President-elect Trump's to preserve and push forward—or squander.