In a refreshingly provocative article in this month’s Harvard Business Review, celebrated business writer Gary Hamel describes the condition of management in most large organizations (costly and inefficient) and how one company did away with all their managers and still manage to run a $700 million company with revenues and profits that leave competitors inRead… Read more »
What do we mean by “mission-focused analytics?” That is the focus of a new report co-sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service and the IBM Center for The Business of Government and released earlier today at an event with a panel of federal executives using analytics. “It’s like peeling back an onion. You cry aRead… Read more »
The National Academy of Public Administration gathers once a year to discuss some of the biggest management challenges facing our country. The speakers are always terrific and insightful. And I always learn something I never knew. This year was no different. The panel and speakers that really intrigued me focused on a topic I normallyRead… Read more »
Government Executive magazine’s cover story, “A Thousand Cuts,” by Joseph Marks, paints a graphic picture of what it is like to be in government today. Here’s a list of the various directives that direct many of these cuts. President Obama’s Campaign to Cut Waste was launched in June 2011, but it started earlier than that.Read… Read more »
How do you assess the effectiveness and impact of mission support functions — human resources, acquisitions, finance, technology, etc. — on an agency’s mission? That was the question posed to a roundtable of experts at the National Academy of Public Administration yesterday. And the question was raised none too soon – President Obama that morningRead… Read more »
Back in April, President Obama issued an executive order directing agencies to step up their efforts to improve customer service. Whatever happened? The Executive Order gave agencies until the last week of October to provide their plans to the Office of Management and Budget, and last week the plans were delivered and posted on OMB’sRead… Read more »
President Obama put Vice President Biden in charge of the implementation of the $787 billion Recovery Act. Ed DeSeve had an eagle eye’s view of the interaction between agencies, states, localities, and non-profits. He shares his lessons learned from Recovery Act implementation, as well as advice for “the next big implementation challenge,” whatever that mightRead… Read more »
Academics sometimes hit the nail on the head! University of Wisconsin professor Donald Moynihan, a thoughtful observer of the evolution of performance management in the U.S, along with colleague Stephane Lavertu from Ohio State, examine historical GAO survey data to understand why recent federal performance improvement initiatives haven’t resulted in the hoped-for increase use ofRead… Read more »
Two new reports out this past week focus on tools and techniques for agencies to cope with the new fiscal austerity they face in years ahead. One is by the Partnership for Public Service, the other by the Government Accountability Office. They are both worth reading because they focus on smart ways to make cutsRead… Read more »
The New York City Police Department launched it vaunted CompSTAT more than a decade ago. This data-driven management approach inspired dozens of other cities and several states to adopt it to run their operations as well. Now it is being pioneered in federal agencies and will likely spread quickly with the encouragement of Congress andRead… Read more »