May 2012 Blog Posts (624)

The SEVEN stories that impact your life for Thursday the 31st of May, 2012

1. Security and Information Sharing are getting an upgrade in three new House's bills. Federal News Radio says the Secure Borders Act gives the Homeland Security Department five years to gain what it calls…

How did sheep solve a problem for our agency in creating the USDA OCIO's brochure? It's simple, really.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) just issued a memo calling for all federal agencies to submit evidence-based budgets that will prove program performance.

According to the memo, “Agencies should demonstrate the use of evidence throughout their Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 budget submissions. Budget submissions also should include a separate section on agencies’ most innovative uses of…

The nation’s capital will play host to the world’s top sustainable energy experts from both the public and the private sector who will provide…

Did you know according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the first quarter of 2012 shows that 788,000 people over 55 (67%) nabbed the jobs ... compared to 385,000 new jobs for younger workers?

Welcome news for older adults, but it could be they are taking jobs "beneath" their skill level and pay…

I’m a Theory of Constraints (TOC) enthusiast.

I use the concepts of project and feeder buffers to different degrees in my own projects. These are from Critical Chain, which is TOC applied to…

That's right, you heard it here first. GovLoop's very own Andy Krzmarzick will be dropping some open government knowledge in Raleigh, NC when he joins the Government Perspective panel at CityCamp Raleigh this week. Let's see what else is in store...

Here’s a peak at the agenda for Friday, June 1. Lunch will be provided from 12-1pm. There will also be a chance to network during this time. You should…

In everything we do we need to think differently, to do things the way nobody expects us to, to never accept that the way everyone else does something is the right way, and to do everything with the ultimate aim of producing a social good in some form.

There is a new chief in town and things are going to change.  Well, we better hope so or the person is not doing a good job.  The chief I am referring to is the Chief Innovation Officer.  The term has been thrown around loosely, but who is this mysterious person?

In this three part series I aim to answer that question and explain exactly what it is they do.  I believe the Chief Innovation Officer has three primary roles:

• Gather Ideas: Implementing the process and…

 Photo: "Strangers' Stories" by Alyssa L. Miller via Flickr. 

CTOlabs.com, a subsidiary of the technology research, consulting and services firm Crucial Point LLC and a peer site of CTOvision.com, has just published the latest in their series of white papers on high interest enterprise IT topics. This one provides a snapshot of the very fast moving trend towards Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)…

This post is part of an ongoing series about civic startups. What’s a civic startup? Find out. Code for America recently launched a civic startup accelerator to help promote and “turbo charge” civic startups. We’re accepting applications for the accelerator now through June 1, 2012. Apply:…

Here is today’s federal cybersecurity and information technology news:

• The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act which would aim to recruit young people to work in cybersecurity, develop a Department of Defense cyber testing and evaluation range, consolidate networks, improve the security specifications of DoD software, and develop…

This is the third post highlighting findings from the Quest Software report,…

With the sheer number of civic hackathons starting to reach a critical mass, some are asking whether the energy and drive embodied by these events can be directed to reusing existing applications or projects started at earlier events.

This is an important issue, as some projects worked on at civic hacking events aren’t actively pursued after the event is over. Is there an…

A colleague of mine, Mary Frances-Winters, shared this post on her blog. Stemming from my curiosity surrounding work/life balance, I thought that I should share it and am curious to know your thoughts.

You really understand the phrase “learning to do more with less”. They have downsized yet again at your company and again you get to take up the slack. Every time they lay people off, it just means more work for those who remain. Now you are literally doing a job that three…

The IRS announced that it will be closing 43 small offices in order to save money on rent and office expenses. The move is expected to save the government an estimated $40 million and will be carried out over the next two years.…

"Our choice is either to innovate, or to not be around," is the advice Scott Anthony has for those who want to be players in our rapidly changing world. Anthony is the managing director of Innosight, Asia-Pacific, and the author of…

By Sam Williford, Associate Consultant

Plans by the state of New Jersey announced by Governor Chris Christie yesterday to defy federal law raises some interesting questions about the balance of power between the states and federal government.  This standoff however is not about the…