I'm mad as hell

Comment

Comment by Benjamin Strong on January 28, 2011 at 9:17am

Thanks Dan. Glad to see this post keeps generating interest.  I'm looking forward to what you may have to share later...

Comment by Dan Matthews on January 26, 2011 at 8:56am

Changes come slowly to the Fed my friend. Bandwidth is the cry from C levels, but really, how will they ever interact with the citizens if they cannot get their collective selves together and solve these issues. More later . . .

Comment by Jaime Gracia on September 7, 2010 at 8:52pm

Great discussion. Seems to me that if the DoD can make strides in ensuring security, then there really is no excuse for other agencies to not work collaboratively to solve issues and work towards really empowering workers to use Web 2.0 for not only productivity, but for morale purposes. Treat people like adults and give them the respect they deserve.

Comment by Bill Brantley on September 7, 2010 at 8:26pm

@Shelley - You make great points and I fully agree with you. Unfortunately the message has already been sent and this is why Benjamin wrote this post.

It is ridiculous to trust employees to manage vital programs and then have them spend time and effort writing up "Business Case Exceptions" so that they can download a free piece of software to do their job better. It's great that your organization management allows people to access their personal email on their personal time but many organizations don't allow that. As some of the comments to this post demonstrate, there doesn't seem to be much sense in what sites are blocked.

Yes you are right in if we treat adults like adults that most will act responsibly. But those aren't the people making the headlines. Consider the SEC employees who were accessing porn or the misbehavior at Minerals Management. It may be a small minority but I believe their actions are driving current policies.

The idea behind the reports is twofold. The ones who abuse the system will think twice before wasting time web-surfing if they know they may have to account for every site they visit. This doesn't stop them from using their personal devices to waste time but at least it keeps them off the work systems.

For the folks who use the web legitimately, they should have no problem accounting for their web use. I hate that this is essentially "guilty until proven innocent" but I am hopeful that this can also be the impetus for a dialogue between the employees and their managers on the benefits of Gov 2.0.

I'm also hopeful that after a couple of months of reviewing these weekly reports, managers will grow tired of this micromanaging burden and focus on "whether or not the work is getting done to the required standard."

Comment by Shelley McNellis on September 7, 2010 at 1:13pm

@Bill - I'm not sure I agree. This is what concerns me about item 2 in your list (obviously I'm OK with managing security issues).

1) What kind of message does it send to employees? Answer (for example): We hired you because we trust you to manage this multi-million dollar program, but we don't trust you to manage your time appropriately. Um, okay....
2) In my organization, we're allowed to access our personal e-mail on our personal time (gmail or whatever). Given that, why restrict access to social media to "only for work purposes?" I don't care whether my staff spend their coffee break checking their e-mail or their Facebook page.
3) Are we going to also generate reports on all the other ways people can and do waste time, like visiting other non-work-related web sites?

We shouldn't be writing policy and developing systems that monitor and manage the 5% of people who will abuse the privilege. We have HR policy and standards of conduct for that. In my experience, if you treat people like adults, the vast majority of them will act like adults. It's when you start treating them badly that childish behaviour emerges.

We should be focusing on whether or not the work is getting done to the required standard. If it doesn't, the "why" is irrelevant.

Comment by Kitty Wooley on September 2, 2010 at 8:02pm

Not a bad idea, but I haven't seen any mention of the opportunity cost that's associated with not deploying and mastering social media for mission-related purposes. If employees aren't using social media tools, they aren't learning how to leverage them to (a) deliver citizen services or (b) connect employees across boundaries, so that they can engage in best-practice dialogue and coordinate their actions on behalf of the public. Social media and interactivity are here to stay, and we are behind the curve on this, whereas we should be leading.

Comment by Bill Brantley on September 2, 2010 at 7:34am

@Shelley - I've suggested this before but I believe the best solution is twofold:
1) Buy software that allows access to the social networking sites but sets reasonable security policies (Facetime).
2) Every week, a report of all the websites an employee visits and the time they spend on the site is generated and sent to the employee's manager.

With this you have the proactive approach in that usage can be limited and content filtered while you have the accountability in that the manager knows exactly how the employee is using the Internet at work. Knowing that a report will be made will immediately stop those who spend the day loafing on the Internet and accessing "questionable" sites.

For the folks who legitimately use social networking sites, the report can be a great communication tool between the manager and employee about the benefits of social networking. When the manager sees how social networking leads to better knowledge sharing and problem-solving, much of the fear that employees are wasting their time on the Internet will disappear.

What drives the current state of frustration is that there is a lack of dialogue. IT doesn't really communicate with the users before they enact policies and the users react in anger at IT for implementing arbitrary policies. Management takes the easy route of just making the problem disappear by blocking everything - just to be "safe." It's rather ironic that we talk about engaging the citizen when, in many agencies, the different levels need better internal engagement.

Comment by Shelley McNellis on September 1, 2010 at 10:54pm

This issue is one of my faves - fave in a frustrated, bang-my-head-against-the-wall kind of way.

The crux of it for me is that IT policy should not be used to manage HR issues. If one of my staff is wasting time, I don't care what they're doing - whether they're planting crops, reading a book, sending personal e-mails, making personal phone calls or just wandering aimlessly around the internet, it doesn't matter. It's a performance issue and I have to deal with it as such. Part of the problem, though, is that a lot of managers/execs are content to let IT manage employee performance, because then they don't have to do it. The crazy thing is that it's a false sense of security, because people who waste time at work will find a way, whether they can access Facebook or not. And you get backlash as well - people don't like being treated like children, or idiots, so they find ways to do the very thing you don't want them to do, like accessing FB on their phones.

I wrote a blog post on mixed messages (http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/no-mixed-messages-here-please). I think this is one of the ways those messages are sent. If you don't walk the talk (sorry for the cliche), what makes you think your employees are going to listen to you when you talk?

Blocking sites might be the easy solution, but maybe we should be asking what the right solution is instead.

Comment by Kitty Wooley on September 1, 2010 at 10:34pm

Yeah, I know; we have a similar situation and it's making some of us feel a little schizophrenic. I can get to LinkedIn; can't get to GovLoop. Can get to YouTube; can't get to Twitter. Can get to my research bookmarks (thank goodness); can't get to some professional leadership or technology blogs.

Comment by Benjamin Strong on September 1, 2010 at 12:42pm

@Jeffrey- I love that line "communications drives tech". Great perspective. One of my favorite podcasts Marketing Over Coffee encourages the marriage of the IT folks and the PR/Marketing team (disclosure, Amver won a Marketing Over Coffee award in 2010- go me!)

I do think things will eventually become more uniform. I don't think my situation is unique, I am sure other agencies are suffering the same challenges. We can't ignore the evolution of the interwebs!

Do I really truly believe gov 2.0 is a failure? Nah. But sometimes it sure feels like I am pushing a rope up a hill!

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