Yearly Archives: 2009

The Dinner Party Analogy

The Dinner Party Analogy Have you ever thrown a dinner party? It seems easy, right? Buy some food, invite some people, and it will be a huge success. But it never is. You need to send invites early, find out if people are allergic to anything, follow-up individuals to remind people to come, stage theRead… Read more »

Member of the Week: Nancy Heltman

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead As human beings continue to have significant impacts on the environment and its resources, education is the perfect tool to inform individuals of how their behaviors and patterns are having negativeRead… Read more »

Government Transparency Ain’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be — Yet

By Dennis D. McDonald, Ph.D. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for “open government.” But there are problems inherent to real-world democracy that can’t be automatically solved by making the workings of government more visible to the public. This is especially true about the reporting by government of data collected from large and complex populationsRead… Read more »

Donate Clothing to Local Veterans in Need

Happy Holidays to All of You!!!! And now a favor to ask… I work at a Veterans Affairs hospital here in Pittsburgh and was talking to some of the veteran patients today. Many of them, especially in our homeless rehab programs, come in with very little clothing and some have extended stays in the hospital.Read… Read more »

Happy Holidays from FOSE

Warmest wishes to you and yours during this holiday season. We are looking forward to seeing you in the New Year! Don’t wait until next year to register for the most comprehensive IT expo! Check “register for FOSE” off your list early this year! *Remember* the FOSE Expo is FREE for government, military, and governmentRead… Read more »

‘Twas the Night Before Renewal – A Crowd-Sourced Holiday Poem

Our very own (St.) Nick Charney prepared a special Gov 2.0 version of Jingle Bells to get us all in the holiday spirit. Check it out if you haven’t seen it. It’s pretty clever in and of itself…but then a commenter (@DGTweets) threw down the gauntlet and suggested we create a “Twas the Night BeforeRead… Read more »

Federal Eye Eye Opener: Holiday gift giving at federal offices

Happy Friday! Most offices start winding down for the year on Friday ahead of the weekend’s anticipated snowstorm and the Christmas and New Year’s weeks. Amid all the parties, long lunches and other holiday cheer, some feds may wonder: When it comes to giving gifts at government offices, how much is too much? “Twenty dollarsRead… Read more »

Status of the gov blogosphere

I wrote on my personal blog about the state of blogging in public services in the UK. “I think we need a strong, vibrant blogging community in and around government providing some real analysis of what is happening, and some real thought-leadership in terms of what should be happening.” What is the state of theRead… Read more »

Focus on Efficiency Phase 4: Review your Impact

A previous post laid out the Focus on Efficiency Framework: Plan – Decide – Implement – Review – Repeat. In this post you’ll learn the importance of Reviewing the impact you’ve had on your organizations efficiency. You’ll Review at a pre-determined time which you set in your Planning stage. When exactly that will be, isRead… Read more »