I’m happy to share some great news from our friends at the Participatory Budgeting Project. PBP is an organizational member of NCDD, and I’m proud to serve on their Advisory Board and to have attended both of their conferences in New York and Chicago. Earlier this month, PBP announced that they’re embarking on a newRead… Read more »
Leaders are trying to use measurements as their swimming goggles. It is the major technique they are relying on. My beef with measures is that we are not applying them proportionally. – Martha Johnson. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “measure twice and cut once.” But in government it seems like we are measuring eight times.Read… Read more »
The economic pressures government agencies feel from the uncertainty of budget cuts, real-time shut downs, and sequestration affects every part of an organization. The Project Management Office (PMO) is no exception. In a recent blog post, I discussed a new approach, Project Intelligence (PI), which seeks to improve project execution by providing project managers withRead… Read more »
Spock – Not a “yes-man” One thing I have learned unequivocally over the course of my career is the importance of diversity in achieving success. Leaders should be skeptical of too much agreement and actively work to bring in people that complement rather than duplicate their own viewpoints, backgrounds and beliefs. This diversity leads toRead… Read more »
On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: Back in the 1800s the US passed legislation that created the civil service. The civil service was meant to be a group of people that were performing for the country and because that could put them into all sorts of political crosshairs they were afforded some protections. To this day theRead… Read more »
“At GSA I encountered an insidious war between the Rights government and the Performance government.” – Martha Johnson. Back in the 1800s the US passed legislation that created the civil service. The objective of the legislation was change the civil service from a rewards system where you got your job just if you voted forRead… Read more »
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may wellRead… Read more »
Because it’s idiotic! Really, don’t make it worse than it already is. Customer service as we use to know it is getting to the point where we have to accept what we get, instead of a human-to-human exchange of what does us the most good, and actually helps us. What’s idiotic? Making appointments for customerRead… Read more »
During the 17-day Federal government shutdown my company, Corner Alliance Inc., had to make some tough decisions. Many of our employees were not able to perform work (read: make money) including myself. I worked the first week of the shutdown on internal Corner Alliance tasks, like our website and a Virtual Participation Best Practices document.Read… Read more »
I was having a discussion recently with a city council member about our Civinomicon event coming up in November. He was really excited about the event format, the whole idea of breaking off into small groups and pitching ideas seemed like a really important exercise to him. Unfortunately, he became dismayed when I mentioned whoRead… Read more »