Communications

Daily Dose: CIA Twitter Account Suspended, For Being Fake

There is a lot of questionable content that comes across twitter these days. Some of it we, the savvy public, know is questionable — like the seemingly endless stream of parody accounts such as those for Lord Voldemort, Mark Zuckerberg, Betty White, and William Shakespeare. But fake accounts that seem at first glance to haveRead… Read more »

Figuring out the procurement maze with OFPP’s Joe Jordan and can the government speak plainly?

On today’s program Working in procurement is a little like working in a maze, there are lots of new and different regulations around every corner. But there are some ways to make it easier. Joe Jordan is the administrator in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. He’ll tell us his tips.Click here for the fullRead… Read more »

asdfjklqweruiop; — Is the government getting better at writing plainly?

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead,” Mark Twain. Writing clearly and concisely is a challenge for anyone, but it’s been an even bigger challenge for the federal government — they are plagued with the dreaded Gov-Speak. But for the past two year’s they’ve been workingRead… Read more »

What Do Zig Ziglar, Harvey Mackay, and Dale Carnegie Have In Common – And How Can It Help YOU?

Zig , Harvey, and Dale contributed significantly to my professional development. How? By telling stories to show the benefit of doing something a certain way. Ziglar would talk about ‘the Redhead’ and ‘Yazoo’, Mississippi while weaving his lessons about listening and giving value. Mackay would wrap his storytelling around applying the laws of human natureRead… Read more »

Leading Change in Government – Executive certificate course at Georgetown (Sept 25-27)

As a government executive, you often are tasked with leading change or achieving increased efficiency in your organization. Leading Change in Government, presented by Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business on Sept. 25-27, is designed exclusively for government executives and draws on the latest research to equip you with the specific skills and tools neededRead… Read more »

Mark Twain’s User Adoption Lessons – Part Five

This is the final in a five part series, originally published on Tri Tuns blog, Insights. Start at the beginning here. TIMELESS INSIGHT Mark Twain, a man who died decades before modern information systems were even conceived, may hold some of the greatest lessons for how to deliver successful technology adoption programs. So in thisRead… Read more »

What’sa Matter? You Too Big to Answer the Phone?

The ratio between government employees to the number of people the government serves is like a Bazillion to one. If every customer of government called just to say good morning, the entire telecommunications grid would crash – or at least that’s the way it feels sometimes. Governments are increasingly turning to write-once / answer-many technologiesRead… Read more »

NextGen: Presentation design resources for the user experience

Thanks again to everyone who attended my session at NextGen, “Presentation design for the user experience”. As promised, I’ve to a list of resources for you to help sharpen your skills as a student of the discipline: The Presentation itself can be found here. Resources Visual and Narrative: “The Lost Art of the Great Speech“:Read… Read more »