You may scoff, but in my opinion, very few employees are as tough and resilient as government employees. In the past year, feds have been furloughed, sequestered and had their pay frozen, and yet when the shutdown shuttered government offices for much of the month of October, most feds, caught in partisan politics, just wantedRead… Read more »
The latter half of 2013 was a tough time for public programs. The difficulties surrounding the launch of healthcare.gov have been well documented. And in November, a fatal construction accident at the site of the future World Cup venue in São Paolo confirmed suspicions that Brazil would not make many of its FIFA-mandated December 31Read… Read more »
In last night’s State of the Union Address, President Obama covered a lot of ground around topics like jobs and the economy, immigration, education, and energy. As with many of these addresses in the past, regardless who was serving as our country’s Chief of Staff, there are several mixed reviews of what the President hadRead… Read more »
I’ve been quite for a while. Time for some fun stuff. What do the Rolling Stones have to do with the State of the Union address? For me, quite a bit. In my book, Confessions of a Government Man, I told a lot of tall tales about adventures during my lengthy government career. One “confession”Read… Read more »
Hiring is one of the biggest challenges in government. Getting the right people in the right position is key for an effective government. Just as hiring the right NIH scientist is key to curing disease so too is hiring the right procurement official. However, well-trained procurement officials are hard to find and the lack ofRead… Read more »
Over the last few days I’ve been reading the responses to the departure of Rod Humble, the CEO of Linden Lab – the company that owns and operates Second Life. Here are a few sites where you can find some in-depth and thoughtful discussion. The Oracle of Pixels on Andromeda, written by William Burns RodRead… Read more »
Healthcare.gov has been a massive contracting challenge from the onset. What went wrong? “Contractors have pointed the finger at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, citing insufficient guidance, inadequate resources, a lack of authority to lead the project and changes requested a month before the site went live. In testimony to the House CommitteeRead… Read more »
Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year, the Grammy’s. Ever since a kid, I’ve loved music and watching the Grammy’s was a staple every year, regardless of my current fad (whether I was a hip-hop head to college radio indie hipster to Dylan aficionado). While watching the Grammy’s last night, IRead… Read more »
Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca The Thinker by Darwin Bell Last year I wrote a lengthy piece that argued that understanding the future of evidence based policy meant understanding the confluence of big data and social media (See: Big Data, Social Media and the Long Tail of Public Policy). Today I want to further qualify myRead… Read more »
When I entered the gym, it was virtually deserted except for one lone person riding the elliptical. The exercise goal for the people who crowded the gym on January 2, 2014 appeared to be over…at least at my gym. Do you have a “dearly held” goal – one that at the beginning of January youRead… Read more »