Explanation of Phased Retirement PHASED RETIREMENT DEFINITION: Phased Retirement is a human resources tool that allows employees to continue working on a part-time basis while receiving a part-time retirement annuity. Participants receive additional service credit towards their full retirement. Participants also begin receiving their retirement annuity payments consistent with the payments they would otherwise beRead… Read more »
It was great to see the recent blog of US General Services Administration (GSA) CIO Sonny Hashmi in which he establishes “open source first” as an agency policy: “Simply put, any solution developed using taxpayer dollars should be in the taxpayer’s domain (open source). At GSA, we believe that all code we developed should beRead… Read more »
It’s been said that everyone can light up a room — some when they enter, and others when they leave. Which type of person are you? Likeable? Or not so much? Research has consistently proven that we are inclined to respond positively to people whom we like. That means we buy from those we like,Read… Read more »
Resiliency is a dandelion that gets mowed down or trampled into the lawn and then grows happily back, time and again reaching for the sun. We all have different levels of tolerance for being mowed down or trampled and different reasons to continuing to get up again. But what is it that makes us ableRead… Read more »
When I meet with agency customers, I hear about the struggles we face to get IT acquisitions done efficiently and smoothly. Most government agencies–federal, state or local—face similar acquisition problems: How do we acquire IT faster? How can we continue to find savings? Can you make it easier to acquire mission-critical IT solutions? Can youRead… Read more »
If you’re considering applying for your first federal job (or if you’re hunting for a new one), don’t plan on using a traditional resume. There are a number of specific things the feds are looking for that don’t usually apply to the private sector. What follows are some tips on how to rework your resumeRead… Read more »
Lately, my associates and I have been doing quite a bit of social network visualization research for clients, typically using raw social data and comprehensive, fee-based custom tools. While these are great for deep analysis and strategic planning, sometimes a simple free tool can do the trick if all you are looking for is quickRead… Read more »
You want every selfie and status update to get attention from your friends. But are all your friends seeing your posts? If they are, are you engaging them? Government organizations face this same challenge. Given Facebook and Twitter’s popularity in the last few years, federal, state and local organizations have worked to engage people onRead… Read more »
By Brendan Johnson, Design Intern at GovDelivery As government communicators, often we have to work with design in all formats, especially digital design. But when you need to throw a picture up on your website, into an email, or send out in a social media post, is it a quick and easy process? Do youRead… Read more »
The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) mandates very detailed security practices. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has an entire division focused on creating security guidance documents. As security becomes more of a focus the nomenclature of these documents seeps into your daily lingo. FIPS 199 and 200 describe the levelsRead… Read more »