Time management is critical for local government administrators and managers. During my career in local government I found three tools that helped me retain control of my time. With the New Year here I thought I’d share these tools to see if you can incorporate them for your use. If this article is of valueRead… Read more »
You probably have a New Year’s resolution. It may be losing 15 lbs. It may be spending an extra hour each week with your family. I have a few, but one is specific to government contracting: providing better customer service. One of the recurring themes of this blog is government contract specialists are in theRead… Read more »
I spent ‘a week’ in an auto repair shop one day recently and watched an energetic guy wearing yellow rubber boots while waiting 3-hours for an ‘about-an-hour’ work on my car. This guy was fascinating – ‘Boots’ was in perpetual motion – heading toward the parking lot, the front office, the mechanic bays and elsewhere.Read… Read more »
So we get it out-of-the-way, here is the executive summary of things I did instead of just talk about doing these things in 2012: I helped lead the charge on moving “Project Tin Can” into a full-on specification called Experience API with a whole bunch of people. I founded a new community (and a retreat)Read… Read more »
Don’t get scared when heading into uncharted water One of the most difficult situations a technology executive can find himself or herself in is with a clear understanding that the current state of the organization isn’t sustainable but with no clear approach to moving forward. Their may be a myriad of reasons for this unclearRead… Read more »
I never thought I’d admit to this, but I have discovered this, believe it or not, in the college English writing class that I teach. It is almost as if the students don’t have a real sense of the past. They cling to the here and now that technology is what makes life civilized andRead… Read more »
It’s either by subliminal messaging or by “osmosis” that students or trainees learn on their own; there, it makes sense that we should tap into that impulse in the classroom if we can. Some of us are doing it already. Those are the teachers or trainers who seem to be so in sync with theRead… Read more »
The listing of police calls contained in the weekly Bee Newspapers in Western New York can be quite interesting. It is amazing what people will call the police for and what crazy situations people get themselves into. The Bee Newspaper published there best of the police blotter calls for 2012. My top favorites follow. WhichRead… Read more »
When I saw the map of gun owners printed online by a publication owned by The Gannett Company and the public reaction, I thought of my last supervisor. He was a wise man with whom I could discuss any idea without fear of ridicule or repercussion. When the ideas were good, he would fully supportRead… Read more »
The DOD caught with its Pants down – A Revolution in Risk Assessment needed? It seems to have passed commentators by, but the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently uncovered a major under-reporting of risk at the Department of Defense. (see Figure 1 below).1 The GAO’s recommendations read like a school report: the DOD shouldRead… Read more »