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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic What’s Your #1 Financial Tip for New Hires? in the forum Miscellaneous 6 years, 6 months ago
Living below your means is probably the best advice you’ll get, although your budget may be tight as a GS-7. My two pieces of advice: prioritize your debts, and pay yourself for the future.
Assuming you have your living expenses covered (rent, internet and phone, etc.), priortize paying down whatever debt has the highest APR. Although you can’t…[Read more] -
Daniel Crystal replied to the topic How Would You Fix Procurement? in the forum Acquisition, Contracting, Procurement 7 years, 2 months ago
I had a senior PM once tell me that a good contracting officer will tell you what you can get away with rather than what you can’t do. Kind of like a good lawyer.
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Things Not to Say to a Govie… in the forum Miscellaneous 8 years, 1 month ago
“I’m a hardcore libertarian,” but only when it comes out of the mouth of defense contractors who have no concept of irony.
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Who was your favorite boss? Why? in the forum Leadership, Management, Supervision 8 years, 4 months ago
My commander in Iraq. Even though we weren’t trained/equipped for the assigned mission, he put together a solid plan, gave the NCO’s enough time to properly train our Soldiers, and trusted his lieutenants (which included me) to run the show with broad guidance instead of detailed instructions. Long story short: what was supposed to take four…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal started the topic Giving Them What They REALLY Want in the forum Acquisition, Contracting, Procurement 8 years, 11 months ago
Last week we had a guest lecturer in my marketing class, a man who had graduated from our program and had gone on to launch several successful consumer products. His current venture: organic salted chocolate, which he sells in several flavors.
During the Q&A session one of my classmates asked how he figures out which new flavors to try. His…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal started the topic Rock Your Resume: Daniel Crystal in the forum Rock Your Resume! 8 years, 11 months ago
- Looking to transition from program analyst to contracting specialist
- Currently employed with CBP, looking to change jobs within the federal government
- Have already applied for jobs
- None yet, just started applying
- https://my.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/307876800
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Daniel Crystal started the topic Putting Together a Training Needs Assessment in the forum Human Resources 8 years, 12 months ago
Hello everyone, I figure the collective intelligence of the group may be able to help me on this. My team has been tasked with putting together a “training needs assessment” of our office. Specifically, we’re an acquisition office with multiple programs, but I figure the base process is probably similar no matter what function your office…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Certification: Does It Really Make Good Program Managers? in the forum Program and Project Management 8 years, 12 months ago
You bring up an interesting point, Kelly. One item that my team has been wrestling with has been defining what “program management” is. In my office, when we say “program manager” we mean “systems program manager,” or someone who is overseeing the procurement of large technical programs. But there are many other “program managers” as well, who…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Certification: Does It Really Make Good Program Managers? in the forum Program and Project Management 9 years ago
After talking with some folks over at VA, they actually have their PM’s go through a test that is actually a project management simulation. If you don’t past the test, you don’t get certified. My boss was actually extremely interested in this approach to certification, what does everyone else think?
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Daniel Crystal started the topic Certification: Does It Really Make Good Program Managers? in the forum Program and Project Management 9 years ago
FAC-PM, DAWIA, agency-specific certifications…even, the industry standard, PMP. It seems like everybody wants their program managers certified these days. With the amount of money the federal government spends certifying its program managers, or hiring contractors and consultants with PMP credentials, it make me wonder: does certification make…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Acquisition 101 for Project Managers in the forum Acquisition, Contracting, Procurement 9 years ago
In general, program managers are responsible for requirements development and overseeing the technical progress of a program, if the program requires development. He or she is ultimately responsible for the cost, schedule, and effectiveness of the system or service that his program office has been chartered to deliver.
DHS is similar to DoD, so…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal started the topic Who Is Part of the Acquisition Workforce? in the forum Acquisition, Contracting, Procurement 9 years ago
Hello everyone, awhile back I posted a several blogs on my IPT’s quest to define who exactly in my organization was part of the acquisition workforce. We actually did come up with an answer, one that was mostly accepted by our higher headquarters (DHS).
I’ll post the exact definition that DHS has tentatively agreed to later in the week, but…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal started the topic Arrests of Illegal Migrants at Border Drops in the forum Homeland Security 9 years, 1 month ago
Interesting article from the Washington Post. If you read to the end of the article, it looks like the stepped up efforts of the Border Patrol are having a tangible effect on the number of potential illegal migrants crossing the border.
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic My Girlfriend is Making me Shop on Black Friday…is Yours? in the forum Miscellaneous 9 years, 2 months ago
Yes. Shop online.
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Is it Wrong to Judge Someone Based on Grammatical or Spelling Errors? in the forum Miscellaneous 9 years, 2 months ago
I have to disagree with you Peter. There are some people who focus on the minutiae of your writing, and I’ve noticed that those type of people tend to be: 1) supervisors and 2) have an engineering type background. Nitpicking is annoying and unproductive, but if your paper has glaring spelling and grammatical errors, the content doesn’t matter.…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Is it Wrong to Judge Someone Based on Grammatical or Spelling Errors? in the forum Miscellaneous 9 years, 2 months ago
I actually have one of our interns researching the Plain Language Act so we can put on a workshop for our office. Although I’ve seen plenty of grammatical mistakes in the correspondence that comes across my desk, I think our tendency to write documents in acronym/legalese is a bigger problem.
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Cultural no-nos in the government? in the forum Miscellaneous 9 years, 3 months ago
Something that hasn’t been mentioned, but I think is important: don’t hoard information. It’s always bad for morale when getting someone to help you fill out a travel voucher is like pulling teeth.
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Can we really do MORE with LESS? in the forum Budget / Performance 9 years, 3 months ago
Wow, this thread already has a slew of comments. My two cents: we can do more with less if government organizations are willing to embrace social media and other IT tools that allow employees to collaborate from around the globe. I know that the State Dept. has been very successful with this, while my department is still running Windows XP,…[Read more]
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic In 7 words or less Explain what you do in the forum Miscellaneous 9 years, 3 months ago
I make people smarter
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Daniel Crystal replied to the topic Are younger feds happier at work than older feds? in the forum Miscellaneous 9 years, 4 months ago
I work with a lot of interns, and many of them are driven by a desire to make the government better. But they also aren’t usually tied down with a mortgage, family, etc., which means the cold, hard realities of adulthood haven’t kicked in yet. Finances can make people stick with a job they don’t like, because somebody needs to keep the lights…[Read more]
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