I was having a discussion with my wife the other day about the differences between “leadership” and “management.” And then to that prickly question of what is meant by “authority.” So here were my general thoughts on the matter, and how they relate to government: “Management” is the “what” and the “how.” Leadership is theRead… Read more »
The strangest thing about coming for home for Thanksgiving break after 9/11 was seeing an American flag flying outside every house. People were walking up to me and thanking me for my service, which I found unsettling. The tiny suburb, just north of New York City, lost dozens of people in the attack on theRead… Read more »
For those unfamiliar with the term, Integrated Product Teams, commonly called IPT’s, are cross-functional working groups that design a specific product, document, or process. The difference between an IPT and a regular working group is the authority vested in an IPT by its sponsors (usually senior leadership), and that its mission, vision, and goals areRead… Read more »
CBP’s Secure Border Initiative (SBI) was officially cancelled in January of 2011, but had already been re-organized at the beginning of the fiscal year as the Office of Technology Innovation and Acquisition (OTIA). As part of the transformation, our boss became the Component Acquisition Executive, or CAE, for all of Customs and Border Protection. WhatRead… Read more »
I was hired into CBP’s SBI program office in July of 2010, without any real idea of what “acquisition” meant or how it was practiced. My supervisor told me that I was the “acquisition workforce development officer,” a title that I later discovered existed only in his head. I do have to make a disclaimer:Read… Read more »