Posts By David Tallan

Agile Document Development: Part 2 of 2: Applying it to documents

The point of these posts: Agile methodologies used by software (and web) developers can be adapted to provide similar value to the rest of us. Not just for techies any more! Waterfall document development. I put it to you that document development in the OPS also tends to follow a waterfall methodology. (If “waterfall methodology”doesn’tRead… Read more »

Agile Document Development: Part 1 of 2: What is Agile?

The point of these posts: Agile methodologies used by software (and web) developers can be adapted to provide similar value to the rest of us. Not just for techies any more! Introduction This is a two part post. If you already know all about waterfall and agile development methodologies, feel free to skip this andRead… Read more »

Optimal performance, gamification and government

The point of this post:By incorporating some of the characteristics of successful games into our work, we can improve our performance. I’ve been reading a book called Flow: the psychology of optimal experience recently. Reading the book, I was reminded of “gamification”, a concept that you wouldn’t think would have much to do with theRead… Read more »

The Two Interlocking Cycles of Gov 2.0

This post is, in some ways, an extension of another from last week called “The Three Dimensions of Open Government“. “Open government” is a term that’s getting a reasonable amount of use these past few years. It’s overtaken an earlier term “Gov 2.0”. That doesn’t surprise me. “Gov 2.0” seems a little dated (as, inRead… Read more »

Three Dimensions of Open Government

A recent Twitter exchange that I saw got me thinking about the different things people mean by “open government”. John Moore retweeted: @canadiancynic: So, @TonyClementCPC, how’s that whole “#opengov” thing working out for you? Uh oh … www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/harper-conservatives-win-award-for-most-secretive-government/article2417147/ Tony Clement replied: @JohnFMoore 272,000 data sets now online; more usable formats; science research online, etc #opengovRead… Read more »

Public Sector Leadership in the Age of Participation

The point of this post: participatory websites are leading to participatory organizations, which provide opportunities for a few core people to leverage the effort of a much broader community and accomplish substantial achievements. The emerging web I’ve been using the web since the beginning and building websites since 1993 or 1994. Back then, building aRead… Read more »

Quality and Consistency

The point of this post: Many quality management frameworks seem to be about ensuring consistency – especially in process. I’m not sure the two are as closely connected as these frameworks would have us believe. [I posted this on my blog on OPSpedia, at work, about a month ago. I just noticed that I hadn’tRead… Read more »

“One hit wonder” or sustainable success?

The point of this post: When looking at “success stories” in the adoption of new technologies, we have to think carefully about how repeatable they are. “One of the most challenging things to figure out in the government space is which technology trends are fads versus real long-term trends,” said Green in an interview withRead… Read more »