Federal Eye: OPM Web site crushed by high traffic

An Office of Personnel Management Web page providing news on office closures was redirected Monday to a site with larger servers to cope with a crush of traffic from curious Web surfers eager to learn about the government’s operating status. Users who typed in www.opm.gov were redirected to www.data.gov/opm_status.html and an OPM status update pageRead… Read more »

New times demand a new public servant

So what would a new public servant look like in the States? Last weeks Public Sector Informant published an article by Terry Fewtrell on the implications of the work done by the Gov 2.0 Taskforce. Terry is principal consultant with Yellow Edge Consulting. The article New times demand a new public servant, highlights the fundamentalRead… Read more »

Achieving progress from the ground up: Veteran behavioral health advocate Ronald W. Manderscheid, PhD, tackles the issues at the local level

Issue Date: January 2010, Mover Achieving progress from the ground upVeteran behavioral health advocate Ronald W. Manderscheid, PhD, tackles the issues at the local level by Lindsay Barba, Associate Editor It’s a widely accepted idea that all politics is local, but if you ask Ronald W. Manderscheid, PhD, all healthcare is local, too. And withRead… Read more »

President’s Budget Proposal Continues to Delay Taking a Closer Look at Tax Breaks

In recent hearings before the House Budget Committee, both Peter Orszag (OMB Director) and Jeffrey Zients (OMB Chief Performance Officer) have acknowledged the need to scrutinize “tax expenditures” — i.e. special tax breaks aimed at achieving specific policy goals. Mr. Zients even went so far as to express “100% agreement” with the notion of evaluatingRead… Read more »

Mecklenburg County eGovernment Strategic Plan

Last week I shared Mecklenburg County’s Social Media Strategy, which is really a document related to our overall eGovernment Strategic Plan. The link to the eGov plan is provided with this blog post, and you are welcome to use any or all of the content. (And, if by chance, we have plaigerized anything, it wasRead… Read more »

The New USAJobs – Great Customer Service!

And the award for Best Customer Service goes to…USAJobs! Finally – a federal agency (the Office of Personnel Management) that really, really listened to its audience and gave us what we want. Plain. Simple. To the point. The new USAJobs website looks like Google. It’s a stripped-down version of its former self (which really wasn’tRead… Read more »

Open Gov Dashboard

With the addition of the Open Gov Dashboard @ http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/around, it got me thinking. This dashboard is great to tell us where the agencies are in terms of meeting the OGD criteria. What I would like to know (maybe I just haven’t found it), is…what are examples of agencies far exceeding expectations? I would likeRead… Read more »

Federal Eye: Eye Opener: For the feds going to work today

Happy Tuesday! And Happy Federal Snow Day 2.0! But many federal employees still have to show up for work today, despite the weather. Need proof? The Post’s David Cho reports that shortly after the federal government announced that it would close for Monday — cue the yelping for joy around Washington — the office ofRead… Read more »

MOTIVATING USER ADOPTION: COMMITMENT, COMPLIANCE OR WIIFM?

Many IT projects suffer from a lack of clear understanding of how to best motive desired user behavior. People often use terms like “carrots and sticks”, “ensure compliance”, moving people along the “commitment curve”, and “What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)”, but they typically do not understand the fundamental nature of these terms and theirRead… Read more »

Federal Eye: Federal government closed on Tuesday

Here we go again: The federal government will close Tuesday, as the region continues to clean up after the weekend snowstorm and prepares for another round of the white stuff. The decision means non-emergency federal workers will be granted excused absences. Emergency employees are expected to report for work on time, and some employees whoRead… Read more »