Whenever I think of county government, an annoying ear-worm of a song pops into my head. Backed by a twangy hoedown tune at odds with the county’s New York suburban character, the TV commercial for the Westchester County Fair sang promises of “Rides and attractions! Non-stop action! Shows! Animals! Fireworks, too!” Hokey summertime county fairs were my firstRead… Read more »
The set up Last week I want to a conference called Open Source // Open Society (OS//OS). While conferences are great opportunities to learn new things, I normally wouldn’t blog about one. But this one got me thinking about the ‘open society’ aspect and how it fits with government, especially with the work my team isRead… Read more »
Naysayers love to complain that real customer experience (CX) improvement is only for the private sector because government is subject to unique and insurmountable pressures. Don’t believe them. Many major corporations must overcome the same hurdles, and some federal agencies are finding ways to break out, too. Use this list of comebacks to subdue governmentRead… Read more »
Last week I wrote about the six traditional factors that make a story newsworthy, at least what journalism profs have settled upon to get students thinking about the topic, and how you can do a better job responding to reporters if you understand those factors. This week we’ll stick to those basics, but flip theRead… Read more »
First of all, what does it mean to be a highly sensitive person? Not to be confused with introversion or shyness, the concept of the “highly sensitive person” (HSP) was coined by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. in the early 1990’s and refers to about 15-20% of the population with a highly sensitive nervous system. InRead… Read more »
An article published this week on Federal Computer Week highlights the woeful state of the project management capability that currently exists in the federal government, and how attention needs to be paid to this critical government management function. In the article, Healthcare.gov is once again the punching bag for the model program of what a federalRead… Read more »
Yes, that’s me with my astounding “Washington, DC” neon-handwritten wallet bag. And headphones. I make no pretense to be stylish as I age. Frankly it’s getting worse every year. But if I’ve become somewhat slovenly, maybe even a bit of a shlep, I am pointing the finger straight at this policy-oriented city in which I’veRead… Read more »
I’ve been to a lot of conferences over the years, as a speaker and as an attendee. I know a lot of people who go to them, I’ve talked about them as a “thing” (i.e. are they worthwhile or not) and I’ve been the subject of many marketing pitches to either cover them or attend.Read… Read more »
As I stated in Website Builder Platforms: Best Options for Small Businesses, I consider the WordPress content management system (which should not be confused with the WordPress.com platform) to be the best option for organizations that need to upgrade or build a website, especially if they want to be able to manage some content andRead… Read more »
Modeling encouragement to others keeps the ideas flowing. It might help someone be brave enough to ask the hard questions, so they can work toward finding solutions and providing better service. Encouragement from leadership sets a baseline of behaviors for management to follow.