To really be effective this rule takes knowing a little something about the person you are attempting to influence, either before you engage them, or through some probing questions. It can work without knowing anything about the person, but you will find yourself more effective when you do. Often times we experience situations in whichRead… Read more »
Government employees have faced a number of “downers” in recent years: sequestration and budget cuts, furloughs, and pay freezes, just to name a few. Federal employees hired today are required to contribute a greater proportion of their salaries to their pensions than those hired just a few years ago. Travel budgets have been cut downRead… Read more »
An interesting situation has arisen in Italy, with the country’s Agenzia delle Entrate, the Italian revenue service and taxation authority, accused of copying OpenStreetMap without respecting the site’s copyright license. As documented on the Open Street Maps discussion list, Italy’s OpenStreetMap community discovered a little over three months ago that the maps used by theRead… Read more »
On June 19th at BETA, we had the pleasure of launching the public beta of Transitmix, a sketching tool for transit planners (both professional and armchair) to quickly design routes and share with the public. Transitmix is a cross-team, collaborative project that has received contributions from eight 2014 Fellows from seven different city teams.* ItRead… Read more »
There is arguably no greater responsibility for the federal government than protecting the safety of Americans in general and the homeland in particular. But don’t tell that to the multitude of vociferous critics of the National Security Agency. On Sunday, the latest sensational article about the NSA appeared on the front page of the WashingtonRead… Read more »
Disney and a Resources Based View (RBV) analysis illustrate the conditions under which organization-specific resources provide a sustained competitive advantage. Specifically, Disney through its beloved character Mickey Mouse shows that an organization can sustain a competitive advantage if it has available to it resources that are inimitable (unique), durable, appropriated to where the organization capturesRead… Read more »
Last month, Christine Steger posed an interesting question in the e-Learning group. In her post. “Communications and Change Management Plan for Transitioning to eLearning,” Christine reveals that she’s in charge of developing a Communication and Change Management (CM) Plan. I was struck by just how forward-looking this project is to include this kind of plan.Read… Read more »
Do you ever wish you had a real-life Easy-Button at your command? Not just for the typical Staples situations like buying a laptop, filling an ink cartridge, or stocking up on office supplies — but for real life situations. Many Americans’ expectation of government process is fairly low due to long lines at the DMV,Read… Read more »
Like many (some would say most or all) aspects of the United States Federal government, human capital management can prove to be more complex and more difficult to change for an agency than that of the private sector. Budget constraints, ingrained and inflexible procedures, limited staffing, complicated application processes, government regulations and hiring requirements, andRead… Read more »
OMB releases first quarterly progress reports for the 2014-2015 round of agency priority goals. The Obama Administration in 2009 directed agencies to identify a small handful of priorities that they would commit to achieving in a two-year timeframe. This initiative was embedded into the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010. Agencies are required to identify priorityRead… Read more »