Bill Schrier served for 30 years as an employee for the city of Seattle. For the past ten years until his recent retirement Mr. Schrier served as the Chief Technology Officer for Seattle. As part of a Seattle newspaper series, Schrier was asked if he were Mayor of Seattle, what three actions would he takeRead… Read more »
Creative was certainly not the adjective I would have used to describe my undergraduate introductory course in statistical methods. Perhaps I should have paid closer attention in class, as data analysis and interpretation have since taken on creative new forms. Every year, Fast Company puts out a list of the 100 Most Creative People inRead… Read more »
The increasing chorus of calls for more accountability reaches beyond recent demands for firing officials at the IRS, VA, and GSA for various perceived misdeeds. Just what is accountability, and how can it be seen as a constructive, instead of a punitive, element of public management? Recent legislation imposes new accountability requirements in the formRead… Read more »
Swift, certain, consistent and proportionate – that is the motto of the new probation program making waves in Hawaii. The program – called HOPE – has reduced recidivism by 51% and has been recognized by Harvard University’s Ash Center as one of the ‘Top 25 Innovations in Government.” (See the full list of the TopRead… Read more »
Breakthrough, disruptive innovations do not happen every day and in general are not the daily focus of innovation at organizations. In his book “The Innovator’s Dilemma,”Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen coined the phrase disruptive technology to describe an innovation that displaces an established technology. He acknowledges that most innovation in organizations is “sustaining”Read… Read more »
In 2010 the General Services Administration launched Challenge.gov. The idea was simple the site would house agency contests and competitions together in one place. But no one could have predicted the success. Now three years in, Challenge.gov is home to more than 250 challenges from 60 agencies. Sheila Campbell is the Director for Excellence inRead… Read more »
What inspired me at the Excellence in Government Conference? I liked the emphasis on innovations underway in different places around the government. Sometimes we get caught up in buzzwords of the day: Total Quality Management, Lean Six Sigma, Agile, Business Process Reengineering, or Reinventing Government. But the bottom line in each of these types ofRead… Read more »
In a time of sequestration and budget cuts innovation is the name of the game. All across government we are seeing “government innovators” pop up. People who are disrupting bureaucracy, collaborating, using new technology such as social media, and transforming how government operates. But how are they doing this and how can you replicate itRead… Read more »
In order for an agency to be innovative you have to empower your employees and leave room for failure. So which agencies are doing that effectively? Dan Helfrich is a Principal at Deloitte Consulting. The Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte’s new Best Places to Work in the Federal Government analysis found that the vastRead… Read more »
Becoming an innovator doesn’t happen overnight, you need strong support from your leaders, an ability to take risks and budgetary support. Michigan’s CIO David Behen and CTO Rod Davenport know all about implementing innovation. They recently been named as Government Technology’s Top 25 in Technology for their work in Michigan. In part one of ourRead… Read more »