Weekly Roundup: October 23-27, 2017

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:11

John Kamensky

Labor Management Forums

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:11

Some things can move fast in bureaucracies!  President Obama signed Executive Order 13522, “Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services,” in early December to resurrect the labor-management partnerships from the Clinton era.

Mocking Public Service

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:09

Just in time for the national Public Service Recognition Week, Saturday Night Live aired a biting satire: “The 2010 Public Employee of the Year Award.” In the skit, several finalists for the award strut their stuff. For example, a fictitious Markeesha Odom says she helped lead her DMV team to ensure no one received a drivers license over the course of a full day!

Scorecarding Agency Open Gov Plans

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:07

The Obama Administration announced today a scorecard of the quality of the plans submitted earlier this month by 29 major agencies. Using a checklist of 30 criteria, the scorecards show all agencies rating either a “yellow” or a “green” on their scorecards. These plans are being referred to as “version 1.0.”

Passionate About Collaboration

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:05

Collaboration is one of the key elements of President Obama’s signature Open Government Initiative. However, federal agencies’ Open Government Plans don’t seem to address it very well. But collaboration expert Russ Linden says “collaboration is vital, difficult, and learnable.” And he’s written a book that makes all three of these points.

Congress and Citizen Engagement

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:04

Earlier this week, the Pew Center’s survey on citizen trust in government shows trust in government has plummeted to record lows. As if to support these findings, there were “gun rallies” in support of Second Amendment rights a few days ago. And last week, there was a Tea Party rally demanding a smaller government.

Using Data: From Hammer to Flashlight

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:03

The “use of data” step is complicated by two elements:  Who would use it?, and For what purpose?

White House Management Advisory Board

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:02

On Monday, President Obama signed an executive order creating a new White House advisory board to be populated by corporate executives who will provide cutting-edge best management practices to their government counterparts.

Using GIS to Increase Citizen Engagement

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 14:01

Federal agencies recently released their Open Government Plans on how they will actively engage citizens in agency decision-making efforts.  None, that I’ve seen in what I’ve read so far, are taking advantage of a growing trend to use geographic information systems (GIS) to increase citizen engagement.

A High Performance Government

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 13:59

While Jonathan Breul is attending the IRMCO Conference in Cambridge, Maryland, I’m attending the annual conference of the American Society for Public Administration in San Jose, California. I understand it’s sunny in Cambridge. . . it’s rainy in San Jose!

Pages