Monthly Archives: April 2011

Mobile Decisions | To App or Not to App, That is the Question

I will get some of this wrong. I am undoubtedly leaving much out. I am oversimplifying. However, as mobile development in the federal government continues to ramp up, tools to help agencies and individuals assess how (and when) to intelligently proceed are increasingly important. Recognizing that every situation is unique, an understanding of a fewRead… Read more »

The Biggest Barrier to Great Customer Service? Egos!

I had an interesting discussion with an esteemed colleague about my last blog post on making sure portal sites add value. One of my suggestions was to adopt a common design and publication standards across all agencies covered by the portal. He said, “Here’s a fact…every government entity will do what is in its bestRead… Read more »

Infoporn

Sales Professional Wanted! Must be able to fill out timely sales reports accurately! (actual recruiting ad) Increasingly we can amass formidable data on anything we want. Damn little is worth the effort involved to capture it. When I set up a new analytic, it usually falls into one of two categories, “Ooops, not useful,’ orRead… Read more »

Fierce pride

I’m not sure if I am still allowed to say where I work but what the hell. The Local Government Chronicle 50 has made me smile, made me go ‘oh wow’ and made me so epically proud to work for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. I was proud before. I’ve said it before a longRead… Read more »

Paid vacation

Since nobody else is saying it I will. I know the “professional/pc” thing to say is that we’re glad the shutdown was averted and we’re happy to be back at work. But honestly i’m not. Am I the only one who hoping the shutdown lasted a few days and I could take advantage of theRead… Read more »

Top 4 Relationship Myths at the Workplace by Sandra Crowe

Top 4 Relationship Myths at the Workplace by Sandra Crowe Being Nice Always Gets You Ahead- Being nice is great, but if it is perceived as insincere or artificial you will be sniffed out immediately. Instead of niceness focus on listening; the ability to listen will move you further in your relationships than the desireRead… Read more »

Make sure your contractor is registered

Thinking of paying someone to do a little work around the house? The state Department of Labor and Industries is reminding homeowners to check out contractors they’re considering hiring for remodeling projects. Original post

How to make the flowers bloom: why open data is necessary but not sufficient to make a difference

[cross-posted from London Datastore http://data.london.gov.uk/blog blog post of 31 March 2011] Earlier this month, colleagues from local and central government, bloggers, community activists and developers got together at an event organised by @Madwdata – making a difference with data http://www.madwdata.org.uk/ to discuss how open public data could be used to make a difference. The MakingRead… Read more »

Rural broadband funding axed in budget debacle

The USDA’s expansion of rural broadband appears to be on the chopping block, according to information contained in the newest budget deal out of Congress. Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee seek to cut the full $700 million in funding USDA had allocated to use this year on rural broadband expansion projects. The $700Read… Read more »

What’s wrong with my questions? How IT projects fail to ask long-term user adoption questions.

This article was originally published on Tri Tuns Blog. OBSERVATION Does your IT implementation plan include a Change Management (CM) effort? It probably does. Does this CM effort include attaining information about the user community’s needs, in preparation for an IT build? Again, your answer may typically be yes. So what could possibly be missing?Read… Read more »