Yearly Archives: 2012

Having a website crash due to high traffic is a failure of management, not load

Today has provided an interesting lesson for several organisations, with the crash of both the David Jones and ClickFrenzy websites in Australia. But first, some background. ClickFrenzy is a new 24-hour sale for Australian online retailers starting from 7pm on Tuesday 20 November. Based on the US ‘Cyber Monday’ sale, which now attracts over 10Read… Read more »

Aloha Honolulu! Mahalo Forest.

It’s time to say thanks to the dedicated public servants that helped our Fellows navigate City Hall and champion our mission. And to the Cities that opened their doors, their minds, and their databases to the 2012 Fellows. When I first heard I was going to Honolulu, I thought, “That’s amazing! The beach, surfing, exploringRead… Read more »

Confessions of a justified camper

A little while ago, Paul Coxon wrote a blog post querying the long term viability of unconferences in the public sector. I didn’t respond, because I felt I couldn’t do so without sounding defensive and chippy. This evening, the weekly Twitter chat, #lgovsm, was based on Paul’s ideas. I did decide to involve myself, andRead… Read more »

Having a website crash due to high traffic is a failure of management, not load

Today has provided an interesting lesson for several organisations, with the crash of both the David Jones and ClickFrenzy websites in Australia. But first, some background. ClickFrenzy is a new 24-hour sale for Australian online retailers starting from 7pm on Tuesday 20 November. Based on the US ‘Cyber Monday’ sale, which now attracts over 10Read… Read more »

The Cure for Social Media Pitfalls – 5 Guidelines for Getting Recognized

With the constant barrage of social media status updates and endless marketing ploys that rage around you, how can you ensure you are heard above all the static? How can you use social media to effectively communicate your image and message? Last week I discussed a few social media personalities that drive me crazy. ThisRead… Read more »

Policy Analysis is What Policy Analysts Do

What do policy analysts in government do (besides the cheeky definition above offered by Arnold Meltsner [1976: vii])? And more to the point, what do practicing policy analysts think they do, and what do they think they should be doing? In my recent dissertation research, I came at this question by asking practicing policy analystsRead… Read more »

Program Management in an Era of Tight Budgets – How Strategic Sourcing Could Loosen the Squeeze

By Tom Kuhn, PhD and Fellow, DAWIA III from Integrity Matters blog For a better part of twelve years the federal budget has been pretty ample and programs were free to operate in a much more flexible environment. “Supplemental” allotments of funding were in large supply at the Department of Defense (DoD). Then the faucetRead… Read more »

The winner of the 2012 Government Big Data Solutions Award is the National Cancer Institute

By BobGourley The Government Big Data Solutions Award was established to highlight innovative solutions and facilitate the exchange of best practices, lessons learned and creative ideas for addressing Big Data challenges. The Top Five Nominees of 2012 were chosen for criteria that included: Focus on current solutions: The ability to make a difference in governmentRead… Read more »

NYC replaces payphones with touchscreens,

By RyanKamauff via GigaOM Here are the top tech news and stories of the day. New York City replaces 250 public pay phones with iPad-like screens – after the effects of Superstorm Sandy, regular phone booths were suddenly hubs for communication. NYC will be installing smart screens that will “provide city information, emergency broadcasts andRead… Read more »

Why do I need to “Transform” my organization?

Are strange forces at work driving change in your organization? Why do I need to transform the organization? Wouldn’t a little tweak here or change there be good enough? I like to use the term organizational transformation because I think it more clearly portrays the shift in thinking and execution required to effect real changeRead… Read more »