The federal performance appraisal system is somewhat similar to performance reviews in other job sectors. It’s an assessment of how well you’re performing your duties, whether you’re meeting expectations, if your skills still align with the job you have, how well you communicate or work in groups, etc. Such appraisals come into play when itsRead… Read more »
Slow days happen for a couple of reasons. It could be that our workload is just lighter that day – say we’re waiting for necessary information to start on a project, or it’s simply the off season in your field. Or, maybe there are legitimate projects to be done, but because of burnout or generalRead… Read more »
Baby boomers are retiring in droves and the government is in desperate need of the next generation of public servants. But government doesn’t just want anybody – they want the best and the brightest. One program that is looking to help attract the top talent is the Presidential Management Fellowship program. For more than 35Read… Read more »
It’s a scary digital world out there. A recent GAO study found that cyber attacks on government have increased 782% between 2006 and 2012. With increasing amounts of sensitive data stored in your network or cloud, your agency faces risks that are not to be taken lightly. It’s not all doom and gloom, however. There are stepsRead… Read more »
Once upon a time, there was a young girl living in Fairfax County, yearning to go to school. She wanted nothing but to attend the best school in the safest neighborhood with a good police force. But the problem was that she had no way of figuring out which schools were in which areas. InRead… Read more »
Remember your teacher telling you to pay attention and “Get your head out of the clouds?” Well, times have changed, and it’s time to get your head in the cloud. Cloud computing, that is. With a simple internet search, it is easy to discover the many ways in which cloud computing is benefitting private andRead… Read more »
You wouldn’t go to a new restaurant without checking out the Yelp reviews, but government might buy a billion dollar software system without checking the data first. But now government is trying to reverse the trend. They are starting to use performance data to create better government decision-making. Chris Mihm, Managing Director of Strategic IssuesRead… Read more »
How many hours per day to you spend dealing with paper? One hour? Two hours? For many in state and local government, it can actually be upwards of six hours a day! That’s too much time dedicated to printing, filing and searching for information when you could be doing more important, mission-critical tasks. Fortunately, emerging technologyRead… Read more »
When I was little, I dreamed about growing up to be a princess. Not the kind that lives in an ivory tower and spends the royal treasury at the beach. The kind that actually helps her country. Now that I’m a little older, I have realized that we can’t all be Kate Middleton and haveRead… Read more »
When you’ve been given a task that stretches your skills, or requires knowledge you don’t have, how do you get up to speed quickly? (And impress your boss with how well you rose to the challenge?) I love taking on a new challenge – it gives me a chance to learn something new and breakRead… Read more »