Most of us cannot wait to wash our hands of 2008 – It was a tumultuous, emotional, surprising and bitter year for so many. But scrub as we might, it’s going to be difficult to remove the stains of fear, uncertainty and doubt from our collective conscious. So perhaps it’s foolhardy to continue with theRead… Read more »
It’s a punchline right, “Good enough for government work?” Certainly not the attitude at your agency or mine, but “Good enough for government work” has something to teach us when evaluating IT alternatives. Benefit/Cost Ratio is calculated by dividing the total present value benefits by the total present value costs. Where costs exceed benefits, theRead… Read more »
I just received today’s installment of “The Daily Pipeline” from the Partnership for Public Service and was angered when I read the opinion piece by Thomas Schweich entitled “Generation No.” Here’s how he starts his thoughts: “You know you have arrived when you get interviewed by the 29-year-old instead of the 22-year-old,” the 57-year-old foreignRead… Read more »
Ed O’Keefe’s Federal Eye blog this morning had an enlightening post about how many of the leaders in the intelligence community are baby-boomers poised for retirement. In fact, there was a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing yesterday that highlighted these concerns. To be more precise, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission putRead… Read more »
I’ll be writing a series of posts on Cost/Benefit Analysis. First the Government line: baseline excerpts from government hosted publications regarding cost/benefit analysis, and links back to the publication. OMB Circular A094 – Guidelines and Discount Rates for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Federal Programs: …A program is cost-effective if, on the basis of life cycle costRead… Read more »
I caught an article recently about a Louisiana House committee questioning a proposal to put state agencies on a shorter workweek. Of course thsi is being sold as a cost-saving idea by the sponsoring legislator. State Rep. Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, asked the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations to consider changing state employees’ workweeksRead… Read more »
When the American auto industry became the next in line for a big government bailout, there were those who immediately tried to blame the unions. The topic of unions seems to come up in my world rather often, so I thought I’d make it this week’s subject. Are unions bad or good? Being a socialistRead… Read more »
I Introduction Is there anything called e-civil service or electronic civil service? If so, what is it? How does it differ from the traditional civil service? How can it keep pace with technological developments? What role does it have in Government 2.0? Is there any conflict between old conduct rules for the civil servants andRead… Read more »
I’m one of those guys who is a very big fan of Thanksgiving dinner. I like to help with the menu, the shopping, the preparation and the presentation. I enjoy the noise of a football game in the background and sneak peeks at the TV for a quick cheer and scream. And once the tableRead… Read more »
In the media, government employees are cast like they are a different species. Living underground in caves, we speak a different language (bureaucratize), have different morals (obscurity), and generally make your life difficult. One of the most interesting things I’ve found working in public service is the diversity of the public service. I’m particularly interestedRead… Read more »