Leadership

The Federal Coach: Young and in Government

How can young leaders provide more support to their agencies without being in senior-level management positions? –Federal Supervisors (GS-14), Environmental Protection Agency This question reflects the can-do attitude and energetic approach that we need in government. Here’s the good news. Smart, senior leaders will be looking for people like you given the ever-expanding mission demands,Read… Read more »

Governance Framework: Mechanisms for Inforation Management and SharePoint

Much of the Governance Models I’ve seen as of late still focus heavily upon how to set permissions in SharePoint. In previous blog post I stated I don’t believe this is governance but rather the enforcement end of governance. It this posting I’ll address some of the aspects of establishing a governance. For me theRead… Read more »

Why Johnny Can’t Do the Four Cs

Sandi Edwards’ article, Educated Workers Short On Skills Government Needs Most, published in the online publication, Aol Government, puts a new slant on the “why Johnny can’t read” debate. Only this time it has to do with the four Cs instead of the three Rs. In case, you’ve forgotten, here are the “The Four Cs:”Read… Read more »

I.T. Governance / SharePoint Governance

Had great discuss with my friend Owen Allen, SharePointDirections.com last night that help me remember and crystalized some the concepts and principles I remember putting together when I developed the IT Governance in the mid-90s at Microsoft as part of establishing an internal Enterprise Architecture Practice. Some of the points I was making back thenRead… Read more »

Local Gov IBM Report: Smarter, Faster, Cheaper

This morning I read an interesting report from IBM, Smarter, Faster, Cheaper, An Operations Efficiency Benchmarking Study of 100 American Cities. IBM provides a bleak report of local governments in the introduction, the authors state: According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), local governments in the United States are collectively facing a $225 billion structuralRead… Read more »

Evolution For Everyone

David Sloan Wilson’s Evolution For Everyone is a wonderful, important book on many levels. The book contains the story of a beginning evolutionary biologist’s stories of interesting fieldwork, then becoming an “Evolutionist,” expanding the study of evolution beyond biology, which creates a strain when a new field of study threatens many practitioners of older fieldsRead… Read more »

Daily Dose: The End of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Era

Today is an important day for the military, as the Pentagon lifts the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. For the first time in 18 years, troops can “publicly reveal that they’re gay without fear of official retribution”. Enlistees who tell military recruiters, and troops discharged under the ban who are eager to reenlist, willRead… Read more »