There is no such thing as a “filibuster-proof majority” In his State of the Union address to Congress last week, President Barack Obama asked the U.S. Senate to amend or abolish its filibuster rules to break the Congressional gridlock. Don’t hold your breath. Neither party wants to change those rules because they always benefit theRead… Read more »
Dr. Paul Giammalvo and I have a lot of heated and fun discussions about project management best practices. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree vehemently. From Paul: “As you know, I am NOT a fan of “ad hoc” or creating customized WBS’ unless absolutely necessary. (And how many projects are TRULY unique) I spend anRead… Read more »
A key element in organization (and work units within an organization) success is its structure – how its work activities are organized; and how responsibility and authority are identified. Structure affects how employees – even at the very top of the organization – execute their responsibilities and authority, coordinate and work with others and achieveRead… Read more »
As federal agencies tighten their belts, they’ll be questioning the value of citizen participation initiatives under the Obama Open Government Initiative. Do they lead to better results or reduced costs? A new report, “A Manager’s Guide to Evaluating Citizen Participation,” by Tina Nabatchi, an assistant professor at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, is designedRead… Read more »
I’ve got the exact amount of time it takes me to get dressed, get ready for work, eat breakfast, and get to work, as well as the order in which to do them in (keeping in mind that dressing always comes before the commute to work), down to a by-the-minute science. This is probably theRead… Read more »
A few years ago, MIT’s Smart Cities project developed the idea for the City Car. You may remember the City Car – it’s the one that folds up into itself when parked, the one that opens from the front, and the one that takes up 1/3 the space of a normal-sized vehicle on the street.Read… Read more »
Around this time, various IT and professional web sites list what they consider the top skills for the coming year. It’s interesting to look back and see what skills stay on the lists, what skills fall off the list, and the new skills that appear. I haven’t seen such a list for government workers soRead… Read more »
American City and County Magazine ran an article recently titled Trimming the fat-or-not with Lean Six Sigma by Stephen Ursery. The article refers to the success of Lean Six Sigma in Irving Texas and its failure in Erie County, New York, according to Mark Cornell spokesperson for Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. In Irving Texas,Read… Read more »
This post has been on my mind for a while now, and a recent article on the topic from Policy Horizons Canada finally brought this to the top of my “blog topics” list (which seems to have a leaking hole in it these days…sorry about that). As always, I like to start with a definition:Read… Read more »
Derek Hyra, associate professor in Virginia Tech’s Urban Affairs and Planning Program, has been elected to a one-year term as chair of the board of commissioners for the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority, a public agency that provides affordable housing in the City of Alexandria. Hyra, who lives and works in Alexandria, Va., has servedRead… Read more »