A Pivotal Period for Afghanistan: Interview with Larry Sampler, assistant to the USAID Administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan

In advance of the Afghan Presidential election run-off scheduled for June 14, Larry Sampler, assistant to the USAID Administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan join me on The Business of Government to explore how USAID has sought to promote stability and order in Afghanistan and what is USAID’s three-fold transition strategy. The following is an excerptRead… Read more »

Productivity Improvements — From Cloud-Based Apps

Cloud based communication and collaboration services help you ease into the daunting world of cloud-based services by using the most mature product. These products offer rich features at a low price without the hassle of managing the infrastructure. The major players are Google Apps for Government and Microsoft Office 365. I have used both andRead… Read more »

To Infinity and Beyond – Or At Least to Savings

Space: the final frontier. When you look into the night sky, up at the stars, you can’t help but dream of exploration. A trip to the moon. A map of the constellations. A ride on a solar flare. But in 2011, NASA changed the space game: they terminated the space shuttle program. But that didn’tRead… Read more »

Controlling Your Inbox: How to Use Email More Productively

The second week of June is Email Week. To pay respect to my former “you’ve got mail” addiction, I’m focusing this week’s blog on email. I need to provide this caveat, any similarity to real person or real events is coincidental and for educational purposes only. Let’s begin. Imagine you are the sole survivor, theRead… Read more »

How Do You Get in on the Ground Floor of Big Data?

How do you get in on the ground floor of big data? Programming? Statistics? Research experience? Last week I questioned the idea of leaving behind our traditional models of data analysis in favor of big data. Much like being the last kid in your grade school class to get the famed New Kids on theRead… Read more »

Declining Budgets, Staff, Doesn’t Mean Decline in Productivity

Too frequently, small government agencies are stifled by budget cuts, lack of funding, and the fear of being stonewalled by a higher branch. Congress and the Executive branch want these agencies (and the nation) to succeed, but sometimes unforeseen challenges prevent them from achieving maximum success. Too frequently, employees at an organization are stifled byRead… Read more »

Do you need a Career Exit Strategy?

During my parents’ generation, people often stayed at the same company or organization for decades until they were ready to retire. Fast forward to the year 2014, and people are staying on average 4.4 years according to a recent article in Forbes magazine. The transition in staff as well as the loss of an organization’sRead… Read more »

It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s Superman!…nope, even better: it’s NASA

It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s Superman!…nope, even better: it’s NASA. NASA has eyes in the skies, helping to monitor and protect us. Each day, NASA satellites collect and transmit valuable data about environmental conditions on earth, including climate change and the impact of natural disasters. But this information is useless without theRead… Read more »

Where’s the Love? The #1 Reason Managers Aren’t Providing You Enough Feedback

How many of you are supervisors who wish you were giving more feedback and recognition to your staffs? How many of you are employees who wish you were getting more feedback and recognition from your boss? Whatever side of the question you fall on, manager and employee engagement through feedback and recognition is an essentialRead… Read more »

Don’t run your R&D Program in a Vacuum: Establishing a stakeholder input process

[This is the 3rd blog in the series on ‘Exploring Government R&D Program Fundamentals’. Visit Blog 1: Keys to a Successful R&D Program and Blog 2: Setting R&D Program Goals & Principles] Want to know a sure-fire way of shooting your R&D program in the proverbial foot? Fail to engage stakeholders creatively and consistently. It’sRead… Read more »

Project Management