Tech

Resilient Communities, Efficient Governments: Tools for Today and Tomorrow

Natural disasters. Budget crises. Significant technological failures. In today’s interconnected world, a single disruptive event can have negative repercussions on a community long after the initial impact. This makes the imperative for a swift recovery a priority for state and local government. The ultimate goal is to make the community resilient to such events; itRead… Read more »

Mad Men and the Fear of Trading Martinis for Spreadsheets

“Now, try not to be overwhelmed by all this technology,” Joan tells new secretary Peggy Olson, showing her to a Selectric typewriter in the series opening of Mad Men. While humorous to the viewer, actual secretaries in the 1960s had a substantial learning curve when getting a new and improved typewriter. Since then, things haveRead… Read more »

The First Cut is the Deepest – Especially When It’s From Your Boss

“The first cut is the deepest” is a lyric from a popular Sheryl Crowe song – but it could also easily be the mantra for any employee struggling with an abusive boss. Many bosses (not mine, thankfully) like to employ the fear tactic to inspire their employees to work harder and stay on task. ButRead… Read more »

Should the Government be Involved in Product Commercialization?

Some government research programs place a large emphasis on product development. At the same time, as government employees, we must be very careful not to appear to endorse any particular company or product. How can we reconcile these two concepts? One thing that probably doesn’t surprise you about being a government employee is that weRead… Read more »

3 Ways Developers Can Give Back to #LocalGov

From the very beginning our app has always been about helping local governments, residents, and organizations on a local level. Reporting graffiti in your neighborhood, fighting for clean air, sharing comments with your neighbors, or even just getting news updates from your local council member. But, more than just helping our customers, we as aRead… Read more »

10 Actions You Should Take Now to Be a Successful Leader

You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself. — Sam Levinson I’ve interviewed over 450 government and contractor managers over the last fifteen years as part of a business growth assessment process. Besides getting to know a lot of sincere dedicated individuals, I’ve beenRead… Read more »

Anatomy of Book Content: Focus on Back Matter — Print and eBooks

ANATOMY OF BOOK CONTENT: FOCUS ON BACK MATTER –Print and eBooks With the formatting of eBooks, many back cover elements are missing when compared to traditional print paperback and hardcover books with jackets. . Some of these areas include jacket copy where a publisher would provide a description “About the Author” to establish the personRead… Read more »

How to Avoid a Target-Like Hack

On December 18th, 2013, the public was informed about one of the biggest data thefts in history; nearly one-third of American consumers were in jeopardy of their information becoming compromised via a massive Target hack. As more information unfolded, it became clear that Target was both the victim and the culprit. Evidently, hackers had begunRead… Read more »

Accelerating State Financial Transparency – 11 Steps To Take Right Now

We know that government is slow to adopt new technologies and change. But the technologies now exist to provide you as a constituent or as a state leader with the ability to see where state dollars are being spent and what results are being achieved virtually in real-time. It is now only a question ofRead… Read more »