Exit or Voice? How About Neither?

The very first post on this blog, published almost two years ago now, led with “Give us your hands, not just your voices.” I thought of that as I read a Reuters piece this morning entitled The Year We Gave Up on Government. It’s a fascinating piece, with a number of really thought-provoking observations andRead… Read more »

The Exciting Life of a Street Sweeper

I’ve never actually ridden in the street sweeper even though I’ve managed street sweeping operations in the past. But I can certainly imagine what it would be like. Day after day of driving about 10 miles an hour along the edge of every road carefully avoiding parked cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Then driving to theRead… Read more »

It’s All About the Crew

The second in my series of articles on the Virginia State Parks Youth Conservation Corps – an example of government at its best, preparing youth for the future. Year after year we tell park staff – the Youth Conservation Corps crew will get more done than you expect. Even parks that have had crews yearRead… Read more »

The Quickest Way To Deploy A Well Engineered Apache Hadoop Solution To A Production Environment

As a former enterprise CTO and current technology watcher, I was struck at the incredible brilliance of yesterday’s announcement by Dell and Cloudera. In a move that will help enterprises of all sizes serve a very wide range of missions, those two organizations have announced a new relationship that will enable something that has neverRead… Read more »

I’m at it again. What will I say this time about gov, technology and saving money?

Looks like it’s my turn in the barrel for another webinar about how govs can save money and increase efficiency by using modern technology. I have to admit that I am a bit keyed up about the direction technology is heading and now is the time to take advantage of the opportunities. Too often govsRead… Read more »

Setting Sustainable Water Rates

Raising water or sewer rates is never a popular move, and in this economy many have tried to avoid it as if they are fleeing from a zombie apocalypse. But for many utilities expenditures are exceeding revenues, and there’s sometimes little choice other than a rate increase. You can only cut so much from aRead… Read more »

Free PMP Exam Sample Question

The following PMP® exam sample question is taken from The Free PMP Exam Simulator at http://free.pm-exam-simulator.com – The answer is at the very bottom: —————————— The team members follow what the project manager tells them because they fear that the manager has the authority to provide negative feedback in their appraisal. Which of the followingRead… Read more »