As I get ready to turn my computer off and head home – breathing a sigh of relief that today at least I have no evening activities – I wanted to share a little conversation I just had with one of my agency heads about balancing work with being a real human being. I recentlyRead… Read more »
Water resource issues rarely garner front-page attention. Aside from the attention gained from a major drought or flood, clean abundant water is taken for granted and concerns over water resources are not well-publicized. So, when a good book comes out and a newspaper of record runs an interview with its author, we thought it wasRead… Read more »
This past Saturday the Toronto Star published the following piece by Taylor Owen and myself on its op-ed page. Thought I’d put it here for those who might have missed it. Liberals have to create a new political centre Canadians may have once valued the Liberal party, but they reject what it has become. TheRead… Read more »
Rahm Emanuel will be sworn in today as mayor of Chicago. The Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman has Q&A’s with the future mayor, three of which are about his famous temper. Emanuel eventually responded: “It’s not anger. It’s drive to get results to do something with this. . . . I will drive myself harder than IRead… Read more »
I still haven’t really got my head around mobile apps and their use for government services. However, James Coltham wrote up some excellent notes from a meeting up in Scotland on the subject recently: There is definitely a groundswell of interest, though, as well as a growing demand from the public, making for interesting timesRead… Read more »
Having been inside many governmental organizations, I can tell you that it will take a LOT more effort to get people to change. One of oft misunderstood positives of a government organization is that they aren’t driven by profit or the bottom line. Sometimes lethargy can actually be good in a giant and vast bureaucracy.Read… Read more »
Geospatial technology has become a reality of everyday life. We map out locations on Google, send tweets with geotags, and find food trucks nearby (especially the last one). But increasingly, these capabilities are proving to have profound potential for reshaping how government delivers services. With that in mind, the National Academy of Public Administration willRead… Read more »
I am at this moment getting ready to walk out the door and to my first day of work at GovLoop. Without having yet started or even met most of my colleagues, I already feel most welcome, and I can’t wait to get going. Very much looking forward to what the next three months holdRead… Read more »
The U.S. has an obesity crisis, and we all need to take personal responsibility for our health. This is, I think, especially important for those of us in federal service. Check this news item for some interesting recent scientific finds: http://news.yahoo.com/20110515.if_nm_life/us_obesity_genes