Weekly Round-up: August 16, 2013

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

• Governing by Remote Control? In Government Technology, Tom Spengler writes “Why Mobile Devices Should Replace the Town Hall,” arguing that “mobile devices [can] help fight political apathy and bring town hall to our fingertips.” The role of mobile in governing is important, and though I think he goes too far, it’s an important conversation to have. Bonus: How will we get more technology in our civic spaces? Civic hackers, of course! Wall Street Journal reports.
• How We Pool Our Money, 21st-Century Style. The Chris Voss Show shares an infographic about crodwfunding.
• How (and Why) We Work, 21st-Century Style. In Gov Exec, Adam Grant covers the current understanding of what drives Millennials in the work place.
• A Round-up in a Round-Up. Here’s what Lisa Nelson and the Social Media team at GSA has been reading.
• Voted Most Engaging. The federal government has made available its Measured Voice dashboard so we can see the most engaging content shared on Twitter.
• Because I care: Fast Company on how to fight eye strain. For those of us who look at glowing screens for much of our day.

Dan Chenok

• SESers assess the future of sequestration.
• OPM issues rules to ease recruitment for specialized talent.
• Lessons on mobility from the innovation leaders in government.

John Kamensky

• Put It on Credit! The inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a report that encourages wider use of purchase cards in the VA. After years of GAO reports that call for tighter control to reduce instances of fraud, the VA IG says that increasing the use of purchase cards could save up to $24 million a year in administrative costs.
• What’s in a Name? The Government Printing Office may change its name, if its new head gets her way. Charles Cook, Government Executive, writes: “Davita Vance-Cooks, who will be sworn in as the next public printer on Aug. 21, has made no secret of her goals for maintaining the relevance of the Government Printing Office by embracing the digital revolution.” A symbol of this embrace will be to change the name to the Government Publishing Office. The initials “GPO” remain!!
• Ten Entertaining Government Apps. Gamifying government is one approach to increasing citizen engagement, says California’s Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom in his new book, Citizenville. A great GovLoop blog post by Samantha Holquist provides hotlinks to ten federal apps that she found entertaining and engaging. You might, too!
• Coping With Budget Austerity. The Senior Executives Association sponsored a roundtable of recipients of the Presidential Rank Award to learn from them the frontline impact of the sequester. These recipients are among the top 100 or so career executives in the government, so their perspectives are particularly poignant. Here’s a summary of their insights.

Michael Keegan

Leadership in Action
The IBM Center has released the latest The Business of Government Magazine http://bit.ly/1eJCJXv and my blog http://bit.ly/14LCOeL

DoD on track to achieve audit readiness
The Pentagon’s deputy chief management officer says DoD’s new Strategic Management Plan lays the groundwork for the department to meet the requirements of the Statement of Budgetary Resources in 2014 and the Financial Improvement Audit Readiness Plan by 2017.

DoD to ‘sprint’ in IT acquisition, accept more risk
The director of the Defense Information Systems Agency says the agency will spend the next year focusing on a faster, more agile acquisition process to accelerate the way it delivers technology, rather than letting procurements drag on for years.

Army Corps of Engineers worries about a shrinking pool of talent
The Army Corps of Engineering is already having difficulty recruiting candidates for certain fields, and it’s convinced the problem will worsen unless STEM graduation rates increase.

Senior Leaders Advised to Adopt an ‘Us’ Mentality
Progress on the government’s major challenges will come only when more senior executives recognize the need for an “enterprise” approach based on interagency trust and collaboration. Seven experienced agency managers discussed this issue at a Brookings Institution panel marking publication of the book, Tackling Wicked Government Problems: A Practical Guide for Enterprise Leaders.

The Business of Government Radio Show: David Wyld

The Business of Government Hour features a conversation about management with a government executive who is changing the way government

What is meant by the concept of tail spend? How can government executives best address tail spend management; and what are better ways to manage the long tail of acquisition spending in public sector agencies? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and the IBM Center report, Controlling Federal Spending by Managing the Long Tail of Procurement with David Wyld.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Wednesday at noon, on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED

If you can’t wait, though, you can listen to (or download) this week’s program and all our previous interviews at businessofgovernment.org and by searching our audio archives.