Just reading these interviews shows you the Internet is evolving. And as the Internet evolves, so will contract specialists. See, we’re partly paid to be walking-talking-regulation-spouting machines, meaning we understand the Federal Acquisition Regulation and its several-bazillion supplements. And as much as the Internet has impacted contract specialists, more changes are coming. Mobile FARing FARSiteRead… Read more »
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Three Goals for 2011
Ah, a new calendar year! A fresh start! Time to look at the year ahead and figure out how we can make the best of it. So, what goals would I set as a government communicator? Three things jump to the top of my list. Develop and implement a governmentwide customer service strategy Most ofRead… Read more »
The Best of 2010
OK, holidays are nearing an end; and I’m back to thinking about government communications and customer service. What a year it’s been! Great progress in some areas, like social media. Modest progress toward our long-time goal to make top customer tasks easier to find and use. Not much progress at all (in fact, slippage) inRead… Read more »
Best of 2010: State and City Blogs
Last week we cranked out the Top 5 Federal Blogs of the year and it just wouldn’t be fair not to do the same for state and local. Not trying to throw feds under the bus but often time state and especially local folks can do some really cool things quicker because there is lessRead… Read more »
The Social Security Administration asks for feedback on its Agency Strategy Plan, the Department of Defense supports plain language, the Department of Agriculture heads for the cloud, and federal agencies get kudos for their social media endeavors, all in this week’s chilly edition of the Gov2.0 Roundup. —Every citizen has a vested interest in theRead… Read more »
Three Thoughts As I Deck the Halls
I’ve been neglecting this blog. Too busy with holiday doings. So before I forget them, here are three quick thoughts that might deserve longer pieces…after the holidays. 1. Dashboards I’m beginning to wonder about the wisdom of all these performance “dashboards.” I understand that, in the spirit of open government, it’s good to have someRead… Read more »
That “Ah-Ha!” Moment
I had been HUD’s web manager for 8 years before I actually watched someone use our website during usability testing. We had won awards for our customer-friendly content, and I was just so sure that we had most of it right. Then I watched 3 people struggle to find the answers to, what we thoughtRead… Read more »
Train Your Agency Web Team – Regularly
I just returned from a great two-day training session with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service web team, in Indianapolis. Kudos to Debra Harris for organizing it. She’s a real emerging leader in the web community. I was doing the training, but that isn’t what made these two days great (well, gosh, maybe I hadRead… Read more »
What’s Next?
A couple of weeks ago, after I’d cut loose with some ideas for the government web community (and witnessed the weary and wary looks on my web colleagues’ faces), my good friend Bev Godwin bailed me out by saying, “as long as I’ve known Candi, she’s always asked ‘what’s next?’ We need to keep askingRead… Read more »
Metrics That Matter
In my Web Manager University course, “Delivering Great Customer Service – Essentials for Government Web Managers,” I do a section on “metrics that matter.” I often start by asking folks if they collect performance data. Heads nod. Then I ask them what they do with it – how they use it. Most use stats toRead… Read more »