You wouldn’t go to a new restaurant without checking out the Yelp reviews, but government might buy a billion dollar software system without checking the data first. But now government is trying to reverse the trend. They are starting to use performance data to create better government decision-making. Chris Mihm, Managing Director of Strategic IssuesRead… Read more »
Champions of performance management in government are confounded. After decades of trying to integrate the use of performance information into agency decision-making, it still isn’t happening on as broad a scale as once hoped. The initial premise twenty years ago was that if performance information was made readily available, it would be used by agencyRead… Read more »
By Cindy Wilkins, PMP, SCEA Your team may have spent hours and hours considering the program management, risk management and quality assurance issues involved in letting a new government contract. But have you pulled the key information about how that contract will be managed into a single plan? A Contract Management Plan (CMP) is oneRead… Read more »
Hurricane season is well under way, and we’re highlighting some of our reports and resources that can help inform federal disaster management in events such as hurricanes. 2014’s first named storm, Hurricane Arthur, has already found a place in the record books. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service, July 3rd—whenRead… Read more »
Harvard’s Bob Behn has been working on his latest book about the “-Stat” movement for more than a decade. I’ve been eagerly awaiting its release and told him I would read and share my impressions with others. In his inimitable response, he just asked that I spelled “Behn” and “PerformanceStat” correctly. Since 2001, Dr. BehnRead… Read more »
As summer’s barbecues and beach days wind down, so do the experiences of a select group of graduate and undergraduate students in GAO’s Student Intern Program. We talked to some of them about their experiences. Student interns are hired to contribute to our teams and gain experience in the roles of analysts, program staff, orRead… Read more »
As GAO has produced reports over the years, we’ve used graphics to help showcase our findings. With innovations in how we publish our reports, our graphic style has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. The 1980s We used rapidograph pens and Letraset machines to set graphics into typewritten reports. This example of a graphicRead… Read more »
I’ve been getting calls from reporters who are asking whether President Obama is interested in government management. But a management innovation he introduced in the early days of his administration is finally taking off. Sometimes it takes a few years to find out if a management innovation works. Background. Early in the Obama Administration, OMBRead… Read more »
“Trust but verify” was President Ronald Reagan’s mantra during the Cold War. But today, “trust” is a key element to creating effective cross-agency networks to get things done. But what, exactly, is “trust,” and how do you know what to look for? Increasingly, addressing public management challenges requires the use of collaborative networks across aRead… Read more »
OMB releases first quarterly progress reports for the 2014-2015 round of agency priority goals. The Obama Administration in 2009 directed agencies to identify a small handful of priorities that they would commit to achieving in a two-year timeframe. This initiative was embedded into the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010. Agencies are required to identify priorityRead… Read more »