“We depend on applications today,” stated Zach Trusty, Senior Solutions Engineer at Riverbed Technology. Think about how often you check the weather app to pick out an outfit or check all your social media sites from your phone. Applications are a constant in our lives. Applications are frequently used, but they are routinely updated asRead… Read more »
Troy Mathis knows how to talk. And he speaks in a way that makes you want to listen. His session -Make It Matter: Personal Professional Branding, at the Next Generation of Government Training Summit was high-energy, engaging, and inspiring. After listening to his presentation and going through the steps, I’ve come away with the realizationRead… Read more »
How do you create a performance-and-results culture in your agency? Background. Over the past two decades, the performance movement has made steady progress. It has resulted in a focus on performance and results via strategic and annual operating plans, a supply of performance information to track progress of these plans; a demand for performance informationRead… Read more »
Innately, we as humans don’t like problems. We like things to run smoothly, with no hiccups or bumps in the road. But therein lies the problem. Because we want so desperately to be problem-free, when they do come up, we are overwhelmed by them. But now that I’ve brought this to your attention, this willRead… Read more »
I work for a culture (the Air Force) that prides itself on innovation and a mission-first approach. However, in a long-term work project involving process mapping and process design for an internal customer, I’ve also noticed a culture of workarounds driven by several factors: 1) obsolete yet required forms; 2) lack of concrete guidance fromRead… Read more »
Too often managers use the excuse of “maintaining good order and discipline” to mob an employee out of government for other reasons completely. Overusing or misusing the disciplinary process is rampant, with “mobbing” or gang harassment on the rise. The real reason for this is usually “retaliation”. Retaliation against a whistleblower, retaliation against an employeeRead… Read more »
The 2013 Next Generation of Government Summit includes a speaker contest where nominations were solicited for topics that identified an innovative project or a great idea to revolutionize government. The uniqueness of the contest is that the speakers only had “5 minutes” to sell their idea. Although my topic was not selected, the challenge inspiredRead… Read more »
A sound understanding of your service (public or private sector) production and delivery assumptions and process, and your customers, can position you to make continuing improvements in all aspects of your service related processes. It’s important to understand and consider the interface(s) with your customers, how your customers are using the service and/or your internalRead… Read more »
Check out my new article on visual management posted at ww.OhMyGov.com Eighteen years ago, I walked into an organization, took at quick look at its space and quickly realized that it had only one sign up anywhere. The sign was on a supervisor’s desk and said, “What part of ‘no’don’t you understand?” Recently, I walkedRead… Read more »
Discussing innovation within the Federal Government typically brings to mind images of Todd Park and Vivek Kundra or the TSA IdeaFactory and DARPA. This is not the common face of innovation for many Federal leaders. Federal executives lead innovative organizational changes from process improvements to new acquisition strategies regularly. I want to know what lessonsRead… Read more »