When I think of the future of technological innovation and development, my mind first goes to artificial intelligence and robots. But technological innovation doesn’t have to be quite as grandiose, and digital innovation is present today. In terms of government, local, state and federal agencies are challenging their former risk-adverse natures and creating new innovationRead… Read more »
Where do innovation ideas come from? Conventional wisdom says organizations must look outside to innovate. Innovative ideas exist out there, not in here. Not where everyone is too vested in the status quo. Too risk averse and change resistant. But wisdom isn’t conventional and innovative ideas aren’t rare gems to be found. Innovation is aRead… Read more »
Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth. The Himalayan peak’ is more than 29,000 feet above sea level. And only a few more than 5,000 intrepid climbers have ever reached the top. Those who have reached the summit have done so with the help of trusty guides and with the insights of climbers ofRead… Read more »
I don’t know about you, but I dread explaining my job to my family members back home. And with the holidays just a few weeks away, I know I am going to get asked, “You write about government employees all day? Why? They are just boring bureaucrats.” As I sit at the table, eating myRead… Read more »
As January 1 draws near, rankings and recaps of this year’s accomplishments will be published with fervor. You have probably already read innumerable lists that tout government achievements—things like building smarter cities, implementing novel technology, and finding new ways to engage citizens—in 2014. Understandably, big innovations receive big attention. Yet other accomplishments, particularly those where a traditional process isRead… Read more »
Companies small and large talk often about the need to be more innovative, but progress without reflection misses a crucial component of cultural innovation. That is, how often do these companies reward top people and their projects? The EPA Innovation Team has several goals: support innovative bench science in the laboratories, demonstrate the power ofRead… Read more »
I am going to be brutally honest with you. It’s a tough time to be a federal employee. For the fourth year in a row, The Best Places to Work data showed a decline in federal employee satisfaction. The Partnership for Public Service found government-wide, federal employee job satisfaction and commitment fell 0.9 points to aRead… Read more »
One of the first questions managers ask about innovation is how to form an innovation team. Who should be on it? What should they do? To whom should they report? Many government organizations are already committed to more than they have hours in a day to manage, and forming an innovation team seems out ofRead… Read more »
This article is an excerpt from a recent research brief with Appian, Accelerating Government Transformation With IT, which includes a survey of 178 public-sector professionals who identified the challenges, best practices and importance of adopting digital transformation solutions. DISA provides advanced information technology and immediate communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, militaryRead… Read more »
In our last post we introduced the concept of the New IP – the software-centric, open IT environment designed to support federal tech priorities like mobility and the cloud. Over a series of Federal Insights posts, we are putting together a checklist to help agencies make the shift to the New IP. Demanding open standards from technologyRead… Read more »