Collaboration

John Kamensky Fix, Don’t Kill Telework. Eyebrows have been raised over perceived misuse of telework at the Patent and Trademark Office. But Jeffrey Neal, a former chief human capital officer at Homeland Security, tells Federal News Radio that “Rather than attempting to reverse telework programs, we should be working on fixing the problems. Nothing I have experienced, heard from people currently in government, or read tells me telework and other workplace flexibilities should be killed. . . .

John Kamensky

OMB Updates Performance.gov.  OMB posted third quarter performance progress updates for cross-agency and agency-specific priority goals on performance.gov.  In an accompanying blog post, OMB director Shawn Donovan highlights some specific accomplishments.

Government and non-profits have already been pioneering the use of collaborative networks over the past two decades to solve complex societal challenges such as clean waterways, reducing child abuse, serving the mentally ill in the community, and reducing smoking. Much of this pioneering work has been done without a roadmap of what works and when using networks is more effective than relying on traditional hierarchies or the marketplace to achieve public goals.

(This article was previously published by Government Executive and was written with Kymm McCabe of ASI Government.) The recent series of columns “3 Myths That Cripple Acquisition” stressed that acquisition transformation, not just reform, is critical to enable the federal government to effectively lead in the Collaboration Age. Now it’s time to chart a course forward toward such transformation. The expectation that government and acquisition should be zero-defect enterprises undermines innovation and constrains transformation by requiring layers of oversight and generating risk aversion.

(This article was previously published by Government Executive and was written with Kymm McCabe of ASI Government.) The recent series of columns “3 Myths That Cripple Acquisition” stressed that acquisition transformation, not just reform, is critical to enable the federal government to effectively lead in the Collaboration Age. Now it’s time to chart a course forward toward such transformation. The expectation that government and acquisition should be zero-defect enterprises undermines innovation and constrains transformation by requiring layers of oversight and generating risk aversion.

My goal in blogging has been to provide context, insight, and inspiration on government management challenges for public sector managers, especially at the U.S. federal level. Following are blog posts from the past year organized around several themes, largely reflecting the trends reflected in the IBM Center’s research agenda. Hope you find this useful!

A recent survey of 400 global company CEOs found that executing their company's strategy heads their list of challenges. Related studies show two-thirds to three-quarters of large organizations struggle to implement their strategies. What these studies found sounds very familiar to what seems to occur in government, as well. I've been writing about the importance of cross-functional collaboration for years - within an agency, across agencies, across levels of government.

U.S. CIO Tony Scott: OMB's draft FITARA guidance aims to advance IT reform. OMB released the much-anticipated guidance to reform how agencies buy and manage information technology for public comments. The comment period will remain open until May 30, but federal CIO Tony Scott, in an exclusive Federal News Radio interview, said OMB wants to move on the comments and refinements with a sense of urgency. DHS' Unity of Effort seeds the roots of change. The joint requirements council is one of the best examples of just how much the Homeland Security Department has changed over the last year.