Dan Chenok

For the duration of their time in office, the president and members of the administration will seek to make smart and timely decisions that advance a presidential agenda and respond to emerging challenges.

Some decisions, such as those that inform the budget, will follow well-worn processes and timelines.  In other cases, new decision processes will address emerging challenges. How incoming leaders make decisions will significantly influence the effectiveness of their choices.

Michelle Cullen, Senior Editor within IBM, recently had the opportunity to sit down with Jason Goldman, the first Chief Digital Officer of the White House, to discuss his Office’s online engagement strategy and outreach. Jason was part of the Blogger team acquired in 2003 by Google, where he worked as a product manager until 2006. In 2007, he was on the founding team of Twitter Inc. where he was Head of Product and served on the board of directors until 2010.

Last week, President Obama signed the extension of the Patriot Act into law.  The President did so while in Europe, based on an instruction that in order to prevent the legislation from expiring, an autopen should be used to place the President's signature on the bill.

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra announced the Administration’s 25-point plan for IT reform last December.  Since that time, and much attention has focused on reviewing the plan’s elements (including in this blog), and OMB has led an active implementation agenda to achieve the milestones laid out by the plan.  Last week’s White House meeting with IT leaders added an important new component t

Blog Co-Author:  Alan Howze, Fellow

When the transition is completed and the next President sworn in on January 20, 2017, the new administration will get to work. But what actions should be prioritized? How can the wheels of government be leveraged most effectively?  How can the new team avoid re-inventing the wheel?

Cybersecurity continues to be a major focus for Congress and the Administration, and a major investment area for government and industry (see prior blog summary).  Efforts to strengthen security are often based on a traditional cause and effect model – agencies do x, hoping for a result of y.

A majority of the country, and virtually the entire Federal Government, now uses the Internet to do business, learn about programs, shop, talk to friends, and engage in a host of other activities.  Some 2 billion people around the world engage in online commerce that will soon exceed $10 trillion; individuals place their information and trust in the many large and small businesses that provide services over the web.  In order to operate online, both the sender and the recipient have to trust what each other is doing. 

Blog Co-Author:  Alan Howze, Fellow

The Federal government’s recent establishment of the Unified Shared Services Management (USSM) office at the General Services Administration has propelled cross-agency efforts led by the Office of Management and Budget, by providing additional support to shared services efforts managed by the Department of the Treasury for financial management, and the Office of Personnel Management for human resources. State and local governments are also moving forward to take advantage of the benefits that shared services bring in terms of costs savings and improved performance.