ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

New President’s Management Agenda Released

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

This agenda articulates key management reform objectives as priority goals, as established by presidential executive orders and directives encompassing three themes: (1) shrink the government and eliminate waste, (2) ensure accountability for Americans, and (3) deliver results, buy American.

New PMA Demystified

Niskanen Center (Gabe Menchaca)

“It reads like two agendas stitched together: one technocratic, aimed at federal administrators, and one ideological, aimed at unofficial commissars and social media.”

Measuring Safety; Getting It Right

Barrett & Greene (Alex Trembley)

Crime rates shouldn’t be discarded as a measure of public safety, but they should be one indicator in a broader approach to measurement. Relying on crime statistics alone to judge safety is like judging a car’s performance only by engine failures.

Using AI in Program Evaluation

IBM Center for The Business of Government

This report by Daniel Fonner provides a timely and practical framework for integrating AI into an important function of government: program evaluation and performance auditing.

Performance Rankings Distract Readers from Paying Attention to Performance Info

Public Management Review

“Performance information is often presented in a ranked format. Rankings aggregate a multitude of performance dimensions into an overall score. Simultaneously, rankings may constrain cognitive processing of performance information because they distract users’ attention away from the information underlying the ranking calculation.”

Resource of the Week:  How to Measure Anything, 3^rd Edition

Douglas Hubbard (2014) Wiley Publishers

“The myth that certain things can’t be measured is a significant drain on our nation’s economy, public welfare, the environment, and even national security. In fact, the chances are good that some part of your life or your professional responsibilities is greatly harmed by a lack of measurement-by you, your firm, or even your government.”

WEBINAR:  Maryland Governor’s Office of Performance Improvement: Turning Data into Better Government (Tues., Dec. 9, 1:00 p.m. Eastern)

ASPA Center for Accountability and Performance

States across the country have perennially sought to improve their operations, using different approaches. This webinar will be a conversation with the State of Maryland’s first Chief Performance Officer who will provide an overview of how the State uses performance measurement, data analytics and management techniques to improve performance, spark innovation and save money.

WEBINAR:  Introducing the Evidence Act Hub (Wed., Dec. 10, 1:00 p.m. Eastern)

Data Foundation

This webinar will unveil the Evidence Act Hub—a new centralized platform for evidence-based policymaking resources. For the first time, federal agencies’ evidence plans, evaluation reports, and other vital U.S. data and evaluation resources will be accessible in a single, searchable location

Declining Foresight Capacity Is Alarming

Toffler Associates (Maria Bothwell)

We are living in a moment when the future refuses to stay “in the future.” On one front, major disruptions like geopolitical, technological, and environmental are cascading faster than our traditional planning cycles. On the other, the institutional capacity to “look ahead” is visibly contracting.

Resource of the Week:  How to Choose the Right Evaluation Methods

Illuminate, LLC

Good evaluation methods shape how people understand their work, how organizations learn, and how decisions are made. Choosing the right methods is one of the most important strategic choices in any evaluation.

Measuring Trust in Collaborative Governance

PATimes (Denis Hendrix)

Trust is not a one-time achievement; it’s a moving target. It evolves, matures, or erodes based on experience and consistency. Hendrix’s Collaborative Governance Trust Model recognizes trust as a dynamic quality built on three key attributes: reliability, transparency, and mutual respect.

Strategic Plans? Yep. Still Relevant!

The Charlotte Observer

Since he took office in May, N. Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles commissioner Paul Tine has said he wants his agency to be known for its good customer service, rather than as a source of dread and frustration. Here’s his 35-page strategic plan to better serve customers by 2030.

Buncombe County, NC, Okays Strategic Plan, Helene Recovery Plan

Blue Ridge Public Radio News

Two weeks after adopting a countywide strategic plan, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a separate document to guide recovery from Hurricane Helene. The 205-page recovery plan covers each of Buncombe’s six municipalities, along with unincorporated areas. County government is responsible for 31of the 114 listed projects,

Innovation and Performance in Singapore

GovInsider

Amelia Tang, deputy secretary for strategy in the Singapore Prime Minister’s Office said: “We didn’t call it design thinking back then. But under every major policy, our founding fathers had to understand and define the problems, come up with creative ideas, prototype them and constantly review these solutions,” . . . “It’s about moving away from providing services centered on agency lines to one that was around the actual lives of citizens,” She advocates “creative destruction” to achieve this improved performance.

Foresight, Targets, and Future Generations

Playing with Time Blog (Cat Tully)

Reflecting on a Tsinghua University Roundtable on Future Generations in Beijing, Tully “ was struck by the emerging interest in China around the intersection of foresight, anticipation, technology adoption and long-term governance — and how similar many of the intergenerational issues are to those we see everywhere else.”

Trusting Measurement Data

LinkedIn (Ayca Tumer Arikan)

We know that poor-quality data leads to poor-quality decisions. We know that poor-quality data leads to poor-quality decisions. The problem isn’t just about “bad data”, though. It’s about how we design, define, and manage measures from the start.

Learning Agendas Bring Evidence Into Policymaking

Federation of American Scientists

Evidence-based policymaking is not just about policy that draws on science, it’s about how decisions are made, evaluated, and improved over time. Learning agendas are a set of high-priority questions developed by an agency with input from external stakeholders to assess the effectiveness of their programs and policies. These multi-year agendas are intended to be a crucial component of evidence-based policymaking 

Outcome Reviews Realign Legislative Incentives

Substack (Jen Pahlka)

California Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas announced an intentional, structured process for evaluating whether the laws lawmakers pass actually do what they’re supposed to do. The program is called Outcomes Reviews, and it’s launching as a modest pilot in the state’s lower house, with the intention to look back at roughly 8-15 laws in 2026.

Resource of the Week: Public Services Performance Tracker 2025

Institute for Government (UK)

The Public Services Performance Tracker 2025 annual report provides a comprehensive stocktake. Using more than 250 indicators, it analyses spending, demand, staffing and performance across nine key public services: general practice, hospitals, adult social care, children’s social care, homelessness services, schools, police, criminal courts and prisons.

Four Ways to Measure Progress

LinkedIn – Stacey Barr (Australia)

Leaders know how essential it is to demonstrate if the time, money and effort being spent is having the intended impact on the organisation’s success. Using these four types of progress measures, in balance, makes it much easier.

Aspirational vs. Achievable Goals

Barrett and Greene, Inc.

The city of San Diego, CA’s auditor found the city met 48 percent of its targets for key performance indicators (KPIs). Some city departments selected KPIs that were aspirational while other selected KPIs that were realistically achievable. Conclusion? The majority of KPIs should focus on achievable goals that can be reached within the budget allocated.

Measuring Safety, Right

Barrett and Greene, Inc. (guest blogger: Alexander Trembley)

Crime rates shouldn’t be discarded as a measure of public safety, but they should be one indicator in a broader approach to measurement. Relying on crime statistics alone to judge safety is like judging a car’s performance only by engine failures.

Public Value and Public Strategy

Vaugh Tan – Blog Post (Signapore)

Public sector organizations have spent decades importing private sector strategy tools (KPIs, risk management frameworks, planning processes, etc) without acknowledging a fundamental flaw: Private companies can optimize for a small set of outcomes and stakeholders, and work to short time horizons, but the public sector must serve diverse stakeholders and desired outcomes, and work to indefinite time horizons.