Performance Management
Good-Government Gurus Embrace, Expand on Obama Management Agenda
Charles Clark, Government Executive
President Obama’s recently revitalized second-term management agenda earned a thumbs-up from a quartet of private and nonprofit reform advocates during a congressional hearing.
Agencies Set New Priority Goals
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Last month, the White House publicly released a list of 92 priority goals that agencies have committed to achieve by the end of 2015. They also named individuals responsible for implementing these goals, as required by law.
Identifying and managing troubled projects
Benjamin Knopf and Brian Gagnon, Federal Computer Week
Research shows that early problem identification and escalation are crucial to project success, yet the warning signs are all too often overlooked.

Analytics/Evaluation
The role of a Chief Evaluation Officer: An interview with Demetra Nightingale, Chief Evaluation Officer, U.S. Department of Labor
Andy Feldman, GovInnovator Blog
For public agencies at the federal, state or local levels that want to strengthen their evaluation capacity, creating a Chief Evaluation Officer role can be an important step.
Got Big Data? First Define Your Big Question
Robert Behn, Government Executive
Simple, yet analytical, data thinking can reveal the size of the problem.

Efficiency/Reorganization
Are agencies doing enough to weed out redundant programs?
Jack Moore, Federal News Radio
Three years after the Government Accountability Office first reported that federal agencies were managing a maze of potentially duplicative federal programs, the watchdog agency has added nearly a dozen more areas to its tally of duplication and overlap.

Innovation
Innovation Australian-Style
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Innovation seems to be a big deal in governments around the world. But the Australian Public Service developed a formal action plan for innovation in 2011 and is rolling out a series of initiatives that are building the use of innovation into the government’s institutional framework.
New Report: A Guide for Innovative Public Servants
Gadi Ben-Yehuda, Business of Government
A new report offers guidance to government executives and innovators and finds that they are already changing how agencies operate and deliver services.

Open Government
4 Tips for Crowdsourcing Federal Projects
Alan Pentz, Government Executive
How to set up a public forum for innovative ideas and technology.
Senate passes Data Act
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
The version differs from the one the House passed in November, but lawmakers are confident the legislation will soon be going to the president.