Performance Management
Results-Driven Contracting: An Overview
Harvard Government Performance Lab
Results-driven contracting in government is a continuum of practices that incorporates specific goals, measurement, active management using performance data, and the strategic use of performance incentives.

Analytics/Evaluation
Translating Research into Action
Brandee McHale and Tim Ogden, Stanford Social Innovation Review
There is no doubt that social change efforts are accelerated by data, but investing in high-quality, cutting-edge research alone isn’t enough to produce solutions. Funders and researchers have to invest more in translating research into action.

Collaboration
Next White House Should Create an Enterprise Government
Dan Chenok and Alan Howze, Business of Government
Regardless of the specific policies, implementation in many cases will require working across agency boundaries. Addressing cross-agency priorities with a common approach can enable success.
Agency Collaboration Could Make or Break Next Presidential Administration
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Report urges transition teams to get the government to operate as a single entity.

Customer Service
If Improving Government Services Is Such a Good Idea, Why Aren’t Elected Officials Doing It?
Donald Kettl, Government Executive
Three big reasons why the focus on delivery makes sense for elected officials.

Innovation
Obama Looks to Outsiders to Fix “Big and Bloated” Government
Tom Shoop, Government Executive
The president is making the case that outsiders – specifically, tech-savvy citizens – must step in and show federal agencies the way to a digital future.