Performance Management
Civil service reform starts with performance
Jeff Neal, Federal News Radio
Failure to deal with poor performers and complaints about pay-for-performance programs remind us all how much virtually everyone hates the performance evaluation process, says former DHS chief human capital officer Jeff Neal.

Analytics/Evaluation
Strengthening results-focused government: Strategies to build on bipartisan progress in evidence-based policy
Andrew Feldman, Brookings
A new report from Brookings argues the new administration should make a bold new push on evidence-based policy in order to improve government performance.

Collaboration
Cross-sector Collaboration: What the Tipping Point Looks Like
Van Ton-Quinlivan, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Five successful change management strategies from an initiative to transform higher education.

Efficiency/Reorganization
How Trump Can Avoid the Reorganization Trap His Predecessors Fell Into
Donald Kettl, Government Executive
It’s hard to save big money by cutting agencies without cutting programs.
The Promise and Perils of ‘Moving the Boxes’
Feather O’Connor Houstoun, Governing
Reorganizing a government’s agencies and services — whether consolidating them or breaking them up — isn’t easy. There are some important things to keep in mind.

Innovation
Social Media’s Growing Utility for Government
Stephen Goldsmith, Governing
Public agencies keep finding creative ways to leverage its power for service delivery.
Contemplating Change for Coding Competitions, Hackathons
Theo Douglas, Government Technology
State and municipal agencies take different approaches to hackathons, coding competitions and app challenges, which have altered — and are an important fixture in — the tech world.
OMB Memo Signals Possible Elimination of Social Innovation Fund
Patrick Lester, Social Innovation Research Center
OMB is circulating a memo that targets nine federal programs for elimination, including the agency that houses the Social Innovation Fund.
Updates from the procurement innovation front
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Kelman looks at several procurement innovations with the potential to move the federal government increasingly towards pay-for-success contracting.

Open Government
The future of open data in the Trump administration
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Government transparency advocates expect Obama-era open data policies to continue, but would like to see agencies and Congress prioritize their expansion.