ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Performance Management
Most Agencies Embrace Data-Driven Performance Reviews, Watchdog Finds
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Data-driven reviews of program effectiveness required under the GPRA Modernization Act can promote use of performance information by agency officials and produce improved results.
5 steps to a performance management culture
Robert Shea, Federal Times
Performance staff can learn from what other federal organizations have done to encourage dialogue, assess the value they provide to citizens, improve data collection and, ultimately, transform their organization’s performance culture.
First, admit you have a problem
Zach Noble, Federal Computer Week
Sometimes the bad news can be more important than the good news – if only the message is heeded.
Should Government Do Away With Annual Performance Reviews?
Stewart Liff, Government Executive
Real feedback happens more than once a year.

Analytics/Evaluation
Bad Data Is at All Levels of Government
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, Governing
States are not the only ones to lack the data they need to make good government.
The Next Big Thing in Data Analytics
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, Governing
As the amount of data that governments accumulate grows, so does the need to disaggregate it.
White House’s DJ Patil places laser focus on ‘unleashing the power of data’
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
DJ Patil, the government’s first-ever chief data scientist, explains how his office is helping agency CDOs bring a ruthless focus to data.
OMB Pushes Interagency Collaboration to Modernize Statistics
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Regulatory chief seeks to eliminate ‘stovepiped’ information releases.

Efficiency/Reorganization
Here’s Our Chance to Fix Government Once and for All
Steve Goodrich, Government Executive
The Government Transformation Act would establish an entity to assess, transform and report on government programs, as well as eliminate or fix programs that aren’t working.

Leadership
Tiny White House leadership program targets government’s biggest challenges
Emily Kopp, Federal News Radio
A new White House Leadership Development Program is scheduled to launch this Fall with an inaugural class of 10 high-potential GS-15s who will work on the 15 cross-agency priority goals.

Performance Management
Priority Goal Update
Beth Cobert, OMB Blog
Article highlights a few examples of progress being made on cross-agency priority goals.
A guide to creating a culture of performance
Bianca Spinosa, Federal Computer Week
A new report from the Partnership for Public Service aims to chart a path toward creating a culture of performance improvement for federal agencies.
What Commerce, HUD and DHS can teach us about improving performance
Emily Kopp, Federal News Radio
Agencies are working to make performance improvement sustainable.
Driving Results in Cities Could Influence Federal Performance Efforts
Patrick Lester, Government Executive
Using data to steer limited funds to programs that work.
The Majority of Agency Heads Don’t Actually Use Data on Program Performance
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Agencies are advancing the principles of data-based performance, linking programs to mission and measuring return on investment, a new survey shows. But less than half of performance officers surveyed said their agency heads use performance data to drive decision-making.

Analytics/Evaluation
The Causes, Costs and Consequences of Bad Government Data
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, Governing
States and localities are embracing the promise of big data. But just how good is the information they’re collecting in the first place?
Data Officers put business first, not IT
Aaron Boyd, Federal Times
The Chief Data Officer is a new role for the few agencies that have one in place and many are still figuring out exactly what their purview should be.

Open Government
What the Private Sector Can Teach Us About Open Government
Katie Burke, Government Executive
How data sharing can improve citizen services.
States and Cities Are ‘Labs’ for Inclusive Governance
Dave Nyczepir, Government Executive
Consulting residents helps officials manage high demand and limited resources, with less public criticism.

Performance Management
Can We Focus on What Works?
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Can we shift the conversation in Washington from “waste, fraud, and abuse” to “what works and let’s fund it, instead?”
Senators Offer Plan to Streamline Program Management
Charles Clark, Government Executive
The bill would require the deputy director for management at OMB to create a Program Management Policy Council and to direct agencies to appoint program management improvement officers.

Innovation
Why 18F concentrates on changing culture
Greg Otto, Fedscoop
The innovation coming out of 18F has little to do with new technology and a lot to do with new ways of thinking inside government agencies.

Open Government
The delicate, deliberate delivery of the DATA Act
Greg Otto, Fedscoop
The DATA Act is going to take some heavy lifting. OMB and the Treasury Department are setting benchmarks so agencies hit the law’s 2017 deadline.

Leadership
How Can the Next Administration Build A Strong Political and Career Leadership Team?
Dan Chenok, Business of Government
By focusing on “leadership talent” as a key priority, the next President can significantly enhance government’s capacity for political and career executives to deliver strong results.
COOs give President’s Management Council a mixed grade
Emily Kopp, Federal News Radio
Deputy secretaries and other COOs give lackluster reviews to the President’s Management Agenda and President’s Management Council in a new report.
Deputy secretaries: ‘Integrators-in-chief’ or sacrificial goats?
Emily Kopp, Federal News Radio
COOs are charged with tackling everything from complex, long-standing management problems to the execution of new program and policy goals.

Management
Rule #1: Policy Design Starts With Operational Capacity
Robert Behn, Government Executive
Before public officials ask an organization to do something, they need to ask two key design questions.

Open Government
Going big on Data Act implementation
Zach Noble, Federal Computer Week
Senior leadership’s message is clear that a half-hearted effort at tracking government spending data just won’t cut it.
Warner Pushes for DATA Act Follow-Through
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Sen. Mark Warner pronounced himself pleased with joint-agency progress on implementation.

Performance Management
Did Performance Measurement Cause America’s Police Problem?
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, Governing
Some argue it can be traced back to how governments evaluate officers.

Efficiency/Reorganization
Employees drive USDA culture change that leads to $1.4B in savings
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
The Agriculture Department saved more than a $1 billion over the last three years by acting more like one organization. But maybe more importantly, the Blueprint for Stronger Service initiative initiated a culture change among USDA employees.

Open Government
Watchdog Finds Glitches in Governmentwide Effort to Track Spending Consistently
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Treasury has shown progress toward getting agencies to post consistent data on spending, but some lapses in tracking of workstreams suggest that planners view the vast project from too high an altitude.

Innovation
Why Steve Jobs’s Influence is Reverberating Through Government
Kevin Merritt, Quartz
Government is being re-shaped by data-driven digital innovators.