ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Performance Management
VA waiting lists and performance measurement
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Kelman argues that allegations about secret wait lists at the VA are a sign of performance management’s power, not its problems.
What’s so scary about performance ratings?
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Of course metrics can reflect factors outside your control. But that, Kelman argues, is why there is multiple regression.

Analytics/Evaluation
OMB: Agencies need to break down walls and unlock big data
Andy Medici, Federal Times
Agencies need to knock down institutional barriers and work with other agencies in order to unlock the potential of big data.

Collaboration
Program management: Governance matters
Richard Spires, Federal Computer Week
Getting stakeholders to agree on desired outcomes and ways to achieve them is crucial to ensuring the success of IT programs.

Efficiency/Reorganziation
Managing Business Process Reengineering
Innovategov
This article summarizes the framework provided by GAO for managing reengineering efforts once the agency has determined that reengineering efforts are appropriate in one or more areas.

Innovation
Building the systems for innovation
Federal Computer Week
Federal agencies can’t operate like Silicon Valley startups, but even the largest organization can manage for great innovation.
Remembering the human element in innovation
Colby Hochmuth, Federal Computer Week
Tighter budgets could be a catalyst for rethinking how government operates, says OMB’s Kathryn Stack.
How a Small Group of Entrepreneurs Transformed Government Services
Aneesh Chopra, Government Executive
More than 50 other entrepreneurs filled senior Administration roles, applying technology and innovation to advance agency missions.

Open Government
Treasury official calls for quick Data Act demos
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
As Treasury moves to implement the Data Act, potential costs and agency buy-in remain concerns.

Performance Management
The Reluctant Executive
Donald Kettl, Government Executive
The Obama administration can help cement the big steps already made: getting agency managers to decide which performance balls they most want to move down the field, producing good measures to keep score, making progress on crosscutting issues, and ensuring that the President’s Management Council is institutionalized.

Collaboration
ODNI builds toolbox for information interoperability
Brian Robinson, Government Computer News
An information-sharing project recently launched by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence aims to develop a set of tools that would make it easier for government agencies at all levels, as well as private sector organizations, to move data between existing networks and systems.

Innovation
GSA’s digital incubator tackles contracting, hiring times
Andy Medici, Federal Times
The agency’s 18F digital services incubator is tackling issues across government in order to disrupt inefficient traditions and replace them with flexible, cost-effective and more user-friendly ways of conducting government business.

Your Idea for Improving Program Management Could Be Worth Something
Frank Konkel, Government Executive
The Performance Improvement Council has issued a challenge to federal employees, industry reps and the public to describe what public sector program management would ideally look like in 25 years.

Performance Management
Yes, Obama’s Management Agenda Is Different From George W. Bush’s
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Current goal is to drive results by focusing on strategic objectives, not narrower programs, OMB performance officer says.
The Federal Government Doesn’t Need Any More Big Ideas
Eric Katz, Government Executive
Federal managers should move away from promoting performance reforms as cost-saving initiatives and instead focus on indicators that can draw the excitement of Congress and the White House.
Four Actions to Better Integrate Performance into Budgeting
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Reformers have promoted the notion of performance budgeting since it was introduced by the 1949 Hoover Commission. Major initiatives have been attempted and incremental progress has been achieved. But not enough has happened.

Efficiency/Reorganization
Trending Everyday: Business Process Reengineering
InnovateGov
This article summarizes the framework provided by GAO for making a decision to pursue reengineering efforts.

Innovation
OPM Innovation Lab Can’t Say If It’s Actually Helpful, GAO Finds
NextGov
An innovation lab at the Office of Personnel Management isn’t taking enough steps to ensure its innovative work is having a real impact on agency culture and performance.
OPM and Innovation Challenges
DorobekInsider
GAO’s report notes that innovation is critical as the world changes quickly and agencies work to accomplish their missions
Innovation, More than a Buzzword? An Idea Revolution?
DorobekInsider
Philadelphia is embracing more than just the term innovation; they’ve just graduated the first class from the Municipal Innovation Academy.

Open Government
The DATA Act Passes: 3 Takeaways and Interactive Timeline
Jason Shueh, Government Technology
President Obama signs bill to turn all federal expenditures into open data. Implementation will be phased into a year-by-year approach.
The DATA Act and Transparency: 4 Ways that Industry Will Benefit
Dan Chenok, Business of Government
Greater focus on transparency of public sector spending data will help improve the functioning of government in multiple ways. Industry can benefit by helping government to implement this important management statute well.
Implementing the DATA Act: Encouraging Signs
John Kamensky, Business of Government
President Obama has said he will sign new legislation that will have far-reaching effects on federal agencies and hundreds of thousands of recipient of federal funds – grantees, contractors, universities, non-profits, states, and localities.

Performance Management
10 Key Questions for Launching an Effective Government Program
Patrick Mallory, Governing
Keeping these lessons in mind can improve the chances of success for any public-sector initiative.
The Secret Sauce of Effective Progress Reviews
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Agency chief operating officers are required to conduct quarterly progress reviews on priority goals. Sometimes called “PerformanceStat” meetings, they can be effective problem-solving sessions or terrifying blame games.
Decision-Making Tools for Better Outcomes
InnovateGov
Strategic planners can learn a model for applying specific tools to varying types of decisions.

Collaboration
Why Data Sharing Is the Future of Government
Ross Gianfortune, Government Executive
Communication across all levels of government will be key to accomplishing the collective mission.
3 Tips for Effective Interagency Collaboration
Clare Gallaher, Government Executive
In the territorial push for resources, sharing can be a hard sell.

Innovation
The Most and Least Innovative Federal Agencies
Kellie Lunney, Government Executive
Federal employees rank NASA at the top of the list, and Homeland Security at the bottom.
Feds see innovation decline within government
Andy Medici, Federal Times
Support for innovation is declining across the government, according to a report by the Partnership for Public Service.

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.