ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

The Good Government Agenda

Government Executive/Don Kettl

Every new presidential administration since 1993 has come into office by launching a new management agenda. The new administration in 2025 should not do so.  Brand-new research shows that the public wants instead a good government agenda.

Where Have All the Strategic Plans Gone?

PATimes/Andrew Kleine

A strategic plan is a roadmap for overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities, a statement of priorities to guide budget and policy decisions, and a cultural touchstone that aligns the organization to a common purpose. However, my research found not even one of the top 10 cities and counties features a strategic plan link on its homepage. 

Where Data-Driven Decision-Making Can Go Wrong

Harvard Business Review

By employing a systematic approach to the collection and interpretation of information, you can more effectively reap the benefits of the ever-increasing mountain of external and internal data and make better decisions. Here are five pitfalls to avoid.

Resource of the Week:  Determinants of Equity Data Toolkit

King County, WA

King County has identified 15 determinants of equity outlined in Ordinance 16948. These population-level indicators help us better understand disparities and opportunities to make a difference across the communities we serve.

Equity: The State of the States

Barrett & Greene

A guest column by Marilyn Rubin and Katherine Willoughby examines state equity efforts by researching agency websites, annual and performance reports, and program information in the 50 states.

Marrying Data-Informed Management and the Budget

Government Finance Research Center

Cheriene Floyd, chief data officer for the City of Miami, FL, writes: “A common practice is for government departments to report performance metrics at regular intervals, often every month or every quarter.  I applaud this discipline. The predictable reporting cadence enables the review of metrics with every annual budget request. But even though the practice is in place, the results that it should deliver are often missing in action.”

Quarterly Update of the Biden-Harris President’s Management Agenda

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

This quarter’s updates include new dashboards on customer experience feedback data, increased transparency for time to hire, as well as new acquisitions tools that make it easier for agencies to purchase services equitably, and more.

Strategic Foresight in the U.S. Coast Guard

Homeland Security Today

This article delves into five transformative technologies and trends that hold the potential to reshape the landscape of maritime security and environmental stewardship for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Performance Management Includes Storytelling

Results for America

“Storytelling and making data accessible to everyone is one of the most important things we do here at the City of Dallas. Communicating with our community through data stories is one of the most impactful ways to change how someone interacts with data about their City,” said Chief Data Officer Dr. Brita Andercheck. 

Resource of the Week: The United Nations Futures Lab

The UN Futures Lab is a network that empowers the UN System and beyond to use futures thinking and strategic foresight in planning, policy- and decision-making. Its Global Hub supports teams, provides frameworks, and builds capacity to help shape the more resilient and anticipatory United Nations the world needs.

Federal Performance Management: Opportunities for Improvement

Ungated version of Shelley Metzenbaum/as published in International Journal of Public Administration

An overview of progress and lessons learned concludes with specific recommendations to build understanding, more wisely manage motivational mechanisms, and prevent and reduce progress-confounding administrative barriers and burdens. 

Progress of Biden-Harris Performance Management Agenda (July 2024 – video)

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

The Performance.gov team hosted an event highlighting progress on PMA initiatives and conversations with public servants leading various PMA priorities on how they are implementing initiatives such as hiring reforms, the implementation of IRS Direct File, and equity in procurement.

Annual OMB Update on Performance Guidance

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Each year, OMB updates its guidance, Circular A-11, to agencies on budget processes. Part 6 of that 1,000-page document provides guidance and timetables to agencies on their roles in implementing various laws covered by the Federal Performance Framework.

How to Use AI to Select KPIs and Performance Measures

Stacey Barr via LinkedIn

She experimented with different AI tools and found AI doesn’t generate Key Performance Indicators, they collate; they don’t understand nuance, and they produce convincing, but dangerous answers.

Resource of the Week: Policy Fit for the Future

Australian National University

This primer was developed by the Policy Projects and Taskforce Office in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. It provides an overview of Futures methodologies and their practical application to policy development and advice. It is a first step for policy teams and officers interested in Futures: providing you with a range of flexible tools, ideas and advice you can adapt to your own policy challenges and environments.

GPRA’s Incomplete Institutionalization: A Story of Roots and Branches

International Journal of Public Administration (gated article)

Edgar Hollandsworth and Matthew Dull propose explanations for GPRA’s incomplete institutionalization, and how it has influenced and continues to affect the use of performance management in the US Government. It evaluates the evolving institutionalization of GPRA, PART, and GPRAMA resulting from tensions in three sets of competing performance management reform values: 1) performance-performative communications, 2) discretion-accountability, and 3) politics-administration.

Balanced Scorecard: A Literature Review in the Public Administration Domain

International Journal of Public Administration (gated article)

Richardo Gomes and Clovis de Azevedo review the use of Balanced Scorecards use by public administration scholars by analyzing articles from the Web of Science database with bibliometric tools and Artificial Intelligence for lexical and semantic analysis. The analysis concluded that BSC is mainly used in local government for performance management and measurement.

Resource of the Week: How to Measure Government Outcomes

Adura Strategy (Stacey Barr, Australia)

The increasing demand for greater transparency of, and accountability for, the impact of how public funds are spent requires that governments measure their outcomes, not just their activities. This guide addresses five challenges in doing so.