ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Performance Management
Which Management Initiatives Had the Biggest Impact Over the Past 20 Years?
John Kamensky, Business of Government
A new survey identifies four sets of management initiatives that have had the greatest impact on government management efforts over the past twenty years.

Analytics/Evaluation
Data Is Valuable Only If Managers and Policymakers Will Use It
Adam Neufeld, Government Executive
There’s plenty of evidence about how well programs work, people just tend to ignore it.
Our Opportunity for More Data-Driven Nonprofit Program Evaluation
Tracey Gyateng & Beth Simone Novek, Stanford Social Innovation Review
To accelerate the ethical use of sensitive data, governments and universities are setting up new systems to give secure access to their researchers. However, if they want to be able to evaluate the full range of social service programs, they also need to make this data is useful to nonprofits.

Open Government
We Need A Plan for Federal Communications
Danielle Blumenthal, Government Executive
Trust in government is at an all-time low. Poor communication is one reason.

Reorganization
How Agency Leaders Can Seize the Opportunity to Reorganize Government
Tina Sung and Dee Dee Helfenstein, Government Executive
The Office of Management and Budget soon will begin tracking progress on President Trump’s executive order to reorganize the executive branch.

Strategic Planning
Strategic Foresight and Leadership
Michael Keegan, Business of Government
Strategic foresight is a key skill needed for leaders to be effective in meeting the challenges and demands of today and tomorrow.

Customer Service
How A Chief Customer Experience Officer Could Transform Government
Martha Dorris, Government Executive
Improving the public’s experience with government just makes sense.

Innovation
Here’s How to Stop Squelching New Ideas, Advisory Board Tells DoD
Patrick Tucker, Nextgov
A preview of the Defense Innovation Board’s new recommendations for James Mattis.

Open Government
Misery Loves Bureaucracy: Why Technology Hasn’t Saved Government
Alexis Wichowski, Government Executive
Information-sharing tools work best in a culture of openness and collaboration.

Reorganization
Government Would Function Better if IGs and Congress Worked Together
Mallory Barg Bulman and Carlos Otal, Government Executive
Many important issues go unaddressed because of a lack of communication between the IG offices and Capitol Hill.

Analytics/Evaluation
Doing Evidence Right
Shelley Metzenbaum and Steven Kelman, PA Times
Program evaluations should not be used primarily to define programs as “effective” or “ineffective,” but to help find ways to improve.
Making government services more efficient: Introducing the ‘evidence tool kit’
Robert Doar, AEI
Provides a set of findings and recommendations about data access and integration to guide policymakers and program managers on how to improve social service delivery.
What is the Trump Administration’s Evidence-Based Policymaking Stance? Confusing
Nick Hart, Bipartisan Policy Center
The cards are stacking up in a confusing and seemingly inconsistent way for the Trump administration on whether there is clear and unwavering support for evidence-based policymaking.
Trump Administration Terminates SAMHSA Evidence Clearinghouse Amid Questions About Its Objectivity
Patrick Lester, Social Innovation Research Center
The duties of the clearinghouse will be shifted to a new Policy Lab.
Building the Smarter State: The Role of Data Labs
Anirudh Dinesh, Medium
By connecting policy makers, government data owners and university data scientists, data and policy labs are helping government and the social sector get smarter and improve public policies and services through data science.

Innovation
Pay for Systems Change
Jeff Shumway, Jake Segal, and Michael Etzel, Stanford Social Innovation Review
The real promise of pay-for-success lies in changing how government funds social services.
The Future Has Begun! Using Artificial Intelligence to Transform Government
Dan Chenok, Business of Government
A new report from the IBM Center and the Partnership for Public Service outlines the promise of AI to help government improve mission and program performance.
Artificial intelligence proves major time savings for federal employees
Jory Heckman, Federal News Radio
Federal agencies are embracing the idea of artificial intelligence, and in test cases, adopting machine learning has cut down on some of the tedious aspects of working with government data.
Report: Invest in AI, but ‘It’s Not Magic’
Jack Corrigan, Nextgov
Agencies should avoid moonshot goals, a report suggests.

Leadership
OMB Deputy director of management nominee clears committee
Derek Johnson, Federal Computer Week
If confirmed, Margaret Weichert will have a hand in several major technology and workforce issues, including IT modernization, working with the federal CIO and serving as the point person for federal agency reorganization.

Reorganization
First CFO Survey of Trump Era Spotlights Skepticism Over Agency Reorganization Plans
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Most agency finance chiefs harbor doubts that the strategies will actually improve efficiency, though some see opportunity.
White House Sued Over ‘Cloaked’ Agency Reorganization Proposals
Eric Katz, Government Executive
The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit for its lack of transparency on its plan to reorganize federal agencies and reshape their workforces.

Analytics/Evaluation
Cognitive Readiness: The Future for Success?
Dr. Jeffrey Talley, Business of Government
As government moves forward into the 21st century, emerging cognitive technologies can spur better mission performance.
DATA Act review finds errors in $2 billion of DHS transactions
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
An oversight report found $1.9 billion in DHS transactions could not be linked to their corresponding award-level transactions for Q2 of FY2017, but the agency is pushing back on the findings.
Why Can’t Researchers and Policymakers Just Get Along?
J.B. Wogan, Governing
They rarely collaborate. But Jenni Owen, the policy director for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, is part of a growing relationship between government and academia.

Innovation
Air Force shells out $26K in daylong bug bounty event
Lauren Williams, Federal Computer Week
During a live-hacking event in New York City earlier this month, 25 security researchers uncovered nearly 60 unknown vulnerabilities.
Drivers Transforming Government: Digital
Dan Chenok, Business of Government
Optimizing new technology and infrastructure models, focusing on the user experience, and incentivizing innovators to modernize how government does business.

Leadership
OMB’s New Deputy for Management Faces a Big Challenge
Howard Risher, Government Executive
The author argues that performance won’t improve until agencies have the flexibility to introduce more effective talent management practices.
Engaged Employees Requires Engaged Leaders
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Why is increasing employee engagement at work seen as such a big deal?
For High-Performance Government, Deputy Secretaries Need to Act Like Chief Operating Officers
Andy Feldman and Seth Harris, Government Executive
There is no substitute for a top leader’s focused attention—not memos from the executive suite, orders from OMB, or hearings by Congress.

Performance Management
The Clock Is Ticking on Trump’s Management Agenda
Stan Soloway, Government Executive
Without the roadmap of a viable management agenda, it’s hard to see how proposed reorganization plans could be effective.
How to Prevent Soft-targeting in Government Performance Management Systems
Prajapati Trivedi, Business of Government
The key to designing an effective government performance management system lies in creating protocols that create incentives so that the pursuit of one’s own ‘self-interest’ promotes the desired ‘public interest.’

Analytics/Evaluation
The Policy Labs We Urgently Need
Beth Noveck and Anirudh Dinesh, Governing
When it comes to evidence-based policymaking, states are out ahead of the feds. These efforts to turn data into insights should be expanded.
How data analytics improves government responsiveness
Andrew Churchill, Federal Computer Week
Imagine the possibilities of better and more effective use of data analytics in the federal government.
When Does Pay-for-Success Make Sense?
Paula Lantz and Samantha Iovan, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Seven criteria for assessing whether an intervention is right for pay-for-success financing.

Innovation
Innovation is key to breaking government’s age-old trade-offs
William Eggers and Amrita Datar, Federal Computer Week
Agencies often find themselves facing conflicting goals, but a combination of innovation, technological advancement and management techniques can break the deadlock.

Open Government
HHS Turns to Citizen Coders to Curtail Opioid Epidemic
Jack Corrigan, Nextgov
More than 300 coders and health advocates showed up for the agency’s first code-a-thon.
Drivers transforming government: Engagement
Darcie Piechowski, Business of Government
Fostering a citizen-driven government through real-time interactive feedback to engage, co-create, and co-produce services and programs.
Agencies link reorgs with employee engagement
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
While workforce reduction and civilian agency budget cuts seemingly run counter to improving workforce morale, human resources officials are looking to tie agency reorg plans to employee engagement.