GovLoop

Team J - Perceptive Software Benchmarking experience

sandra labissiere — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:16:10 -0800

On November 17, 2009, Team J from the Executive Potential Program (EPP) of the Graduate School had the unique experience of visiting with Perceptive Software – rated as one of Kansas City’s Best Places to Work for five times making them one of only three Kansas City companies to receive the Kansas City Business Journal award five times. Perceptive software is a software development firm that specializes in enterprise content management (ECM) software and is headquartered in suburban Kansas City. They have now embarked on the global market and their future looks more than promising. Despite the downward slide in today’s economy, they have managed to increase their profit margin last year by 23% and have become the fastest growing enterprise company in the world – far distinguishing themselves from their competitors. To what does Perceptive software attributes to their rapid growths and success? We were about to find out - our aim was to benchmark their best practices with the hopes of possibly implementing them within the Federal Government – given our current challenges.
From the moment you set foot in Perceptive Software you quickly see that their most valued assets are their employees. Not only does the building features state-of the art architecture equipped with the latest software and technology- they have also incorporated fun elements in what is known as their “decompression” chambers – these elements included a PS3, Wii and an X- box Video game – and oh, let’s not forget the huge slide between the second and first floor. Also included were a dodge ball court and a fully equipped fitness center. At Perceptive Software, their concept of “happy employees’ makes happy customers” is not just rhetoric but a way of being. They have gone through great length in ensuring that the work environment not only accommodates their employee’s individuality but also fosters an atmosphere for creativity and collaboration. They attribute most of their success to teamwork, communication and respect. To further foster the sense of camaraderie, Perceptive Software encourages their employees’ and their families to participate in organized company events throughout the year.

Although a small Midwestern firm, Perceptive Software truly exemplifies how a having a true sense of commitment to your employees and customers can positively affect the company’s bottom line. I would like to thank Perceptive Software, on behalf of Team J of the EPP graduate school, for allowing us to have an inside look at some of your best practices -it was truly a rewarding experience.

Beware! Email Scam's Still Working

Michael Vallez — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:42:30 -0800

Not a day goes by that I don't receive an email notifying me that I have one a lottery, sweepstakes, or that I have an opportunity to help a descendant of an important person who has been murdered. Most of these are all a form of the infamous "Nigerian Letter" or "419" fraud email scams. I encourage you to be vigilant and take caution, because these criminals would not be sending these emails if they were not working. As I was researching information for this blog post I came across a very sad story of a young Chinese girl that committed suicide because she fell victim to one of these scams BBC Story
. This just goes to show you that there are actually people stillfalling for these scams everyday.
The "Nigerian Letter" ruse is primarily carried out through email, but can also come via facsimile or actual letters. More than likely most of you reading this will be contacted or have been contacted by the "Nigerian Letter" scammers through email. The policy you should stick to when you come across an email that appears to be "too good to be true" is to realize it is a scam. The main premise behind the "Nigerian Letter" scam is the promise of a windfall of money if you (the receiver) of the email first send money to the scammers. Most of you probably think that will never happen to me. Guess what it is happening to people just like the young Chinese girl who committed suicide after giving 6000 English pounds to scammers.

The "Nigerian Letter" scammers are not rocket scientists, but have a good thing going. These scammers have been around since 1588 where letters were written stating to be from a prisoner trapped in a Spanish castle (you know the rest). Why stop a good thing when it has been working for so long. This scam is not complex. It is very surprising that people trust a simple email from an unknown individual and soon are sending money to the same individuals. The reason "greed" and "greed" alone. The big promise is if I (the letter receiver) send a little money, I will somehow get a huge amount of money in return for doing absolutely nothing. Thing is the "Nigerian" scammers are the one's getting rich.

Below are some tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of the "Nigerian Letter" or "419 Fraud" and authorities you can report these incidents to if solicited.

If you receive a letter from Nigeria asking you to send personal or banking information, do not reply in any manner. Send the letter to the U.S. Secret Service, your local FBI office,
or the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. You can also register a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel.

If you know someone who is corresponding in one of these schemes, encourage that person to contact the FBI or the U.S. Secret Service as soon as possible. Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts. Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation.
Guard your account information carefully.

Thanksgoving

Luke Fretwell — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:07:10 -0800

Original post: Thanksgoving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to take the time to thank every public servant doing his or her part to help refine and rejuvenate our American democracy.

I know this post may come off as corny, but I sincerely appreciate the work you do and the level of engagement you’ve given me, GovFresh and my non-govie peers.

Despite not getting paid a fair market value, or even the respect you deserve, you are in the trenches working against huge culture issues and a public hungry for change.

The push for open data, open source and a more open government isn’t just about social media and Web 2.0 jargon, but a stronger America. Your passion for openness and more citizen collaboration is setting a solid foundation.

Keep up the great work. Be proud of your service.

Happy Thanksgoving.

Four New Commentaries on National Health Reform

Ron Manderscheid — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:33:45 -0800

BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE
Issue Date: Online Exclusive
Special Online Editorials

Fundamentals of Healthcare Reform

With the onset of healthcare reform and the implementation of the Parity Act close at hand, behavioral health will see change in the forthcoming year. And while both of these continuing efforts are meant to increase the quality of services delivered to behavioral health consumers, it may be hard for providers to keep up with the current debate.

Among the significant questions that behavioral health providers should be asking as they analyze current reforms are:

* Is comparative effectiveness being met—that is, will the proposed policies contain costs while improving quality?
* Are insurance deficits in the un- and underinsured populations being addressed?
* Are we using our extensive knowledge of the benefits of child mental health to provide satisfactory coverage for children?
* Are we addressing disparities in coverage in order to achieve mental health equity?

To help shed light on these issues, Ron Manderscheid, PhD, examines each of these concepts in a series of special online editorials, which you can view by following the links below.

Making Comparative Effectiveness Work for Us
www.behavioral.net/comparativeeffectiveness

Uninsurance and Underinsurance
www.behavioral.net/un-and-underinsured

Telling the Important Story of Child Mental Health
www.behavioral.net/childmentalhealth

From Disparity to Equity
www.behavioral.net/disparitytoequity

Montgomery Gentry gives thanks to our troops

Katina R. Stapleton — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:13:17 -0800

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” -Maya Angelou

This year I had the opportunity to work with a team of five other women on a project to raise awareness for our Nation’s wounded warriors. As of Nov. 23, 2009 over 36,000 soldiers were injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Many organizations and government agencies have online resources for wounded warriors including the Wounded Warrior Resource Center (Department of Defense) and the Wounded Warrior Project.

The last time I went to visit my family in South Carolina, I stopped en route at Cracker Barrel, my favorite roadside restaurant. I always like to shop there because I can find cool trinkets and they sell my favorite peanut brittle. What do you ask does Cracker Barrel have to do with wounded warriors? As I walked through the restaurant’s store they were playing a song by country music duo Montgomery Gentry. When the song ended, they made an announcement that Cracker Barrel had teamed with Montgomery Gentry to raise awareness and funds for the Wounded Warrior Project. It turned out that part of the proceeds from Montgomery Gentry’s album For Our Heroes sold in Cracker Barrel will go to the Wounded Warrior Project. Click here to buy a copy online.

Montgomery Gentry consists of Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry. The duo is well known for their philanthropic efforts with the T. J. Martell Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Camp Horsin’ Around, and Farm Aid. Their efforts to raise funds for the Wounded Warrior Project are part of Montgomery Gentry’s commitment to telling the stories of America’s heroes.

The main objective of the Wounded Warrior Project is to “provide tangible support for the severely wounded and help them on the road to healing, both physically and mentally.” One of their signature projects is the WWP Packs program that delivers backpacks containing care items (clothing, toiletries, calling card, CD player, etc.) to severely wounded warriors arriving at military trauma centers. For more information on the Wounded Warrior project follow them on Twitter or check out their website.

Montgomery Gentry’s commitment to supporting the troops also includes a collaboration with the USO and the Vault for the “The Uniform of Heroes: The Taste of Support” campaign. Since the DOD suspended the “Any Servicemember” mail program, the Vault & USO have come up with a campaign that allows people to send pre-addressed postcards to soldiers. These postcards are available at Vault displays across the nation, Vault fridge packs and MyCokeRewards.com. The campaign provides the postcards and consumers (like you) provide the postage, the messages, and the manpower to drop the cards in the mail.

“These messages will go a long way in bringing comfort and lifting the spirits of our troops, especially those who are a world away from home.” Neil Golson, VAULT Brand Manager, Coca-Cola North America.

On the Montgomery Gentry website, Troy is quoted, “We’re proud to continue the effort to support our U.S. troops, and it’s exciting to partner with VAULT on this important campaign once again. . .VAULT and the USO have created a great way to spread goodwill and offer our thanks to the brave men and women serving our country. We hope thousands of people will get involved again this year.”

As we approach Thanksgiving, supporting the Wounded Warriors Project and the Uniform of Heroes campaign provide us with the two ways to let the our troops know how much we appreciate them.

Katina

P.S. Remember “Freedom is Never Free” – Unknown

This blog was originally posted on my blog on music and activism, Song-in-Action.

The Washington Post Career Event and PreEmpt Career Solutions Federal Career Tip of the Month

Debra Fitzwater — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:50:13 -0800

PreEmpt Career Solutions, LLC would like to host a...

CAREER TIP OF THE MONTH SERIES beginning NOW

WHO: Career Seekers and that includes our Wonderful Military Folks

WHAT: Washington Post Career Event, Engineering, Technology and Security Clearance Pavilion

WHY: Networking, Branding, and Selling Yourself to Land a New Career Opportunity

WHEN: 07 Dec 2009,11am - 5pm

WHERE: Washington, DC

You can find additional information about the Washington Post Career Event here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wl/jobs/Content?Content=/Career_Fairs/index.html

This blog is for information sharing purposes only. There is no B2B relationship between PCS and the Washington Post currently.

Please visit my profile and let me know if I can assist anyone with putting their best persona forward!

Happy Job Hunting!

Dee (Founder/Owner)
PreEmpt Career Solutions
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/boxer1
Check out PreEmpt's New VisualCV resume,
VisualCV URL: http://www.visualcv.com/boxer1

Ask GovLoop on Knowledge - Knowledge Management in Libraries

Lisa Coates — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:03:01 -0800

While the business world is changing in the new knowledge economy and digital age, libraries of all types are undergoing drastic changes also. The new role of libraries in the 21st century needs to be as a learning and knowledge center for their users as well as the intellectual commons for their respective communities where, to borrow the phrase from the Keystone Principles, “people and ideas interact in both the real and virtual environments to expand learning and facilitate the creation of new knowledge.”

As a learning organization, libraries should provide a strong leadership in knowledge management. Unlike those business organizations whose goal for knowledge management is for competitive advantage, most public, academic, and research libraries, with the exception of company libraries (which may be known or called corporate libraries, special libraries, or knowledge centers), have a different orientation and value. Instead of competition, internal use only, and little sharing of knowledge with others outside, the most important mission of public, academic, and research libraries is to expand the access of knowledge for their users. Charged by this mission, libraries should aim their knowledge management goal high.

BRAC’s Impact from Federal to State

Shany — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:57:35 -0800

Originally posted on Unleash the Monster

For years now, we’ve been preparing for BRAC (base realignment and closures) and yet as we start to see it in action, it really puts into perspective just how broad the impact will be across the board. With the mandate of relocating thousands of military personnel nationwide by September 2011, it is critical that a plan of action is in place.

The most obvious changes will impact federal employers, employees and military families. As the transition occurs, employers will need to determine how many of the employees will truly make the transition and will need to help these employees through the transition. Despite best guesses, many will stay behind, resulting in a greater need for strong retention and recruitment programs in new geographic locations.

But it is not just military families and federal agencies that will be impacted. State, local and education markets will also face challenges.

This week, Major General Myles of Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama addressed a group of educators to urge them to be prepared. His question to the audience was what happens when we bring in another 9,000 children into the school system? By next year, that number could be even higher based on the number of parents that will transfer to Huntsville due to BRAC.

In the Northeast, Maryland has been preparing for the influx of people and the real-estate market is determined to be BRAC-ready. Both Fort Meade and Aberdeen will welcome new employees and their families. Despite the recession, construction in office parks near these bases has developers scrambling to meet demands.

What impact have you seen from BRAC? Post your comments to our Community page.

Best and Worst Internship stories

mvilla — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:00:17 -0800

DCinternNet.com, a free service that helps college students find internships in DC, is looking for great intern stories (both nightmares and heroes). Have you experienced the intern (or internship) from hell? What are your pet peeves that interns seem to do regularly? How can an intern succeed? What about govt-sponsored social media interns -- are there any yet? The idea is to collect a great list of Dos and Don't for the thousands of college interns who will be coming to our city for the spring and summer. The responses will b compiled and posted on DCinternNet.com

The Alexandria Experiment

Dick Davies — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:38:30 -0800

Joe Shumard and I are planning an experiment to encourage the members of the Alexandria, Virginia Chamber of Commerce to adopt Web 2.0 technology for their businesses. Joe was one of the original Sales Lab Irregulars and now does Membership for the Alexandria Chamber.

Joe found me when he was developing a tag line for the Chamber. He remembered my tagline and searched to see whether it was still being used. I was all over the page. That search and Joe's deal-making skills produced this assignment.

I think we are in a renaissance of how business is being done, and as more and more people use the internet for research, mastering internet marketing becomes increasingly important.

We both believe ...

http://throughthebrowser.blogspot.com/2009/11/alexandria-experiment.html

The Death of Meetings

GovLoop — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0800

The Death of Meetings

Everyone hates meetings. Everyone talks about how they hate meetings. Everyone at meetings usually hates them and spends the meeting on their Blackberry.

I wonder why no one does anything about it. I think we should think about implementing new ideas about meetings.

“No Meeting Mondays.” “Stand-up Meetings.” “12 Minute Meetings.” “1 Legged Meetings”

There has been some talk about the future of meetings for awhile.

But I’ve never seen much action. Have you?

Editing Wikipedia

Dave Briggs — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:53:09 -0800

I've been asked this question a few times recently, so thought it worth sharing my answer with everyone that reads this blog:

What's the best way to approach editing Wikipedia articles about us?

There are a number of reasons why you might want to do this - the most obvious being that there are some factual inaccuracies that you want to correct - though sometimes there are other reasons too.

There have been several high profile incidents where Wikipedia has been edited - by either the individual who is the subject of the article or by an employee of an organisation with a page on the site - with various degrees of success or humiliation. Here's my guide to getting more of the former and less of the latter.

My instinctive reaction is: don't do it. Editing Wikipedia is a minefield and getting it right will take up an awful lot of time. Think about another way around it - could you publish a list of corrections on your own website, or on a blog? Perhaps encourage someone else who reads it to make the corrections, but leave Wikipedia itself well alone.

If you are determined to get involved, here's what to do. Firstly, do not edit anonymously but create an account on the site. This is for the very good reason that your edits will not be anonymous anyway - your IP address will be recorded and if you are using a work computer, people will easily be able to find out where you are.

Instead, give yourself a username that's understandable, not some random pseudonym. Then, open your personal user page and edit it to explain exactly who you are and who you work for. What you are aiming for is complete transparency - the last thing you want is people thinking that you are being sneaky.

Once that's all done, it's time to edit the entry itself. Or, rather, not - because my advice would be not to edit the text of the article itself first of all. Instead, I'd limit my edits to the article's talk page initially. Explain in the page the inaccuracies, and perhaps link to the web page I mentioned earlier with a list of corrections. Then let the community do its work - some corrections will be made to the page - maybe all of them. What you are doing is giving the Wikipedians the facts, and allowing them to put their own house in order.

If that doesn't happen, or if there is an urgent correction that needs making, then edit the text itself. Firstly, make the change, ensuring that you clearly link back to sources to back up your edits - and make sure you use the edit summary box to explain what you have done and why. Then, drop by the article's talk page and again explain who you are, what change you made and why you did it.

Once all that is done, sign up to get email alerts when the page is changed so you can keep on top of what further edits people are making.

If you find that someone just goes in right away and reverts - that is, removes your edits and restores the page to how it looked before you started - do not get tempted into reverting their reversion! These tit-for-tat "edit wars" do nobody any good! Instead, try and engage with the person making the reversion, again through the article's talk page, or on that user's own page maybe. Most Wikipedipedians are friendly, conciliatory folk and you should be able to talk them into being more reasonable.

Of course, if that fails, there is always the Wikipedia arbitration process. Good luck with that.

For more on Wikipedia culture, I found Andrew Lih's book The Wikipedia Revolution pretty good. Lih is clearly a fan of Wikipedia, so it is hardly an unbiased account, but there is some really useful background in there.

This post was originally published at DavePress.

Chronocentrism and Social Entropy?

maricelam — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0800

The increasing emphasis by which we are referring to the rapid and deep-going socio-economic changes created by our generation’s adoption of social media technology has made me wonder at times if we aren’t falling victims of Chronocentrism, believing that the impact of our generation's time in history is superior to all others.

But, then, I try catching-up on health, governmental or environmental issues or try keeping-up with the endless changes in any of the many technology fields I’m so fascinated with, and I find myself believing that NO, we aren’t being chronocentricts.

The social changes our present generations are creating are real and are happening very fast and simultaneously in all the socio-economic, cultural and political fields.

This past weekend, Craig Newmark had a post titled Big news From Washington That Everyone Misses, where he points out some examples of how the U.S. government is getting really serious about giving all Americans a serious voice in running our Federal government.

Whether their efforts are real and succeed or not isn’t the point I’m addressing. What calls my attention is the fact that this conscious effort to engage every citizen in a cost-effective and practical manner can only be possible due to the adoption of social media and open technology by the masses. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is great to see a governmental entity such as CDC consciously recognizing the value and using technology to deal with the H1N1 epidemic.

But the conscious efforts are taking place in all fields. An example is the environmental project Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool EPEAT that engages public and private entities into a collaborative initiative to enable:

...purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select electronic products… based on their environmental attributes.

To quote the person that brought this project to my attention: The premier green ratings program for electronics is based on an entirely stakeholder (public/private/govt./etc.) driven process. This is about people getting together to generate a positive impact where the purchasing power of a few could push environmentally friendly specifications that could help us all. I will provide more information about their successes in the next post.

In that same subject, the BetterBuyProject, a joint effort of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council in conjunction with the General Services Administration, asks and tries to answer the question:

How can we use collaboration and social media to make the federal acquisition process more efficient and effective?

These are conscious collaboration efforts to both enact needed changes and address social challenges.

Another environmental organization that was submitted to be evaluated for inclusion into the Directory is the non-profit World Wild Life and their corporate and government partnerships. This non-profit organization is bringing the three-sectors (government, non-profits and for-profits) together to collaborate and address major environmental challenges.

A fourth environmental organization submitted for consideration into the Collaborative Society Directory is the Environmental Defense Fund that states its approach as We start with rigorous science. Then we work directly with businesses, government and communities.

These environmental projects, where all sorts of individuals and corporations are actively collaborating to address social challenges, are just few examples of how social forces are coming together, voluntarily, to enact necessary changes. In the next post, Collaborating for the Environment I will expand on these four projects, their successes and learned lessons.

But, going back to my question about us becoming chronocentricts when referring to the changes created by our generation’s adoption of social media technology, I have a hard time believing that it is just us hyping up the importance of our generation. Although I am not a historian nor a sociology or anthropology expert by any stretch of the terms, I venture to question that there has been other generation that has simultaneously created so much change in so many different fields so quickly as we are currently experiencing.

But this leads to another question that often crosses my mind when I see the incredible speed of these changes and it is how much are we witnessing and being part of social entropy in key aspects of our societies.

For one thing, it seems that some socio-economic segments (music, newspapers and TV come to mind) had been investing much of their energy trying to maintain their traditional structures in the face of what now looks like the natural decay of their systems.

Which made me wonder when I read Newmark's post: Can the government actually succeed in giving all Americans a serious voice in running our Federal government? Or is the government simply reacting to the same forces that have changed the music, newspapers and TV industries?

I tend to believe that it is not longer something the government has to give us, but something we already have and the government is having to tap into it and adapt, just like industry at large has been forced to do. I tend to believe our generation is not being chronocentrict, but actually is doing things that surpass the impact of previous generations. I also tend to believe that we are witnessing social entropy in many aspects of our societies.

What do you think?

What is this all about?
The Collaborative Society Directory’s goal is to collect and understand information from different collaborative projects that bring together as participants entities from the three forces that shape our societies: public, private and non-profit. The goal of The Collaborative Society is to explore if such information can provide us with insights of what could be the characteristics that make a society or a community healthy.

(cross posted in Collaborative Society)

Nominate a DC Government Leader!

CEPL — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:06:10 -0800

As you likely know, President Obama is calling on all citizens to become part of the solution to the challenges of our time and to help make America great by serving in our communities. As members of the DC community, we are fortunate to have countless examples of public servants who work towards the greater good of this unique city. These often unsung heroes uphold the public interest amidst competing interests, pressures, and demands. It is time to publicly recognize and celebrate their efforts!

The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, in partnership with The George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership, is pleased to announce the launch of the nomination period for The 2010 Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Awards for Distinguished District of Columbia Employees. The awards recognize outstanding DC government employees whose performance exemplifies the best in public service. More specifically these individuals demonstrate excellence in one or more of the following areas by having:

• Solved an extraordinary problem or achieved a significantly difficult goal.
• Performed an outstanding act which brought positive recognition to the City.
• Successfully initiated and implemented an innovative idea that brought about dramatic results.
• Consistently achieved excellence in overall job performance that is “above and beyond the call of duty”.
• Demonstrated outstanding and inspirational leadership that dramatically improved employee morale and team spirit.

Any full-time employee of the District of Columbia government who is not serving as a Cabinet-level appointee or department deputy is eligible for an award. The employee must have at least five years of continuous employment with the District government. Volunteers, temporary, or contract workers are not eligible to participate. Teachers and principals are also not eligible.
Nominations for the Cafritz Awards are welcomed from citizens, community and business stakeholders, civic organizations, and government employees. Self-nominations are also encouraged. The five winners selected will receive a $7,500 cash award and be publicly honored at a gala event next summer.

We hope you share our enthusiasm about the awards program and will consider nominating a deserving candidate. Nominations will be accepted until December 11, 2009. For more information and to nominate someone who makes life better for the people of DC, visit http://www.cafritzawards.org/.

What I am thankful for: Recession, Bad Vendors and the flu

Kathleen Smith — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:49:46 -0800

While I look back over the last year, I see that some of the things that I am most thankful for would not have happened unless something bad had happened first.

Economic Downturn:
While the recession has caused many hardships, it has also spurred creativity, innovation and an appreciation of the simpler things in life.

The economic times spurred me to look at social media more closely as a way to communicate our messages and connect with our customers. I felt badly for the cutting back we ended up doing and its effects on our vendors, but many completely understood.

The economic downturn caused me to look more closely at what my customers needed. Simple, easy to use and effective solutions without a lot of flash to search for candidates, post jobs and attend Cleared Job Fairs. The job seekers needed more resources in multiple formats to support them in their career search.

Finally I had to take a closer look at my own personal expenses. Cutting back was a pleasure rather than a chore. Lessening my financial requirements allowed me peace and freedom. I looked more closely at simple pleasures like coffee instead of an extravagant meal, cooking and even growing food. This freedom allowed me to participate more in my community which enriched my life more than materialistic pursuits.

Bad Vendors:
During economic downturns, bad vendors show their true colors. All gloss and platitudes but no deliverables. As frustrating and detrimental as this can be, you have a chance to move from acceptance and complacency to action. If some bad vendors had not shown their true colors, we would have been willing to be in acceptance mode rather than action to find a better solutions provider. I am thankful for the pain and suffering to sharpen my skills in finding a better vendor. All the suffering reminded me that there are hard working, creative folks with integrity who will do anything to make sure that they fulfill their promises and exceed customer expectations.

Wounded Warrior EOD Ride:
When we signed on as sponsors for the Wounded Warrior EOD ride, it was one more thing in a very busy schedule. My husband a former Marine decided to participate and I full supported this. Little did we know what we were getting into? As my husband had not participated in a double century ride before – 2 100 miles in 2 days – he had a lot of training to do. Every weekend and many weeknights he was gone on a training ride only to come back exhausted. There was this void of a partner, helpmate and friend- companionship was lost, and chores had to been done all on top of a two career family. But when I thought of all the spouses of our deployed military, I shut my trap. My inconvenience was nothing compared to spouses of our military who hold down the home front during 6-18 month deployments. They deal with loneliness, frustration and anger while having to be the one person fills a two person mission of family head, financial breadwinner, and helpmate.

My husband got back from the ride having ridden with Wounded Warriors who were in the ride missing 1 or 2 limbs but filled with pride, commitment and charisma to finish the job. He was humbled and honored to be in their presence.

The flu:
I have now had the flu three times this year all at the worse possible times. Each time work colleagues and family members take up the slack with only a word of encouragement to get better.

In the fog of the flu, I usually can see more clearly as to what is important in my life. My rushing to fulfill too many commitments is not going to solve world hunger or really make a huge impact. Being healthy to do what I was put on this earth to do is a little more important than meeting too many deadlines that I put on myself.

Somewhere along the way I learned that each inconvenience or disaster was either an opportunity or lesson learned. I am thankful I have maintained that perspective.

Helping federal government clients win awards for excellence

Chris Ryan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:50:12 -0800

We would like to help our clients apply for and win more awards for excellence on the projects we help them with. Which awards do you think are most meaningful and prestigious?

Federal Eye Eye Opener: Nov. 23, 2009

Ed O'Keefe — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:34:10 -0800

Happy Monday!

• The Government's Art: A cool Wall Street Journal sideshow depicts some of the most notable pieces from the collections of the House, Senate and State Department.

• More Obama Nominees Announced: The president on Friday tapped Maria Sally Matiella to serve as assistant secretary of the Army for financial management; Paul L. Oostburg Sanz to serve as the Department of Navy's general counsel; Solomon B. Watson IV to serve as the Department of Army's general counsel; Kathleen S. Tighe to serve as the Education Department's inspector general; Orlan Johnson to serve as chairman of the board of directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporatio; and Sharon Y. Bowen to serve as the vice-chair of the board of directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Track all of Obama's nominees with The Post's Head Count.

Continue reading this post >>>

Strategy stuff - a three pronged approach

Dave Briggs — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

Drawing together a few discussions I have been involved in recently about the different types of documents an organisation - such as a council - might need to put together to define its approach to engaging online, I thought it might be useful to set out how I think it could be done.

My initial inclination is always to dispense with strategy, to be honest, as process has a habit of stifling Good Stuff, and over strategising leads to attempts at control and general alienation. My second thought is that even if strategy is required, there shouldn't be any need for anything specific for digital, as really it's all the same - technology shouldn't matter.

Realistically, though, at this stage organisations need to feel comfortable with what they are doing, and if that means having bits of paper explaining it all, then so be it. The important thing is to get those bits of paper right. I see a need for three types of document, each of which I will explain below:

1. Corporate strategy

A high level document explaining what the organisation wants to do, and why it wants to do it. Don't make it tool focused, else it will go out of date very quickly. Keep it broad and general, as the specifics will be covered in the other documents. This should be the paper brought out to win arguments where necessary. Make sure people at the top of the organisation read it, and endorse it: it will be an enabler to get stuff done.

Issues it should cover:

How important does the organisation see the digital space?
What are the opportunities and risks, and how are they managed?
How online interaction fits in with other channels and processes
An overview of the approach: something like the classic listen, acknowledge, create, share
How are staff supported in their delivery of the strategy?

2. Staff guidelines

This is the bit which explains in clear terms what staff are enabled to do at work using the internet. There are plenty of good examples available on the web, from the Civil Service guidance, to the BBC, IBM and others. It performs an important role, and should be less about saying what people can't do and more about encouraging and empowering staff to engage in online conversations.

This should set out how staff are encouraged to engage online, what they can do on their own, and what they might need to seek advice on. My general advice on this is:

If the information or content is already published in some form or other, then it should be repeatable on blogs, in forum or whatever without the need to gain permission
If something new is being generated, whether a viewpoint or a response to a question, say, then it's best to get it checked out first
If the staff member is at all uncertain, even in the instance of 1. above, get some advice

3. Individual project engagement plans

These form the nitty-gritty of the online engagement work, and there should be one for every digital project undertaken. While the other two documents I have written about are pretty high level - to ensure they remain relevant - with the plans, you can be pretty detailed and focus on activities. These plans should describe:

What the project is about, and how digital can support that
What the objectives of the digital work are
How those objectives will be measured - ie evaluation
What the roles are and who is responsible for them
How reporting will work
Which tools will be used and how
Some kind of timeline showing when activity will happen, for how long and how it will be shut down.

I reckon this three-pronged approach more or less covers the necessary bases. It would be interesting to hear how people are approaching this area, and how it differs to what I have written here.

Originally posted on DavePress.

Open Call For Proposals for Gov 2.0 Expo - Deadline Approaching

Mark D. Drapeau — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

I wanted to make everyone in the GovLoop community aware that there is currently an open call for proposals for the O'Reilly Media / TechWeb - produced Gov 2.0 Expo, to be held in Washington DC in May. The success of the Expo Showcase and Summit in Sepember have made me confident that the Expo program will be innovative, intelligent, and interesting for the audience.

We will have one day of 90-min workshops, about half of which will be techie and the other half which will be policy-oriented. We'd love submissions from people who might want to run a workshop on (say) Web 2.0 tools for local government, or What's the "cloud" have to do with computing, anyway?

We'll also have about 3 hours of "keynotes" which will involve anything from a 5 min rapid-fire talk to a 20 min talk to a fireside chat style interview. Ideas welcome.

Finally we'll have a few dozen sessions consisting almost exclusively of panels. What are the great drilled down topics you want to hear? What are some problems with Gov 2.0 we should explore? What are some emerging technologies the governments should be paying attention to? What's happening in other countries that the U.S. should know more about?

We are also assembling a fresh program committee to help us with the agenda. If you'd like to nominate outstanding people, please comment below or send me a note.

Here's the website: http://www.gov2expo.com/gov2expo2010

Mark Drapeau
Gov 2.0 Expo program committee co-chair (with Laurel Ruma)

Why did you join GovLoop? How did you hear about it?

Jay Daughtry — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:13:09 -0800

Why did you join GovLoop? How did you hear about it?

On Practicing Thank You Power

Katina R. Stapleton — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:56:54 -0800

Leaders should always remember to say Thank You.

Over the past year I have had the opportunity to read many books related to leadership. One of my goals was to identify features of successful leaders that could be replicated by others. On one of my leadership book buying sprees I wandered across the book Thank You Power by Deborah Norville. While it is not a book about leadership, I think that it should be required reading for those who lead. The thesis of Thank You Power is simple, “practicing gratitude, acknowledging the blessings in your life, and making it a point to recognize those good things, will positively change your life.” I think it also has the potential to change organizations.

During a series of job shadowing assignments, I was able to accompany senior government officials, each for a single day. I was struck by how much they articulated their appreciation for the people they depend on. Even though they were in positions of authority, they did not take for granted how much support they received from their staff and contractors. Some thanks were simple (I’m paraphrasing):
• “thank you for bringing my schedule” (to the administrative assistant who planned the official’s day).
• “thank you for a job well done” (to an entire staff for closing a grant cycle successfully).

Other “thank you” moments I observed involved more than words. I observed an office give out tiny gifts ($10 or less) during an all staff meeting to people who had worked hard on an annual conference. I went with one official to the drug store where she bought bags of candy to distribute at a meeting to launch a new technology. Why? To thank everyone for coming and make sure they had something to snack on as they sat through an afternoon meeting.

Why is expressing gratitude important for a leader? Norville gives a clue:

“Gratitude is the gift that keeps on giving. First there is the gift itself: a loving gesture, a kind word, a cookie when no treats were expected-the gift itself evokes pleasure for the recipient. . . But the pleasure extends beyond just the gift. Unspoken in this exchange is the recognition that the recipient was worthy of this gift.”

In each of the examples I observed federal staff members were given clear indications that their bosses appreciated them. And this is not something that appears to happens every day – many, many federal government workers do not feel appreciated by their organization. On the most recent Federal Human Capital Survey, only app. 50 % gave a positive response to the question: “How satisfied are you with the recognition you receive for doing a good job?”

That’s terrible. Maybe our leaders need training in “Thank You Power.” I know in my own leadership journey I am taking Norville’s advice to heart (and not just at Thanksgiving). In my personal life, I have gone back to old favorites (the handwritten, mailed thank you card) and new favorites (#FollowFriday on Twitter) to let people know that I appreciate them. In the office, I like to Thank You by email so the person has a record for their files, but I also like to wander around and say thanks in person. I think the form doesn’t really matter as long as you express the thought.

So in the spirit of this blog: "Thank You for taking the time to read my thoughts."

Katina

Fed independence doubts could hurt recovery: Claims the Fed

David Dejewski — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:00:31 -0800

What are your thoughts regarding independence of the Fed?

See today's article from Reuters:

http://tr.im/FwBQ

Open Government is Change Management… On Steroids

Jenn Gustetic — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:24:23 -0800

Giovanni Carnaroli, the associate CIO for IT policy oversight at the Department of Transportation, and Jenn Gustetic from Phase One Consulting Group presented at the Open Government: Strategies and Tactics from the Play Book event last week. For those of you that couldn’t make it, we are introducing our thoughts about how to approach Open Government to you on the blogosphere with this posting:

• Open Government planning is about more than tools and technology. It is about the “trinity” of Technology, Policy and Culture.
• Developing and using a comprehensive Open Government framework is possible and it can help you stay on track throughout the program lifecycle.
• Engaging an interdisciplinary leadership and planning team from the beginning is crucial to tap into tacit knowledge and mitigate risks.

We feel that Open Government is ultimately about driving innovation through collaboration. We are heading towards that goal by getting the right people at the leadership table from the beginning and by following a framework that is focused, comprehensive and flexible in an attempt to avoid as many downstream issues as possible. We have incorporated the technology, policy and cultural elements that are essential to understand in any Open Government effort into a framework that will enable Agencies to meet their strategic objectives, mitigate risks, and improve performance through their Open Government Plan. This framework will help you answer two questions: “how should I approach managing the change required for a more Open Government?” and “who should I involve in Open Government?”

We hope that this framework will serve as the starting point for an Open Government best practice methodology (similar to FSAM), developed through a multi-agency effort.

How should I approach managing the change required for a more Open Government?

Bottom line, the Open Gov initiative represents a shift in the way we engage with the public and innovate. This is change management…on steroids.

And how do you traditionally manage change and business transformation? Through a pretty basic lifecycle management approach; assess, plan, implement, measure, and improve. But how do you assess your current state? How do you plan for your desired state? That’s where the “wheel” you see on the graphic below comes in. The wheel acknowledges that the technology, policy and culture components at your organization are all critical to understand before moving into planning. Some people see these areas as hurdles they must overcome, and others see them as resources. We see them each as unique and crucial areas for transformation throughout the Open Gov lifecycle.

For technology, we suggest the critical areas include security, infrastructure, tools and current pilots and programs. For policy we suggest the areas are strategic planning, performance, legal and internal directives. And finally for culture we suggest the critical areas are employee readiness, communication channels, agency stakeholders, and those areas where the agency is already participating with the public, albeit not through Gov 2.0 tools. We will be releasing another blog series soon that will run through each of these areas in detail.

Note that each critical area and the corresponding activities in the five lifecycle phases can be thought of as a “cake slice”. There are distinct activities associated with the assess, plan, implement, measure, and improve phases of the each of the key areas that the appropriate office should be heavily involved in.

Who should be involved in Open Gov strategy and planning at your organization?

On the framework graphic, there is a grey ring around the color wheel that contains various offices within the organization. This ring highlights what office tends to be the subject matter expert in each of these crucial areas. Walking around the circle, this framework shows that the chief information officer, project managers for key mission areas, public affairs, human resources, chief financial officer, general counsel, and policy development offices should all be engaged in the leadership and planning of an Open Gov effort. If you want more detail about what each of these offices tend to care about in the Open Gov space, check out the “Open Gov leadership team” blog series we released in October.

Bottom line: It’s important to involve folks from each of these critical areas at the beginning of the effort in order to tap into their tacit knowledge and ensure downstream challenges are mitigated.

Open Government strategy and planning is not about picking one tool and running with it. It is about fundamentally changing the way the Federal government interacts with citizens and its employees to reduce costs, improve decision making, mitigate risks, and stimulate innovation. That is a huge endeavor but this framework organizes the chaos and may enable you to more effectively tie agency strategic goals and performance targets to Open Government transformation efforts.

Originally posted on the Transformation in the Federal Sector Blog.

Charles Malone

Charles Malone — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:17:11 -0800

This is my first entry. As a long time state government employee, all of it in human resource area, I am happy to have opportunity to communicate with other government people. Now, I am also a candidate for the NC state senate. This will dominate my time from now to next November, so I will be balancing time at work and personal time earned to campaign. I want to go from administering a narrow area of public work to legislating a variety of public initiatives. I will retire when I win (being optimistic) because we cannot be in the administrative and legislative branches of government at the same time. Hmmm? Makes sense. So, looking forward to exchanging ideas with you as time goes by.

Taps for Direct Healthcare for Military Retirees: The Slippery Slope

David Dejewski — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:27:08 -0800

"Over the next few years you will see the number of military healthcare facilities cut in half. If past is prologue, the military healthcare system will be down-sized to care for the fighting force only. Is there a Commission in your future which will see little or no distinction between military retirees and others who have gained their eligibility through age and economic circumstances?"

Read the full article here.

AAAS S&T Policy Fellowship

GovLoop — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:52:17 -0800

Check out the American Association for the Advancement's Science and Technology Policy Fellowships -- it helps puts scientists like GovLoop rockstars John Ohab and Mark Drapeau in the government to influence science policy and the promotes the voice of scientists in the policymaking process.

http://fellowships.aaas.org/

Deadline for the 2010-2011 is Dec 15.

YouTube Captioning Makes Video More Accessible for All

Gwynne Kostin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Dear Google/YouTube,
We want it. We want it NOW!
xoxo,
Your Dot-gov Buddies

A big barrier to making video content available to people who can't hear is creating captions for the audio--like the closed captioning you see on TV. This is especially important to government because we are required-- by law and by mission--to make content available to all people, regardless of their abilities. So, the dot-gov space was a-flutter [I almost said a-twitter, and that was true too] when Google announced two new features to make videos on YouTube accessible to the deaf and hearing impaired.

First, and available to EVERYONE now, YouTube account holders can upload a transcript with a video and YouTube will be automatically generate, time stamp, and incorporate captions into your video.

What does this mean? Well, in order for captions to make sense, they need to be coded to match up with the audio on the video. Bottom line, using current technologies, it takes more than a few painstaking staff hours to time code a 15 minute video. This delays posting the video--or fosters a reluctance to create video content or, even worse, encourages posting video that people who are deaf can't access. This is a huge problem for time sensitive, safety messages.

Why is this extra cool? The generated YouTube caption file can be downloaded from YouTube and used in other versions of the video. Most federal agencies post their video on a dot-gov site in addition to posting on YouTube. This will turn around processes and let us create the timestamp file on YouTube to post with our videos. Yay! I know at least one hard working captioner who will be ecstatic to turn her attention to more video production and less caption production. Breaking news: IT WORKS!!

Second,

[Google has] combined Google's automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology with the YouTube caption system to offer automatic captions, or auto-caps for short. Auto-caps use the same voice recognition algorithms in Google Voice to automatically generate captions for video. The captions will not always be perfect, but even when they're off, they can still be helpful—and the technology will continue to improve with time. --Read more on the Google Blog.

Auto-caps is being piloted withUC Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Yale, UCLA, Duke, UCTV, Columbia, PBS, National Geographic, Demand Media, UNSW and most Google & YouTube channels.
This is pure awesomeness--despite any imperfections in machine generated captions--because unscripted events require a transcriptionist at cost of time and money. If the captioner is also transcribing it can take an hour to get a minute or two of captioning done. Google's auto-caps is a game changer with the potential to make more video more accessible to everyone.

Let's let Google explain the service:

This is great news for people who are deaf or hearing impaired. This is great news for government agencies that struggle with the cost and expertise required to make video accessible to everyone. This is great news because government can't be transparent for most of the people--open government is only meaningful when it's available to all.

Dear Google/YouTube,
Thanks for this new service! We are happy to help beta test your auto-captioning feature. Give us a call!
xoxo,
Your Dot-gov Buddies

++++++++ Originally posted at Gwynne On Dot-gov ++++++++

TSP Weekly Wrap-Up - Why Gold?

Tom Crowley — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -0800

Hi everyone - It's your weekly dose of TSP Talk from www.tsptalk.com.

Stock got off to pretty good start last week as the major indices were up sharply on Monday, and they held onto those gains as we headed into Thursday.

On Thursday, Meredith Whitney, who made a name for herself correctly calling for the downfall of financials in 2007, said valuations on lender stocks are too high and what “scares” her most is the government stepping away from buying mortgage-backed securities.

The market lost ground on the comments and stocks could not recover by the close on Friday.

The C-fund held up OK, losing just 0.13% on the week. The S-fund dropped 0.65%, and because of a rebound in the U.S. dollar, the I-fund lagged behind with a loss of 1.93%. The Bond fund (F) picked up 0.31% as investors opted for safety.

For the month, all of the TSP fund remain solidly in positive territory, but as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, during the last few months, which all started positively, we saw weakness toward the later half of the month. So, is it time to protect your gains?

There is an historic positive bias for stocks on the Wednesday prior to, and the Friday after Thanksgiving Thursday, but the week after drops off.

You may or may not be aware that the TSP was considering adding additional mutual fund options to our current fund options, but unfortunately it is looking less likely that it is going to happen any time soon.

"Other union witnesses expressed concern that, at a time when the TSP is making so many changes, the availability of human resource officers at many federal agencies is dwindling, which means feds may have more trouble getting one-on-one financial advice regarding their investment options." [source]

I wasn't aware that anyone was being given one-on-one financial advice from their agencies, nor do I believe your employer is responsible for giving it to you. They already provide matching funds to many employees. I would think that managing our money would be our own responsibility. If you want help, you seek it on your own.

Anyway, here is an example of why it might be very useful to have the option of being able to invest in something like a gold fund:

When the stock market is in a bear market, or moving down for any prolonged period of time, it becomes much more difficult to actually make money in your TSP account, particularly if you are diversified and keep money in the stock funds.

By adding a fund that tracks gold, there will be opportunities to make money, even when stocks are falling. Not all the time, but with bonds, gold and attempts to time rebounds in the stock market, you can protect your account, or actually come out ahead.

As you can see in the chart below, the S&P 500 is currently sitting at about 1091. It first reached 1091 back in 1998. Any money you had invested in the C-fund back in 1998 is probably worth about the same now as it was back then. Not a great return for 11-years of investing.

You can also see that the S&P 500 has been through two serious bear markets since about 2000, with the index twice losing between 45% and 55% of its total value. The S and I funds did even worse. It was a tough time to make money, to be sure.

But during those times, as well as others, gold saw powerful rallies and a gold fund would have been a nice option for your TSP balance, to either offset some of the large losses being handed out, or if you were aggressive, to actually make money during the bear market.

Charts courtesy of www.decisionpoint.com

Just looking at the period between 2007 and today, the S&P 500 is still down over 30% from its peak of 1576 to today's 1091, while gold is up over 60% during that same period going from $700 an ounce to to today's $1150.

Whether you are trying to time the market or just trying to spread your money out into a more diversified allocation, having more options can be a big benefit. Of course trying to time the market can be a risky proposition if you are wrong, but there is always risk in any investment. You have to judge your own risk / reward tolerance.

So, while some are trying to protect us from ourselves by expressing concerns that adding new options will increase risk to TSP participants, giving us the option to make our own decisions with additional investment opportunities - and no one is forcing you to use any new investment vehicle - is part of the risk that we may need to take if we are ever going to retire.

The stock market has basically moved sideways for the last 11-years. Will you be able to retire if it moves sideways for another 5, 10, or more years?

Good luck, and thanks for reading! We will be back here next week with another TSP Weekly Wrap Up.

Tom Crowley
TSP Talk

Social Networks; from knowledge Management to Knowing

andy mulholland — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:37:32 -0800

Its an interesting point as to whether any organisation of size can function with out both ‘Business Intelligence’ meaning reporting on how well it is succeeding against the operational measures it has set itself, and its Knowledge Management system as its reference base of experience gained. However both are also strongly internally focussed and make assumptions that activities will happen with in the structure of the internal enterprise operational model. Today external events, and shifting to an increasingly citizen centric view are the challenges in terms of what do we know about these shifting issues. And as a second part to this comes the challenge that our colleagues are already using new technology such as Twitter in some new way that it’s difficult for many managers to understand.

Let me try to break this down in practical manner using a metaphor and starting with the challenge that we don’t know what we don’t know, so have no way of knowing how complete a picture we are using to form our decisions. Think of it this way: you’re hungry (event), and see what looks like a good restaurant (opportunity). Then you study the menu (knowledge), and subsequently decide to eat there (decision). The food is okay, but the evening is not great as you are lonely, so the experience is poor (optimisation).

Now add into the equation Twitter, which is up to a staggering number of users now. Our friends are offering continual insights to their activities so now we have the benefit of ‘knowing’ more about the whole experience. We could ask for feedback on the restaurant, or others near by, even see that we have a friend nearby with whom we could share the meal. We could describe ourselves as being ‘in the know’ - a unique English phrase used to describe someone who always seems to have connections and experiences to be able to do better than most people.

Is this the secret of Twitter’s success? That it enables us to feel that we are ‘in the know’? And can this be replicated across an enterprise through social tools? That’s what lies behind the title of this post: From Knowledge to Knowing.

I am not sure when I first heard this phrase, but having researched the topic of Business Intelligence at length, I’m sure it’s a fundamental supporting concept. Actually, I discovered as I delved into this deeper that this is a topic that has been aired in a number of different ways: ranging from the ‘spiritual issues’ to the science. But the real turning point for me is in an interesting book that came out this summer called ‘Knowing Knowledge’ by George Siemens. There is a good summarising review to be found here. http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/know.htm .

If I put all of this together I think I am beginning to understand the power of adding ‘social networking’ and other associated tools/technologies to an enterprise, at least for a certain proportion of roles. Not just knowledge workers, but those whose job contains significant numbers of variables. As many of these roles are more frontline, with younger people, than managerial positions which are to some extent more abstracted from the ‘churn’ of activities, you can see where and how instant messaging, Twitter and social networks are creeping into the enterprise.

Maybe it’s time to stop assuming from a more managerial standpoint that these are distracting ‘toys’, but to do some serious investigation into what and how they are being used beneficially. The barrier? It’s the fear of managers finding that they are not ‘in the know’ and that their staff knows more about the circumstances than they do. Overcome this and with an open mind what might you find?

Think of the potential power of each individual if they’re acting as a real time ‘sensor’ of circumstances. If this can be harnessed through reference by the individual to past experiences of their enterprise through knowledge management, this can be combined and focused upon to use joint expertise to optimise the opportunity and enhance the quality of the decision. Its not quite ‘crowd sourcing’ because it should be a careful selection of a sub-section of the crowd who is relevant and contextual to the situation. Now by most of the definitions I can find that is ‘intelligence’!

As a footnote, just consider that in most enterprises I hear the tale that the smokers are the best informed group. Why? Because they form a social network across the enterprise that meets regularly in their little external circles to exchange information.

HHS Emerging Leaders Program - Positions at the GS-9 Level

Dia M. Gonsalves — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:28:14 -0800

HHS is looking for the next generation of leaders to join our workforce through the Emerging Leaders Program. To learn more, you may apply at http://hhsu.learning.hhs.gov/elp. The vacancy announcement will be available until December 7.

Tracing the Whys

Jen Scheer — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0800

Reposted from original at www.opennasa.com

When reading the Augustine Committee’s summary report, there was one particular line that really stood out to me.

“In fact, the Committee finds that no plan compatible with the FY 2010 budget profile permits human exploration to continue in any meaningful way.”

Wow. That is a lot to take in. It isn’t a big surprise, but to see it there in black and white somehow makes it seem that much more real. Many people who read that report saw it as a death sentence for manned spaceflight. That is not necessarily the case. Given this information, it would seem to be imperative that NASA receive more funding. If that is not possible, are there any other options? If you can’t get more money, what is the logical thing to do?

Spend less money.

When faced with cutting costs in human spaceflight, the first instinct is to think that safety will be compromised, but that doesn’t have to be true. In fact, it is possible to improve safety while drastically cutting costs. It is all about tracing the “whys.”

Many of us grew up constantly asking why? why? why? about everything. I know I did. I drove my parents nuts with all the questions. Unfortunately, most of us seem to grow out of that curiosity. We settle into walking around with blinders on. In most government agencies, it is believed that things must be done a certain way. Often this is not the fastest, cheapest, most efficient, least wasteful, or even safest way to do them. Over the years as new processes are implemented, we often take nearly ridiculous measures to make the new processes work with the legacy ones.

For example: Recently, a co-worker was having trouble with a scanner. He was trying to scan in a scheduling document so it could be uploaded to a certain folder on the intranet and thus be visible to all interested parties. I asked him where he got the schedule in the first place. He told me that one of the schedulers prints it out for him every day. I was floored. “You mean it is an electronic document in the first place? She prints it out for you to scan back in? That’s crazy!” He said that he had to add his notes to it before scanning it in. I wasn’t impressed. He said that that was how they were all taught; that’s just the way they have to do it.

In this pervasive culture of just doing things the way we are taught- we don’t ask why. These are not just a few things, but rather thousands of them; some with small impacts and some that are large. The sum of these unasked “whys” are critical to the future of NASA. We must make an agency-wide effort to really ask ourselves why we do some of the things we do.

It isn’t enough to just ask why. We have to trace each “why” all the way to it’s origin.
Traced to their sources, I believe most of the answers we will arrive at could be categorized as such:

We do it that way for valid reasons such as safety, feasibility, and cost
We do it that way because it was a workaround for some other issue
We do it that way because someone wanted it done that way
We do it that way because it is the only way we know how
We do it that way for a reason that is no longer applicable
No one remembers why we do it that way

Of those that are necessary for a reason such as safety, cost, or feasibility; we might then ask if the reason is still valid. Have regulations or equipment been changed, or can they be?
Is there new technology available that could improve safety, efficiency, and cost?

In many cases, the answers will be yes, and the door is open for improvement. Those that fall into the other categories hold the real potential. Many are things we are doing for no good reason at all, and can be cut out altogether. Some will need to be changed. Some changes or cuts will be easy, others will not. It will be downright difficult to make many of these changes because they are so deeply entrenched in our culture. This kind of effort will require commitment from all levels of the agency, beginning at the top. All centers will need to be in cooperation, and policies must be consolidated and streamlined across them all in order to be successful. We will need to be creative and innovative in our solutions- perhaps flexing some muscles we haven’t used in a while.

We can rise to the challenge.

I’m not saying that NASA or other government agencies are out there wasting taxpayers’ money. That’s not it at all. When a large organization has been around as long as NASA has, there is a natural tendency to experience a buildup of inefficiencies over the years. Every so often something drastic must be done to clear these non-value added requirements or processes out and forge ahead. Will it really make that much of a difference to the bottom line? Will it enable us to continue with human spaceflight in a meaningful way without an increase in budget?

Don’t we owe it to ourselves and our country to give it a shot?

Do I know you?...Where would other GovLoopers most likely have met you?

Jay Daughtry — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:59:49 -0800

Do other GovLoopers know you from the office? A conference, seminar, luncheon, or other event? A training class? LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter?

Some might know me from my work at Dell. In this role I also attend government technology and Air Force conferences. Additionally, I'm active on LinkedIn (Jay S. Daughtry) and Twitter (@FederalSandbox).

Why Does Anybody Play Chess?!!

Emi Whittle — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:25:50 -0800

So there's this little chess gadget, wherein a user can play a computer opponent... I have probably played a thousand times on the "easy" level and I have won exactly one time. And yet, I keep trying.... In frustration I rhetorically blustered "Why on earth does anybody play this game?!!!" Really, sometimes the computer beats me so fast I have hardly blinked when it proudly chirps "check mate!" Ugh. I am, I thought, a fairly intelligent person, capable of learning and theoretically succeeding at chess, but apparently I was wrong. I fail, ... over and over and over.... I recall with fondness the ONE time the game had to chirp for me "You Won!".. seems like years ago now....
But I have learned some very important things along the way: many axioms about failure being a necessity for success are very very true! "Failure is the best teacher" must mean that I am an awesome student of chess... "I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that don't work" and I am well on my way... "There is no failure, only feedback" yeah, well, mr computer opponent, feed back on this...
Seriously, though, I think everybody should play chess. Winning does not teach us anything - but losing provides the opportunity to learn and grow and adapt... and chess provides LOTS of that! And, the key to learning in chess is in weighing out all the options and staying many, many steps ahead of the game. That key, is a foundation of critical thinking, critical information seeking, critical decision making - a key that is far too often missing in today's world. Health care bills, stimulus packages, reforms of any shape or size, all need to be subject to the rules of chess --- everything in life is a trade off and we must look, harder and farther into the future prior to making sweeping changes, to see where those trade offs might come from and impact with crash landings.
Part of the human condition is that we are all "firemen" at heart.... we see fires and we put them out. Thinking about why the fire started, how to prevent the fires in the future, what resources might be needed to enact that prevention, what becomes impacted by taking those resources, what becomes affected by the prevention measures, what needs to be done to minimize the impact to other entities that need those resources, and when that gets done, what else might be affected.... planning, planning, plannnnnnning, and thinking. Most of us aren't going to do all that, until we see that next puff of smoke in the sky... and might not do more than put out that fire as well. I'm certain that's why I'm failing at chess - I panic, and in quick efforts to save one piece, I lose another.
The ONE game that I won literally hurt my brain - thinking so many steps ahead and planning out all the moves and the possible counter moves from the computer - but apparently that is what pays off. And it was enough for the computer to learn how to not let me win that way again...
So what have I learned? That everybody should play chess, so we can all have a common ground of understanding how failure feels!! No really, so that we can all learn how much we need to learn about critical thinking and decision making skills... and that even after the 1,000 failure, we have another choice to make... to try again, or not....
I think I'll go play chess now.

Branding and Social Media: “I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife”

Dannielle Blumenthal — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:33:02 -0800

Over the past several years, with the explosion of freely available social media tools and the corresponding increase in the public’s use of these, I’ve become more and more consumed with a central challenge that social media presents to branding. Specifically, with these two disciplines we have two seemingly opposing rules of communication at work. Let’s put them in Ten Commandments form, since they are so important:

1. “Thou shalt communicate consistently.”

2. “Thou shalt communicate authentically (and increasingly, support authentic and transparent feedback to you from your customers).”

In the “olden” days (for me the “olden” days are roughly 2007, before I started actively studying and engaging in social media myself) simply obeying rule #1 was enough, and even that was tough, for two reasons.

--First, companies didn’t have a handle on all the touchpoints between themselves and the public that had to be controlled in order to create a consistent image. They understood that the ads and the press releases had to look the same, but they didn’t necessarily understand that the customer service reps had to make a similar impression as the ads; that the community outreach flyers couldn’t seem homemade; that internal employee newsletters played a part in what external people thought of the company; and so on.

--Second, companies didn’t understand that just because they said something, didn’t make it true in the eyes, ears, and hearts of their constituents. So for example if a crisis were to occur and they said, “we are blameless,” that did not necessarily end the public’s concerns over their behavior. Or, in a variation on this theme, they might struggle to get “key messages” worded right, but what they didn’t necessarily understand was that if the public didn’t believe the key messages in the first place, then all the wording in the world didn’t make a difference.

Beginning roughly after that, companies faced an additional imperative, and that was to engage in a new and alien world, full of weird beings, broadly known as “social media.” A universe of virtual elves sprang up to confront us in this new world, speaking in the language of “Blogger” and “Twitter” and “Yammer” and “YouTube” and “Friendfeed” and “Facebook” and “MySpace” and “LinkedIn” and “Reddit” and “Digg,” and that’s just to name a few. Forget about strategy, suddenly everybody was out there, hanging out and doing business in the equivalent of the coolest nightclub in the city, and if you didn’t go there or at least know how to get past the bouncer, you were a total relic and could be easily bypassed by your savvier competitors.

So in the beginning it was just about broadening the brand to an expression space in the world of social media. All fine and good, if you’re still in the world of Commandment #1, consistency. But increasingly, with the growth of social media came a complete revolution in the relationship between the brand and its audience. Whereas in the past the audience was happy if the brand could just be consistent in terms of explaining what it did, and of course had to deliver on its promises, now there was a new demand: that brands be so authentic, so good at what they did, that they could handle virtually uncensored self-expression with respect to who they were and what they did.

In other words, in a social media environment, for a brand to succeed it has to allow its customers and its employees to say whatever they want about the brand, knowing that those groups will ultimately tell the same story that the brand is telling about itself. That is a very, very high bar of performance for a brand to achieve and I would argue, almost unattainable. Yet it is exactly what people demand today. Anything less, to go back to focusing on image and consistency alone, leaves the brand at risk of falling into “propaganda” mode, where brand representatives are expected to robotically spew whatever the message of the moment is, even though the reality underneath may not match at all.

Let me say it again: Today, we live in an environment where branding remains as important as ever and social media is only getting more important. Therefore, not only do brands have to present a consistent image themselves, but they have to deliver on their promises so well that their stakeholders, without prompting and of their own free will, say the exact same things about the brand as the brand says about itself.

This – marrying your professional image with the public’s spontaneous impression of you - is the essence and the crux of developing a social media strategy that supports the brand, and conversely a brand that incorporates social media. It’s not about pushing out yet more messages that say the same things as your brochures. Rather, it’s about engaging the public in a conversation, building a relationship with them, promoting mutual trust between the brand and the stakeholder so that by the time the stakeholder opens his or her mouth in a blog post or a message board or a chat room or on LinkedIn, Facebook, or any other place, they are telling the brand story and even advocating for the brand more passionately than the brand can advocate for itself.

Am I saying that there is no room left for image-building? Of course not. People will always want to buy into a fantasy that they hold and that perhaps others share. Great brand-builders still know how to create new images virtually from scratch, and to generate a thirst for those images that is unparalleled. The problem, however, is in sustaining that image. It’s like blowing up a shiny red balloon: There is a part of you that wants to gaze at it, and another part of you that wants to pop it just because it’s really just a container of hot air inside. This impulse, to get to the truth of the balloon if you will, is more and more prevalent today, as leaders and celebrities fail to live up to the image of perfection they present. It’s almost like we try to tear them down before they can have the opportunity to disappoint us.

So the trick, I think, is to anticipate both the public’s hunger for image and their desire to tear down that image, and find ways to play with the tension – to surprise, and delight, and always be one step ahead of the public imagination. And that is just on a conceptual level. On a practical level, the task is to build an extremely savvy and sophisticated, fully integrated, branding and social media machine, one in which every single method of interaction both externally and internally, and every single decision, is subject to the demands of the brand. In an organization like this, the brand is based on a very simple, compelling, and broad essence that its people can support and that the public will grasp onto and buy into.

To get down to earth a bit, a perfect example of this approach at work is now-President Obama’s election campaign. The word “Change” was its brand, and it was completely effective, to the point where people still repeat it, over and over again, whether or not they agree with the President now. From a branding perspective, “Change” was simple, compelling, broadly applicable, and the public grasped onto it and bought into it completely – the right message at the right time. From a social media perspective, the communication that was coming out of the campaign was the same as the communication taking place among the public and flowing back to it. On the flowing-out side, not only did the candidate call for change, he had a history of trying to create change, and he personally, by virtue of his diverse background, represented the change the country sought. On the flowing-around and –in side, there was extensive peer-to-peer social networking, as well as YouTube and other social media expressions from the public to the candidate indicating that they understood the promise, believed the promise, and supported Mr. Obama’s ability to deliver on it. The Republican competition, with John McCain and “newcomer “political brand Sarah Palin, had plenty going for it as well, and Sarah Palin is clearly a strong brand in her own right, but they were up against such a powerful mix of branding and social media that they didn’t really stand a chance.

Some may claim that in today’s “age of transparency,” social media has superseded branding and the drive to present a unified, consistent image to the public. I totally disagree. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth: The public, bombarded both by choice and crooks, wants to deal with organizations that have a good reputation and that will treat them well as a customer. (Can anybody say “Amazon.com?”) So when you build and maintain a strong brand, one that tells its story and makes its promise consistently, over and over again, to the point where the public knows you and knows what to expect from you, you are positioning yourself effectively for success. The challenge, though, which has always existed but which is heightened in a social media environment, is that the story has to be absolutely true and the promise has to mean what it says. And when something happens to mess up the narrative, you decide to change the ending, or you can’t keep a promise, you have to communicate about it – a lot – and even be open to inviting the public in to co-create the reality of the brand with you.

This, I think, is the new reality of successfully integrated branding and social media: It’s a world where you do take the time to craft an image, but you ground that image in the facts on the ground, and where the interplay and feedback between the two is frequent, fast and furious as marketing needs and reality both shift continually. There is no longer a monolithic image, but rather a dynamic reality that is constantly in play. It’s a world, in short, where Google – which exemplifies these qualities - is consistently a top brand for a reason.

In the end, with a great brand like that, you can’t really tell where the image ends and the truth begins—and you don’t even want to.

Crossposted to my blog. All views my own. Please feel free to repost.

A Public Sector Where Digital Natives Thrive

GovLoop — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:04:15 -0800

Cross-posted with permission from TheConnectedRepublic - http://theconnectedrepublic.org/posts/458

Digital Natives (people who have grown up in a connected world) have different attitudes, approaches and habits than those in preceding generations and will soon be a major part of society’s workforce. How does the public sector need to change to attract these people and provide them with a working environment which will let them fulfill their potential? This session will compare and contrast Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, and Digital Skeptics and explore how the public sector might change, firstly, as efforts are made to attract Digital Natives and secondly, as Digital Natives becomes more and more influential in how things get done.

At the Public services Summit at Nobel, December 8 - 11, 2009, in an interactive, technology-enabled setting, public sector delegages will collaborate, debate, and vote on the following questions:

1. Should privacy be sacrificed for transparency? Vote one of 3 Ways:

a. http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/LTUzNTQwNzE2OA/web

b. Twitter - tweet @poll 46463 for Yes, @poll 46464 for No

c. Text to +447624806527 – 46463 for Yes, 46464 for No

2. Should the integration of devices, workplaces and “boundary-less” organizations be a top priority for the public sector? Vote one of 3 Ways:

a. http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/ODQxMDQ4NTI4/web

b. Twitter - tweet @poll 46462 for Yes, @poll 46465 for No

c. Text to +447624806527 – 46462 for Yes, 46465 for No

3. Should public sector workers be allowed to post content in real-time using social media technologies without management approval? Vote one of 3 Ways:

a. http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/LTEzODgwNDgyNDk/web

b. Twitter - tweet @poll 46466 for Yes, @poll 46467 for No

c. Text to +447624806527 – 46466 for Yes, 46467 for No

What do you think?

No More "Social" Media: It's Knowledge Media

Andrew Krzmarzick — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0800

NOTE: Originally published on July 24, 2009, I am re-posting since there is new energy surrounding this subject. What are your thoughts?

----------------------------------------

In light of the conversations and content of the Open Government and Innovations conference as well as my ongoing attempts to serve as a social media evangelist in agencies, I had an epiphany this evening. As I was preparing a presentation for an agency and thinking about ways to convince senior leaders that they should adopt the tools in order to better achieve their mission, I realized that the language we're using is problematic.

It's time to stop using the term social media in government. The new term I offer for your consideration is "knowledge media."

GovLoop is Exhibit A. While personnel from government agencies and organizations associated with the public sector come to GovLoop to expand their connections and engage in social engagement, the majority of the content - from blogs to groups to forums - is tied to a pursuit for knowledge and information. In many ways, GovLoop is less a social network and more a knowledge network - a place where people come when they have questions on the job.

Members recognize that GovLoop provides a targeted community of people with a common desire to improve the work of government. It's one of the best places to find real-time answers that arise during the work day. And it's the place where people convene between conferences and other events to connect and collect new ideas in order to innovate and inform, streamline and strive for improvement.

With this post, I am determined to STOP using the term social media or social networking to describe the tools and activities of government related to collaborative technology. Instead, I am going to use "knowledge media" and "knowledge network."

It's time to change the language that we're using in order to encourage broader adoption across agencies and organizations. Will you join me in this effort to re-define government's use of collaborative technology to be more transparent, open and participatory?

Or am I just being anti-social? :-)

-------------------------------------------

UPDATE as of 11/21: There have been other people writing about this subject since I first posted my thoughts above. I would like to draw your attention to their excellent remarks and enhance this conversation:

1. Chris Dorobek has two posts:

9/28/09 The Era of Social Media is Over - Long Live Collaboration Tools

11/19/09 Gov 2.0 moves beyond ’social media’ — and why it’s more than semantics

2. Mark Drapeau has responded to Chris:

10/14/09 Collaboration is the End, Social Networking is the Means

3. Chris Jones has been blogging independent of our conversation about the same topic:

11/18/09 The Problem with "Social" in Social Media

Customer Service at the Holidays - Share these tips with your team.

Wendi S. Brick — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:30:00 -0800

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

This time of year, some people are in a great mood, and some people experience intense sadness, stress and depression. You have probably seen this in others in years past, maybe even in yourself.

For those of us who serve others, this time of year is arguably the most challenging. Here are some tips to keep your cool, and have the real opportunity to make someone’s day better.

First, take care of yourself. Taking care of yourself allows you to better care for others. Try to get enough sleep, do things you find fun and relaxing, and get some exercise. It’s the perfect time of the year to visit with your friends and relatives while taking a nice long walk around the block.

Second, remember not to take a customer’s mood personally. If they seem upset or angry, it’s not about you. Be kind. Help them resolve the situation.

Interacting with you could be the high point of their day, or it could add to their sadness. The great thing is, as a professional service provider, you are in control of that outcome – you get to pick. Choose wisely.

If the Holidays are truly about giving and helping others, we have the perfect opportunity to do our best for every person, every day.

Social Media Policy - Part 9 - Productivity and Impact of Misuse

Brian Gryth — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:30:00 -0800

Productivity

Social media tools can be valuable resources when used for work-related activities, but inappropriate use of these tools can be a drain on employer resources. Therefore, if an employer supports the use of social media tools during work hours, then that employer’s social media policy should include a reminder to employees that their use of social media tools should not negatively impact their work productivity.

So what is your experience? Are people more or less productive when allowed to use social media tools? How should employers address this issue?

Impact of Misuse

A final and critical component of a sound social media policy is a clear delineation of the consequences that will follow violations of the policy. In many cases, this component may be addressed by extending misuse of social media to those guidelines already contained in the existing employee handbook. However, it is critical that the social media policy be clear about the consequences if the policy is violated.

What should be the consequence for misuse? Termination? A fatherly disapproving talk from a boss (which might make getting fired look more promising)?

Cross post from my blog at http://sleepisoptional.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/social-media-policy-part-9-productivity-and-impact-of-misuse/

Have you checked your Wikipedia page lately?

Frederick P. Wellman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:02:49 -0800

Wikipedia is often forgotten as one of the first of the Web 2.0 revolution sites and in many ways it has grown as more of an information source on government organizations than the agencies official websites. In any given Google search the Wikipedia entry on the topic is among the top 5 sites listed. With that in mind who in your organization is keeping an eye on your entry?

As a user edited site anyone can go in and update the information on any topic. Sometimes people with ill intent will go in and spread misinformation and outright lies about others and government agencies are as ripe a target as you can get.

At this time there are over 65 million visitors a month to Wikipedia and over 3.1 million articles in English are live on the site. While it is inappropriate to delete or try to hide negative information it is well within the rules of the site to report and seek the removal of information that is factually unsupported or malicious.

A wise tactice for public affairs officials is to ensure you are adding a regular review and monitoring of your organizations entry on the site as part of your duties. You may even discover your agency isn't listed at all and you should create a page yourself to ensure your agency is appearing in searches and telling your story to the public.

If nothing else you can't beat the price. It's free.

Seattle - FYI - Data Position - National Child Welfare role

Gerry La Londe-Berg — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:34:32 -0800

I came across this - and, if you are qualified, it is a great role and a great organization.

Casey Family Programs, an Equal Opportunity Employer, is a national operating foundation that provides and improves—and ultimately prevents the need for—foster care. We are currently looking for a Systems Improvement Advisor with a focus on data and outcome measurement.

Position Overview
The Systems Improvement Advisor manages the storage, analysis and presentation of administrative data, both in support of tracking Casey’s 2020 goals and in improving data-driven decision-making in states, counties, and tribes. The Systems Improvement (SI) Advisor has responsibility, as part of the Measurement and Evaluation Team, for supporting Casey work units and external partners in using data to prioritize their work, assisting in the collection of data to measure impact, analyzing qualitative and quantitative data, and producing reports and publications. The Advisor is a skilled and experienced analyst, with capacity to make decisions and manage work.

Location: Seattle, WA
Position Type: Full-Time, Exempt

Qualifications
Master’s Degree in Social Work, Public Administration, or other closely related field required, plus 5 years experience in a child welfare setting. Ph.D. may be substituted for experience.

Knowledge of child and family social services is required. Qualified candidates will have experience working with child welfare data.

Excellent oral and written communication skills are required. Demonstrated skills in writing for a variety of audiences and the ability to develop graphical displays of data and to translate research findings into practice implications (writing sample required).

Technical skills: Proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel. Knowledge of Microsoft Access and SPSS required. Demonstrated ability to learn other pertinent software programs as required.

Application Instructions
Please visit Casey Family Programs’ online career center at http://www.casey.org/AboutUs/WorkAtCasey/, click on Employment Opportunities, and search for Systems Improvement Advisor.

For more information contact Mark Hassan at mhassan@casey.org.