July 6, 2011
Creating Cross-Boundary Teams
Instead of a single government entity trying to solve a problem, cross-boundary collaboration allows a whole group of players to tackle tough policy challenges.
June 21, 2011
Municipal Benchmarking: The Holy Grail
Good municipal benchmarking doesn't provide all the answers, but it helps us ask all the right questions.
June 15, 2011
The Power of Cross-Boundary Collaboration
It helps government officials create public value by connecting, innovating and executing.
June 8, 2011
Better Disaster Preparedness and Recovery
Don't wait for disaster to strike -- or for feds to arrive -- to prepare for a catastrophe.
May 31, 2011
Homeownership with a Happy Ending
Massachusetts helps marginal earners become first-time homeowners.
May 26, 2011
The Lottery Winner and Food Stamps
How do you determine economic need?
May 19, 2011
Obama, the Zoo Lady and Job Security
As new technologies, priorities and budget realities take hold, public leaders have to insist that the public workforce embrace changes that promote efficiency.
May 16, 2011
The Ugly Side of Transparency
When information is delivered by the media, it can not only be a big, embarrassing dose of ugly, it can also be a distorted picture.
May 4, 2011
The Complexity Conundrum
When it comes to dealing with the unexpected, government struggles. In order to address the nation's greatest public challenges, government needs to destroy its bureaucracies.
April 25, 2011
Accountability, Bureaucracy and Ideology
Is public-sector accountability a pipe dream, or an excuse to gut government?
April 18, 2011
CEOs in Government
Can the Donald Trumps of the world translate their private-sector successes to the public sector?
April 6, 2011
Prevent the Project to Nowhere
The humble project plan can help avoid the anguish that comes with a poorly envisioned project.
March 28, 2011
The IT Gap
Innovation potential exists when technologies outstrip management's ability to put them to good use.
March 18, 2011
Progressive? Not Anymore.
BFC Contributor Stephen Goldsmith's column in the Wall Street Journal outlines how the legacy rules of the Progressive Era are crippling government operations.
March 8, 2011
On, Wisconsin! The War on Collective Bargaining
Unless we get past the political food fight, we won t get to the important issues that are at stake.
March 2, 2011
Self-Service Savings
The theory seems to be that automation is a bad thing because it eliminates good jobs. Inefficiency, however, simply isn't good public policy.
February 28, 2011
Social Impact Bonds, Policy Debutante
The idea behind Social Impact Bonds is fairly simple. Instead of paying for effort, governments pay only for measureable results.
February 15, 2011
Do Budget Cuts Drive Efficiency?
Will spending cuts lead to greater efficiencies? Or merely a reduction in services?
February 7, 2011
Legislative Leaders Facing the Crisis
State legislatures are on the front line of government and have a profound impact on how innovative state government is or isn't.
February 2, 2011
Fair Pay for Public Employees: A Question of Efficiency
Designing a compensation system that is both fair and promotes efficiency is a real challenge.
January 20, 2011
In NYC, 'Simple' Won't Come Easy
In his State of the City address, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a major push to streamline government operations.
January 5, 2011
Efficiency by the Numbers
Has the 'by the numbers' approach worked in practice? Not surprisingly, the answer is yes in some instances and no in others.
December 22, 2010
Innovative Reading
Reading suggestions for public officials looking to get up to speed on innovative management.
December 21, 2010
Rewarding Efficiency in New Jersey
It is one of the enduring conundrums of public budgeting: How do you feed success and starve failure?
December 14, 2010
Social Media Boom and Bust
Gov. 2.0 has led to some real enhancements. The focus on results must continue for Gov. 2.0 to deliver fully on its potential.
December 9, 2010
The Courts vs. Efficiency
Courts exist for a reason, but over-reliance on the bench for operational oversight can produce more due process than is due.
December 8, 2010
Free Your Data
Evidence is mounting that unlocking your raw data is a great way to enhance public services at very little cost.
December 2, 2010
Owing the Government, Money for Nothing
Many government agencies can and should do a better job of making sure that those who owe government money, pay it.
November 23, 2010
The Future Can Wait
We are all for innovation, but finding new and creative ways to kick the can down the road is not what we had in mind.
November 15, 2010
Cornered in the Corner Office
Hopefully, the current crisis will encourage thoughtful reexamination of even the most politically difficult policy reforms.
November 9, 2010
Corrections Cost Correction
The high cost of incarceration is spurring new thinking around every aspect of prison policy.
November 3, 2010
Privatization Ideology
The blazingly obvious truth about privatization is that in some cases, it leads to better services and lower costs; in other cases, it doesn't.
November 2, 2010
Turning Around Challenged Cities
A new initiative looks to revive some of the nation's most challenged urban areas.
November 1, 2010
Idiocy by Committee
If groups are so wise, why are committees so moronic?
October 21, 2010
The Cost of Blind Justice
When it comes to putting scarce resources to use, we need to better understand costs and trade-offs.
October 7, 2010
Boston's Wicked Bus Applications
This “wiki” approach of allowing outsiders to work out solutions to public problems is a growing trend in better, faster, cheaper government.
October 6, 2010
Inefficient Government Rules and Regulations
Rules are part of the public-sector terrain, but they can be the most frustrating aspect of government.
October 4, 2010
Social Media in the Public Sector
More and more government agencies are using social media tools to disseminate information, to share ideas and to communicate with the general public.
September 28, 2010
'Those Idiots!': Bureaucracy and the Fundamental Attribution Error
We need to question each and every rule, regulation, and law that limits people from exercising their good judgment.
September 27, 2010
Parking Meter Wars
The economics of meter privatization are rather straightforward. The politics of meter privatization, however, are another matter entirely.
September 20, 2010
Today's Management Challenges Echo the Past
A memo from a 1970 Office of Management and Budget official still resonates four decades later.
September 8, 2010
Labor Pains: Repairing the Management-Union Relationship
There are no magic bullets, but one approach to consider is the establishment of a joint labor-management committee.
August 31, 2010
IT Cost Reduction Comes with Risk
The fiscal situation and IT push within the Obama administration is sending a signal across all levels of government that a sea change is coming.
August 26, 2010
Selling (Out) the Future
In government, when times get tight, public officials turn to the sale of assets—the equivalent of selling the family jewels.
August 25, 2010
Too Many Governments?
It’s too early to call it a movement, but state and local officials are beginning to ask hard questions about the multiplicity of government agencies.
August 25, 2010
Overload: Streamlining Governments
Too much government? Maybe. Too many governments? Definitely.
August 18, 2010
Tips for Serious Cost Cutters
Learn how to make structural changes that will bend the cost curve of government down.
August 18, 2010
Serious Cost Cutters Only, Please
This column is for those public leaders who are looking to make structural changes that will bend the cost curve of government down.
August 17, 2010
Goal Erosion: When Goals Don’t Matter
What does it mean for government when political leaders routinely set unrealistic goals that go unrealized? Goals lose their power to guide and inspire.
August 4, 2010
Management by Audit
An independent review offers not just oversight, but insight.
July 28, 2010
A Terrible Thing to Waste
The saying may have its merits, but getting out ahead of a crisis is more sustainable and attainable.
Sustainable Government is Attainable Government
Don't wait for a crisis to drive change, make change a constant feature of government.
July 27, 2010
Rhee Turns DC Schools Upside Down – or Upside Right?
What Michelle Rhee has done in Washington, D.C., is not to turn the schools upside down, but to turn them upside right.
July 22, 2010
New Jersey Governor Releases Privatization Report
Most interesting is the report’s call for a centralized entity whose sole purpose is to promote competitive efficiency within state government.
July 15, 2010
Finding and Spreading Good Ideas
Two new how-to guides for public innovators could prove very useful for public officials who need to find better, faster, cheaper ways of getting the job done.
July 12, 2010
Louisville Links Schools and Community Programs
Software and a swipe card break down information silos
July 8, 2010
Fiscal Crisis? Let the Games Begin
Games and simulations can be important tools as governments around the globe grapple with the grim reality of their fiscal situation.
July 7, 2010
The 5% Solution: The Dreaded “Across the Board” Cuts
The ultimate blunt weapon in the battle of the budget: across the board 5 percent cuts. But do they spur government to greater efficiency or inefficiency?
July 1, 2010
Debt, Deficits, and the Road to Fiscal Sustainability
States, cities and many nations around the globe are facing an existential threat in the form of a massive fiscal imbalance.
June 18, 2010
Stadiums and Economic Growth—or Not
Some governments are building stadiums they don’t need with money they don’t have.
June 17, 2010
Sandy Springs Outsources (Almost) Everything
The earliest days of Sandy Springs, Ga., provide a fascinating (and rare) instance of a community having the freedom to create a government on a blank canvas...
June 10, 2010
Iowa's Ban on Red Tape
Babak Armajani of the Public Strategies Group looks at the experience of the Iowa Charter agencies, an experiment in bureaucracy managed by results rather than red tape.
June 9, 2010
The Bureaucrat and the Telescope
NASA, James Webb, and networked government...
June 3, 2010
From Data to Transparency in D.C.
The District of Columbia has emerged as a transparency leader.
The Danger of Missed Warnings
Working in a high-risk environment, like a space shuttle or an oil rig, it is easy to grow complacent. What can managers do to avoid the complacency trap?
June 2, 2010
The Danger of Missed Warnings
Working in a high-risk environment, like a space shuttle or an oil rig, it is easy to grow complacent. What can managers do to avoid the complacency trap?
June 1, 2010
Los Angeles Offers A Lesson in Job Growth
Rather than throwing money at companies, encourage more business-friendly operations at City Hall, especially towards industries in which you have a natural advantage.
May 28, 2010
The Case for a Total Overhaul
The sobering fiscal reality of our current circumstances are creating an environment more open to a fundamental rethinking of government’s roles and responsibilities.
May 25, 2010
The Key to Public School Turnarounds
How do you fix a dysfunctional school? It starts from the top, with strategies for training and mentoring great leaders, preparing them for...
May 21, 2010
The Art of Cultural Transformation
Getting the rank and file to think differently and embrace change can be a daunting task.
May 18, 2010
Don’t Go There! – OPM begins “Telework” Pilot
The OPM initiative is a big invitation to get to work -- in your bathrobe, if you want to.
May 14, 2010
Learning from Home
Massachusetts is about to join a growing virtual-school movement that may soon transform public education.
May 13, 2010
California Wants to Attract Jobs – But What About Retention?
With all the focus on encouraging new business, what about keeping the ones you have?
May 5, 2010
D.C.'s Newest Superhero: 'Sweepercam'
There is nothing so mundane as street sweeping. So how did the District of Columbia generate cost savings, bring in additional revenue, streamline operations and...
May 4, 2010
Steve Goldsmith to Bring "Better, Faster, Cheaper" Approach to New York City
It has been clear for some time that the innovative, cost-saving approaches highlighted at this site are in high demand among public officials. So it...
May 3, 2010
Government Bashing:
Anger at government and its employees is in the news, amped up in part by a bad economy and fueled by broad dissatisfaction with politicians....
April 27, 2010
Doing Less with Less
An article from today's Wall Street Journal documents the trend in government cutbacks:
In Los Angeles this week, the mayor proposed closing most city offices...
April 15, 2010
The Future of IT in the Public Sector
In this 5-minute video, Professor Jerry Mechling of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government looks at the future of technical innovation. He argues that what we've...
April 9, 2010
New Column on Leadership: The Federal Coach
In a unique collaboration, The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service produce The Federal Coach, a leadership column and blog hosted by Tom...
April 7, 2010
Government's Prize-winning Strategy
Want a solution? Try offering a prize. To spur innovation, the federal government is turning to competitions and crowdsourcing.
When Charles Lindbergh flew across the...
April 5, 2010
What is the Role of Big Citizenship in Social Innovation and Change?
In this column from the National Conference on Citizenship blog, Stephen Goldsmith weighs in on the role of social innovation in fostering approaches to big...
April 1, 2010
Putting Trust in People: How Ordinary Citizens can Help Solve Social Ills
What can be done to catalyze and grow innovations that promise transformative social progress?
In this interesting column from the Case Foundation blog, Stephen Goldsmith...
March 30, 2010
Public Employees Making Government Better, Faster, and Cheaper
During this time of fiscal crisis, public employees are developing new and creative ways of helping the public and taxpayers save money while preserving quality...
March 25, 2010
Book Review: Improving Government Services Through Unified Communication
First off, this 87-page book is available free as a download, so it has an endearing quality right off the bat. Secondly, it offers a...
March 24, 2010
Put Your City or County on the 311 Map
I've complained before that established, proven technologies such as 311 aren't being adopted fast enough. Well, if you live in one of the many locations still...
March 22, 2010
Fighting Poverty through Social Innovation
How do you nurture the best approaches to getting communities out of poverty? How can we abandon strategies that don't yield results, and grow the...
March 21, 2010
Does Privatization Work for Cities?
It is an age-old debate: Can competitive outsourcing help struggling cities stretch scarce tax dollars? In this 8 minute video from the John Stossel show, Stephen...
March 18, 2010
The Big Reset - States Cope with the "New Normal"
The National Governors Association's Center for Best Practices has just come out with a new study called "The Big Reset," which provides guidance for states...
March 3, 2010
Strange But True Tales of Privatization
Those in favor of privatization have a new slogan: "Privatization saves puppies."
It's true. When Kansas City privatized its animal shelter, it knew it would...
February 3, 2010
5 Great Cost Saving Ideas
In the good old days, economic slumps were followed by recoveries. To survive lean times, governments tightened their belts, maybe raised some taxes and waited...
January 27, 2010
Nominate a Public Sector Hero
The Partnership for Public Service is accepting nominations for its "Service to America" medals, looking to honor the very best of the nation's federal work...
January 20, 2010
Chicago's Meter Privatization
Chicago's parking meter privatization is a fascinating study in media coverage and the public perception of public policy. The story has a lot of moving...
January 18, 2010
AZ Looks to Close Budget Gap
Not only is Arizona turning assets into cash through a sale-lease back approach, but Governor Jan Brewer's budget proposal is full of difficult cuts. The...
January 13, 2010
Transforming Government in the Red Ink Era
Steve Goldsmith has weighed in with why old ideas won't work with the current fiscal crunch, making the case that the circumstances are unprecedented and...
January 11, 2010
New Thinking in the Era of "Permacrisis"
In his column on "e21" -- a site that looks at economic policies for the 21st century -- Professor Steve Goldsmith argues that the budget...
January 8, 2010
NY Lt. Gov. Ravitch: Stimulus Funds Driving States Over a Cliff
An article in today's Wall Street Journal tells a grim tale of the unintended consequences of federal stimulus funds.
According to Richard Ravitch, the Democratic...
January 6, 2010
Innovation by Design: Improving Customer Service
Oftentimes, customer service improvements occur only after very public and very embarrassing failures.
Consider the IRS. In the late 1990s, a series of televised Congressional...
January 4, 2010
California Groundhog Day
The writer Edward Albey noted: "There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California."
The ongoing problems of...
December 29, 2009
Tell a Story, Spread an Idea
When it comes to spreading an innovative practice, it helps to be able to tell a good story. This interview with Sandford Borins, a Professor...
December 16, 2009
Connecting the Dots on Crime
The recent tragedy in Washington state has focused attention on sharing information about criminals between states. As Professor Goldsmith points out in his article, data...
December 10, 2009
A Little Nudge Will Do
When government wants to discourage something, the instinct is to criminalize that behavior. But small infractions often get lost by prosecutors and courts that have...
December 9, 2009
Pick It or Ticket
Wilmington had a problem. Sanitation-related complaints were flooding its Division of Licenses & Inspections (L&I), as neighborhoods were being dragged down by trash left outside...
December 2, 2009
Driving Change: Go Big or Go Home
Forget incremental improvement, create a team focused solely on change.
December 2, 2009
Driving Change: Go Big or Go Home
A city official once compared managing in City Hall to driving a bus, with one difference. "Every seat is equipped with a brake, so lots...
December 1, 2009
Finding Deadbeats
The problem of child support enforcement is a big one. This column highlights Virginia, which found a creative idea that uses a relatively low-tech approach...
November 30, 2009
Last Call for Deadbeats
Locating parents who are negligent on their child support payments just got a little easier with an innovative approach used by Virginia's Division of Child...
November 24, 2009
Murky Transparency
The movement toward open government is well underway, with the Obama administration leading the charge. The effort is praiseworthy, but the implementation is proving dicey....
November 15, 2009
Ending the Misery in Michigan
Michigan is home to the nation's highest unemployment, and faces a gaping $2.8 billion budget hole. Northwood University's Keith Pretty and Timothy Nash offer five policy...
November 4, 2009
Democracy on the Cheap
What if they held an election and nobody came? That pretty much happened in New York City in September. According to the New York Times, "...
November 1, 2009
Fixing Public Pensions
Public employee pensions can be huge budget busters, as a previous article explored. In today's column, Bill Eggers explores ways to dig out from the...
October 28, 2009
Email in the News
In LA, the city has just signed a contract with Google to handle email for 30,000 city employees, a $7.25 million deal that is the largest of...
October 27, 2009
Finding the Clarity
If the data is buried in a computer, it doesn't do much good. Only when data is "mined" can actionable information emerge. In their article,...
October 21, 2009
Outsourcing Agnosticism
The best public administration occurs when the public sector takes direction from political leaders, but doesn't allow politics to stand in the way of performance....
October 19, 2009
Minnesota Misery
Like many states, the North Star State is facing tough times. The state's Department of Management and Budget says spending has been reduced in real...
October 12, 2009
Fixing Arizona
Like many states, the Grand Canyon state is facing some tough choices. An article below from the Goldwater Institute offers their ideas for some reforms...
October 7, 2009
Changing the Channel
When you buy a ticket from JetBlue, it costs you an extra $15 to book a flight over the phone compared to doing it yourself over...
October 6, 2009
King County, Washington - Furloughs Make for Extra-Long Long Weekends
The situation was dire. In the fall of 2008, King County Washington, the state's most populous county which includes the city of Seattle, was facing an...
October 5, 2009
Furlough Fever!
Reduced hours for public employees as a money-saving tool is all the rage. But is it effective? We recently ran an article on Atlanta's experiment...
October 5, 2009
Utah's 4 Day Work Week - The New Wave?
Since August 2008, Utah state employees have been working just four days a week and it doesn't look like the three day weekends are going to...
September 14, 2009
Made in the Shade
The latest article by Lynn Scarlett highlights something everybody can love -- an innovation that is not only good for the environment but saves money...
September 2, 2009
Where Less is More Efficient
The idea first arose during the days of $4-a-gallon gasoline in the summer of 2008. But now, even with energy prices way down from their peak,...
August 31, 2009
5 Reasons Why the Feds Shouldn't Bail Out CA
Even before California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger began issuing IOU's in July, some pundits (Michael Maiello, for one) were calling on President Obama to bail out...
August 28, 2009
Missions and Measures: Two Paths to Greater Effectiveness
Two articles below include two totally different takes on how New York is dealing with the problem of homelessness. Steve Goldsmith writes here about "the...
August 26, 2009
Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer
The dog days of August are upon us, and everybody, including President Obama, is on vacation.
But government never stops working--sort of. Both Chicago and...
August 17, 2009
Digital Crime Fighting
It was William Bratton who brought criminal justice into the information age, launching New York City's CompStat under Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He's stepping down now...
August 17, 2009
Fighting Crime with Zeroes and Ones:
When you say "infrastructure" most people think roads, bridges, and tunnels.
That's fine. But these conduits of physical goods were more crucial to the economy...
August 13, 2009
Foreclosure Nation: Who Mows the Lawn?
Today, the word "foreclosure" evokes an unfortunate reminder of the nation's economic meltdown, particularly the speculation and collapse in the real estate market.
For city...
August 12, 2009
Taking Reservations at the Jail
The Santa Clara County Department of Correction had a problem. The system couldn't handle the daily onslaught of those coming to visit the more than 4,500...
August 5, 2009
$2 Million Worth of Software for $50,000
Vivek Kundra, the former Chief Technology Officer for the District of Columbia, decided to turn everything on its head.
Instead of waiting for a FOIA (...
July 28, 2009
State Government: Transformed or Transfixed
A great column above by John Kamensky and Jonathon Breul of the IBM Center for the Business of Government makes a compelling case that state...
July 23, 2009
Don't Panic: Innovate!
Engulfed by a tidal wave of red ink, governments across the nation are struggling to keep their head above water. The temptation, says Professor Stephen...
July 22, 2009
Obama, Goldsmith meet urban entrepreneurs
In July, President Barack Obama held a meeting in the White House, bringing together some of the nation's most distinguished social innovators. Stephen Goldsmith, who...
July 20, 2009
Obama, Goldsmith Meet Urban Entrepreneurs
In July, President Barack Obama held a meeting in the White House, bringing together some of the nation's most distinguished social innovators. Stephen Goldsmith, who...
July 20, 2009
Paper or Plastic?
Sometimes the best technology isn't the latest gee-whiz gadget, but something that's been around for a while. Sometimes the best cost-savings ideas aren't the result...
June 19, 2009
States in State of Shock
A budget crunch often offers an opportunity to introduce cost-saving efficiencies that would otherwise be too politically difficult to achieve. This blog entry was going...