When Work Is Disrupted by Digital Progress
As technology-driven job displacement accelerates, governments have a big role to play in managing its impact.
Jerry Mechling, an independent consultant, is a former faculty member of the Harvard Kennedy School, where from 1983 to 2011 he taught degree-program courses on information management and founded Strategic Computing in the Public Sector, a research and executive-education program. He also is a former research vice president at Gartner Inc.
A fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and four-time winner of the Federal 100 Award, he was formerly a fellow of the Institute of Politics; an aide to the mayor of New York City and assistant administrator of the New York City Environmental Protection Administration; and director of Boston's Office of Management and Budget.
He received his B.A. in physical sciences from Harvard College and his M.P.A. and Ph.D. in economics and public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
As technology-driven job displacement accelerates, governments have a big role to play in managing its impact.
As automation disrupts the workforce, we can look to places as diverse as Sweden and Singapore for better ways to cope with it.
In setting digital priorities, public leaders need to think about productivity, equity and trust.
The digital tools are getting better all the time. It's a critical opportunity to improve judgment and decision-making.
Accelerating digital disruption requires new approaches to governance and leadership.
Delegating IT to the techies isn't the way for governments to get the most out of today's increasingly powerful technology.
As one Georgia city has shown, it's about getting the right people to address the right issues.
Our state, local and federal governments need to ramp up the sharing of technology and data beyond their enterprises.
We should use technology to improve what the institution does, building societal value and public support.
A new federal law aims to balance innovation and efficiency. It could serve as a guide for other levels of government.
Digital technology has given us tools that make a methodical approach to institutional learning more useful and powerful than ever.
There are hurdles that are keeping governments at all levels from realizing the full benefits of cloud computing. To overcome them, we will need new kinds of collaboration.
Technology can solve problems and contribute to solutions. The key is getting IT people into the process at the start.
The key to performance is information that makes work accountable, provides guidance, coordinates over distance and seeks out innovation.
There are too many IT project failures in government. Getting the upfront analysis right could prevent a lot of them.
IT investments bring their own direct productivity improvements, but the big payoff is in the much larger productivity boost that digital tools can give to government services.
Governments are getting much quicker and clearer feedback than ever before. It’s data that could be better used to solve problems.
Global forces are pushing governments to work together as never before, and especially to take advantage of IT-enabled economies. There is much to be gained.
Now — not after the November elections — is the time to prepare to leverage technology to improve productivity across government.
IT is the most important tool for improving government output. Budget directors need to be ready to answer some important questions.
At a time when government is held in low esteem, public service needs people with the qualities that Canada's Reg Alcock had in abundance.
Cutting technology spending along with everything else is a false economy. IT-enabled productivity improvements can save more than they cost.
IT-enabled innovation has long passed education by, but cost pressures may finally change that.
Tough times and the growing need for innovation require the use of social media to attract the best and brightest.
Will the iPad, and competing tablet computers, help us manage information overload or add to the distractions?
How to avoid the impulsive and shallow commitments that have too often characterized IT investments in the past.
The historic trend of information technology applications going first to big governments and only later to the small ones is about to flip.
Given ongoing technology developments, the most efficient scale for technology service operations is small government.
It's simple: Use IT to implement a cost-effective shared services model.
With political transitions looming, a unique opportunity to innovate presents itself.