Friday, August 17, 2018
The IBM Center's Weekly Roundup highlights articles and insights that we found interesting for the week ending August 17, 2018.

Michael J. Keegan

FCC chairman: truth about site failure should have come out sooner. Ajit Pai told lawmakers that he couldn't alert the public to an event incorrectly designated as a cyberattack without jeopardizing a federal investigation.

Cloud migration made easy.  OMB readies its Cloud Smart strategy and government executive shares four keys to successful cloud migrations.

Zielinski to take over as GSA's top IT buyer. With Kay Ely's coming departure, longtime federal IT presence Bill Zielinski is taking over as assistant commissioner of the IT category at the Federal Acquisition Service.

Budget uncertainty is routine. What makes 2018 different? Continuing resolutions and funding uncertainty have been the "new normal" for years, but experts at the Professional Services Council say that this year presents new challenges.

Lead With Clarity. One of the most common problems facing organizations, teams, and leaders today is a lack of clarity. Clarity is a critical component of success. We all want it, even crave it, but it often seems elusive.

John Kamensky

USDA Reorg. Federal News Radio reports: “The Agriculture Department continues its aggressive reorganization efforts with Secretary Sonny Perdue announcing plans Thursday to move two sub-agencies out of the Washington, D.C. metro area. . . . Perdue said by the end of 2019 employees working for the Economic Research Service (ERS), currently under USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics mission area, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will be relocated outside the D.C. area.”

Employee Engagement Matters. Steve Kelman, in an FCW commentary, writes: “a new study, “Taking a Closer Look at the Empowerment-Performance Relationship,” provides “the first credible evidence on the link between employee empowerment and performance.” Similarly, a Federal News Radio contributor, Rae Steinbach, says: “Gallup found that businesses with highly engaged workforces outperform their competition by 147 percent in earnings per share. Additionally, organizations with highly engaged employees outclass their counterparts in areas of productivity, customer satisfaction and employee retention.”

New Hiring Flexibilities. Government Executive reports: “President Trump on Monday signed into law a defense bill that included a provision with major changes to the federal hiring process. Good government groups heralded the changes as a key reform to help agencies recruit the next generation of talent.”

Three Reorg Priorities. Matt Erskine writes in Government Executive: “he recently released federal reform and reorganization plan—Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century—generated headlines around its proposal to merge the Labor and Education departments. But there are a number of other, less controversial elements that deserve attention.” These include: customer-centric operations, evidence-based investments, and collaborative innovation.

EPA Data & Analytics. Federal News Radio interviewed EPA’s chief data scientist Robin Thottungal: “So what I have been doing as a chief data scientist for the agency is trying to understand how I can create a much more, better climate for the data scientists or the folks who are using data to drive decisions to get access to the tools and technologies to make their analysis much more easier to perform,”

One USDA, One Hub. NextGov reports: “The Agriculture Department wants to build an online homepage where top officials could keep every employee in the loop on the latest happenings across the agency. . . . The Intranet Initiative comes as the latest effort to improve customer experience and streamline departmentwide management

Next Week on The Business of Government Hour: Emily Murphy, Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration. What are U.S. General Services Administration's key strategic priorities? How is GSA making government more effective and efficient? What is GSA doing to promote smarter management, buying, and use of technology across the federal government? Join host Michael Keegan next week as he explores these questions and more with Emily Murphy, Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration. That's next week on The Business of Government Hour.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Friday at 1 p.m. on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED.

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