John Kamensky

New research findings by a team led Dr. Daniel Mullins at American University examine recent state-level trends in the use of performance budgeting or “budgeting for results” approaches. This research, presented at the annual conference of the American Society for Public Administration, offers some insights for any future federal performance budgeting initiative.

The National Geographic periodically publishes updated maps of the contours of the U.S. but there is no institution that takes on a similar task, updating the contours of the ever-changing federal government.   However the Administrative Conference has recently updated a long-forgotten “map” last prepared by the Congressional Research Service in 1980.  The authors are David Lewis and Jennifer Selin, of Vanderbilt University.

Large companies (and governments) cannot ignore the daily demands of running large enterprises that depend on hierarchy and routines, Kotter observes.  These structures and processes work well in stable, predictable environments and their evolution and refinements have contributed greatly to society in the past hundred years.

The 2010 revision of the Government Performance and Results Act requires federal agencies to identify a limited number of two-year Agency Priority Goals.  These action-oriented goals appear in their recently-released fiscal year 2015 budget proposals and are aligned with their newly released strategic goals and objectives.

In 2009, the Australian national government’s Management Adv

So, how do you make PerformancStat meetings effective?  OMB says that these review meetings should be constructive and focus on learning.  Astute observers, such as Harry Hatry at the Urban Institute, say that leaders of these meetings need to be “hands on” and actively engaged in order to convey the

What are the major levers for driving changes in government agencies? Traditional tools are statutory changes, budgetary controls, and executive orders. But one that seasoned government executives will use to drive change is control over delegations of authority.

Last week, OMB released a new and substantially improved Performance.gov website, with in-depth performance information on individual agency priority goals. This represents a significant step forward from the initial release in August 2011, which listed and described the goals, but did not provide much detail about them.  I had a chance to talk with some OMB staff about what’s new about the website, and take a quick browse through it. Here’s a summary of what I learned.

The IBM Center is releasing an update to its 2009 “The Operator’s Manual for the New Administration” for the use of new executives in the federal government. This updated chapter reflects statutory changes since 2009 and provides insights on how executives can improve performance in their agencies’ programs.

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Performance

The forum participants comprised a range of stakeholders in the federal performance and results management system:  agency performance improvement officers, strategic planners, program evaluation leaders, and priority goal leaders.  In addition, there were participants from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Federal agencies, Congress, the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service, academia, state and local government, unions, and non-profits – all of whom play a role in improving government performance.