Weekly Roundup: February 18-22, 2019

John Kamensky

Can the Government "Buy as One?"

One path to address this imperative involves a buying reform widely used in the commercial world and other countries – notably the United Kingdom – called “category management.”   Given its potential for driving reform and reducing unnecessary spending, category management is increasingly seen as one of the U.S. federal government’s top Cross-Agency Priority Goals.

Weekly Roundup: February 11-15, 2019

Artificial Intel Exec OrderFederal News Network reports on a new presidential executive order: “It directs federal agencies to make data and computing resources more available to artificial intelligence experts while maintaining security and confidentiality. It also says federal agencies

Getting the Word Out - Part 2

Last week, I highlighted the traditional approaches taken by government – agency annual reports – along with newer approaches such as performance.gov and the quarterly “progress and results” video report pioneered by the Veterans Benefits Administration.  But there have been, and are, other approaches.

Weekly Roundup: February 4-8, 2019

John Kamensky

FY 2020 Budget Release Set. UPI reports: “Although no formal announcement has been made, White House officials notified legislators that summaries of President Donald Trump’s message and top priorities will be released on March 11 or 12.”

Getting the Word Out - Part 1

Too often, government operations are invisible and taken for granted.  This is not unlike how most of us approach the availability of electricity in my home – we don’t notice the heroic efforts and complexity in keeping it on until we lose power in a cold snap!

Building a Culture of Informed Decision Making

A recent Government Executive article by Ed O’Brien, an associate professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, observes that “people assume they can and will use more information to make their decisions than they actually do, according to the research.”

From "People" Analytics to "Relational" Analytics

Like most private sector organizations, government agencies focus their analyses on data they have based on individual people, such as the data from the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, and from the Office of Personnel Management’s FedScope database.

Visions of Government Reform in 2040: Data and Analytics

In the IBM Center’s new book, Government For The Future: Reflection and Vision for Tomorrow’ Leaders,  Part Two of the book looks twenty years ahead offering perspectives on the future. This contribution, The Future of Data and Analytics by Shelley Metzenbaum, is the final of a multi-part series.

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Emeritus Senior Fellow
IBM Center for The Business of Government

Mr. Kamensky is an Emeritus Senior Fellow with the IBM Center for The Business of Government and was an Associate Partner with IBM's Global Business Services.

During 24 years of public service, he had a significant role in helping pioneer the federal government's performance and results orientation. Mr. Kamensky is passionate about helping transform government to be more results-oriented, performance-based, customer-driven, and collaborative in nature.

Prior to joining the IBM Center, he served for eight years as deputy director of Vice President Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government. Before that, he worked at the Government Accountability Office where he played a key role in the development and passage of the Government Performance and Results Act.

Since joining the IBM Center, he has co-edited six books and writes and speaks extensively on performance management and government reform.  Current areas of emphasis include transparency, collaboration, and citizen engagement.  He also blogs about management challenges in government.

Mr. Kamensky is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and received a Masters in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, in Austin, Texas.