Weekly Roundup: December 26-29, 2017

Government Reorg: HUD Pioneers Workforce Reshaping. Federal News Radio reports: “As many agencies are thinking now about how they’ll streamline operations, cut unnecessary programs and people and retrain remaining staff to handle new work, the Housing and Urban Development has been an early adopter of “workforce reshaping.” . . . The agency’s lost more than 2,000 employees over the past few years.”

New Acquisition Reformer on Tap. Federal Times reports: “Ben FitzGerald . . . is expected to step in on Jan. 2 as director of the office of strategy and design within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. . . . FitzGerald is charged with splitting the role of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, sustainment and technology into two smaller organizations: the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, or USDR&E, and the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, or USDA&S.”

Mobile-First Legislation Passes Senate.  NextGov reports: “The Senate last week unanimously approved a bill that would require new and redesigned government websites be accessible from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. . . .The Connected Government Act . . .  is waiting for presidential action.”

Millennials Motivated by Mission. Federal Times reports: “to attract new talent, agencies need to “return to their roots” by playing up the cool factor of their mission.”

GSA Kicks Off IT Mod Squads. Federal News Radio reports: “The General Services Administration put a finer point on the Centers of Excellence initiative to drive IT modernization across the government. GSA released five requests for quote (RFQ) under the Professional Services Schedule for phase one of the program.

How to Lead for Results. Art Petty writes a thought-provoking Government Executive commentary: “Earlier in my career, I was a results-focused heat-seeking missile, and my management approach reflected the unrelenting drive to achieve. People were either with me on this runaway train of results or were thrown off while it was in motion.” And then he re-thought his approach . . .

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