John Kamensky

But design thinking is so much more than a physical product. It is a way of thinking. For example, if you were asked to design a new vase, you might come up with myriad product designs. But if instead you were asked to design a new way to display flowers in your home, you would likely focus instead on creating an experience, not a product. Background. Jon Kolko, the director of the Austin Design Center, shares his insights about design thinking in the September issue of Harvard Business Review.

Try Before You Buy. In a Government Executive column, Shelley Metzenbaum writes: “Well-designed small-scale testing can help government achieve greater impact not only at a lower cost but also in more fair, understandable ways. Government should embrace “test marketing” as a business-as-usual management practice, not an exceptional event.” Mid-Level Rotations.

The Government Accountability Office is mandated by law to track the progress of agencies’ implementation of the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010.  It’s summary highlights “mixed progress” but the report’s details show a great deal of progress.  The report covers a range of issues, summing up a series of related reports over the course of the past year.  But the core issue is:  are agencies using performance data to make decisions?

OMB Releases Updated Agency Priority Goals. OMB director Shaun Donovan announced the Administration’s final set of two-year agency priority goals (APGs) as required by the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010. The 92 goals, listed on performance.gov, include new as well as continuing efforts. VA Sets BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) for Its APG. According to NextGov, the Tom Allin, chief veteran experience officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, has set an audacious Agency Priority Goal: 90 percent of veterans will trust VA to meet its commitments – by September 30, 2017.

Maryland StateStat Tweaked by New Governor. The Baltimore Sun reports that the nationally-recognized program of data-driven progress reviews, pioneered by then-governor Martin O’Malley, has been tweaked by his successor, Larry Hogan. According to the Sun: “Hogan issued an executive order creating the Governor’s Office of Performance Improvement, calling it an "important step" in his administration's effort to reduce waste and bureaucracy. Staffing has been reduced and the scope of the office has been expanded. Utah On-Line.

A recent report by the Partnership for Public Service paints a grim picture of what it sees as dysfunctions in the relationship between the executive and legislative branches, observing: “Polarization, acrimony and intense partisanship regarding matters both routine and critical to the country’s well-being have become the way of life in Congress and throughout Washington.” For the past four decades, there has been a formalized set of budget and appropriation processes, often called “regular order.” These broke down toward the end of the George W.

Shared Services Is Getting a Governance Board. According to Federal Times, OMB’s acting deputy director for management has announced a major policy initiative: to create a governance board to oversee the development and implementation of shared services across different mission support functions (e.g., human resources, financial management, travel, etc.). The General Services Administration will host the governance board’s staff arm, the Unified Shared Services Management Office. OPM Leadership Blueprint.

The evolution of technology tools and the use of social media has dramatically lowered the technical and bureaucratic barriers to working more collaboratively.  In the first days of his administration, President Obama publicly placed a premium on the use of collaboration.

The Rise of Innovation Labs. NextGov reports: “The White House wants more federal agencies to tap into the creative ideas floating around in their employees’ heads by launching innovation labs, according to a newly released administration strategy for boosting U.S. innovation.” Many agencies have created innovation labs – not unlike the reinvention labs in the Clinton Administration – to provide employees a safe space to actively engage in testing out new ideas. DATA Act SBA Pilot.

Here to Stay. Federal Computer Week reports that federal CIO Tony Scott “expects the Office of Management and Budget's year-and-a-half old Digital Service team and other expert tech groups will survive the coming presidential election and subsequent transition because the issues they address -- making federal agencies work better in an increasingly technical world -- make them critical.” The GAO Fix List.