Return to Article: Mismanagement, not technology, caused Census handheld trouble, auditors say
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50989
the strange thing is that similar project has been successfully implemented in a small country in the middle east called oman, that was in 2003 and US bureau of statistics evaluated that experience. for sure the volume is different but the technology was the same ... how can middle east governmnet with middle east company did it with few millions budget and US government couldnt !!!!
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48557
It's time the federal government gets competent management we deserve. Too many supervisors are not trained nor skilled in their "positions" to do their jobs.
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48354
As a management analyst who duties require me to develop reports for others, I would have to say that most of the time, people requesting information do not provide enough of what they want up front, so when they get a finished product - it not what they wanted in the first place. It generally takes 2 or 3 "redos" to get them what they need. I can see how this happened, but it is a terrible waste of money, and falling back on the way it was always done is not the answer. As government employees we must get out of our comfort zone and push for new technologies and new ways of doing things.
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48353
Wow. I'm flabbergasted. Fingers pointing everywhere and accountability as elusive as ever.
Shame on the Census Bureau for not clearly understanding what they wanted in a timely manner. Shame on Harris for not being ethical enough to contract and deliver on intentions (of the nitwits) rather than focusing their efforts on insufficient requirements.
As other posters mentioned, this isn't a rocket science project - at the very least it's automation of forms on a handheld device. I'm sure it was complicated by the assumption that the actual census takers needed special buttons and form factor on the device (so that a monkey could use it), but that's a bad assumption given today's rampant and successful use of clumsy handhelds.
Bottom Line, spend the remaining budget on a web page to get a majority of inputs from Americans, do a simple off-the-shelf handheld with forms, and save the paper for wall paper on the offices of the folks that don't want to embrace the 21st century.
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48349
Funny how close behind the article "Fostering Innovation" this comes. The catcher for Fostering... was How federal IT managers can encourage their employees to think outside the box; but the Gautham was correct when he penned "In government circles, innovation often can be seen as a dirty word, something to treat with caution, perhaps even something to avoid. Innovation generally comes partnered with risk - the bane of civil servants and their managers. Risk of failure, risk of wasted time and resources, and worst of all, risk of having your name associated with a project that went nowhere."
Could there be any more graphic an example?
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48348
Gosh, I always wondered where Dubya relocated his buddy, Mike Brown. He must have ended up as the head of the Census Bureau! Heckuva job, Dubya!
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48337
It's basically a TON of small things - for example, email is needed to communicate with the supervisors for the "door to door" workers - they have blackberry's. Well, Harris suggested using Microsoft Outlook, but the Census Bureau uses (and has been using) IBM's Lotus Notes and there are compatibility issues - it's all across the board this type of stuff - Census didn't think to mention that they use lotus notes, and Harris didn't ask - so when it gets down to it - The Census Bureau made a lot of assumptions and gave Harris too much credit - and when they finally realized that Harris really didn't have a clue as to what goes on, it was too late. Again, it was more than just email but that's the a general way to describe the "lack of communication/specifications"
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48323
If billions are needed for Census to perform nonresponsive follow-up, has anyone else thought that it may be cheaper to just pay people to return the Census form--similar to an economic stimulus payment?
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48320
This is just another example of the extremenly incompetent managers that government agencies have been putting into power. We have the same caliber of managers in our AF depot who will probably cause us to be BRACed.
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48319
If this story is accurate, it raises some troubling questions. I'm not sure I understand how so many changes to the product could be requested so late in the process and anybody wouldn't think that it would throw everything off schedule and over cost. Did the Census Bureau not know what it wanted when it put out a contract bid?
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48311
A rational budget-motivated (or profit-motivated) person/team would have begun by converting the paper "everyone is comfortable with" into fill-in form software on a handheld. Once that worked, they could add "enhancements," but they could always fall back to the last "working version" the latest bell/whistle failed.
Point is, they did a typical pile-on new system with idiots at the wheel. Hundreds of "wouldn't this be cool" requirements were thrown in, with a few 30-foot drop and 100-meter dive objectives for the handheld.
It's sad that for a few hundred dollars, any form can be converted to software and handhelds are available at a disposable price.
There are a few lessons here, but the one that gov't leaders will see is that no one is held accountable. Hence, "they" won't have to worry when their program does the same thing.
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48305
"What me worry" there is more money where that came from and we'll all get a raise and bonus next year. Next we'll see posts from the Commerce stating that they want their pay to be equal with private industry. This is so tragic its actually funny
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48293
Most government projects are managed by a pack of stuffed shirts who sit and watch briefing slides. I bet there was zero input from experienced census people.
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48286
With this huge a problem being created by mismanagement - I hope several people are being fired for wasting the taxpayers money! This is the kind of publicity the civil service and government doesn't need.
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48264
Mitre and GAO agree that management at Census is at fault...perhaps Congress should take a deeper look at the overall managment culture at Census. It certainly appears to be more than 3 political appointees onboard.
This entire debacle appears to be deep-rooted and cause for a severe review of all acquisition contracts and management throughout the entire agency.
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