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Return to Article: Nonprofits urge Obama to focus on program performance

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  I hope by creating new government post of performance officer we are not creating additional layer of bureaucracy on top of existing large bureaucracy.

  At the same time there is an urgent need to monitor performance levels and have a good eye on results, otherwise we are wasting our resources and taxpayers money.

  David Dzidzikashvili Posted January 9, 2009 7:54 PM
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  Program evaluation tools that gauge actual (rather than perceived) outputs based on mission objectives is the key. I absolutely agree that cultural understanding of the organization by the change agents is absolutely required as well as communication styles that foster collaborative effort among functional levels of the agency. Generating metrics by which to measure agency performance is something else that requires patience and constant revision of survey data. This is the only real way to prepare current and useful information portfolios for decision-makers.

  Ken Haumschilt Posted December 30, 2008 11:26 PM
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  Oh lordie, where to start. I've been involved in process and performance improvement for private industry and government for more than 12 years now. The first mistake--and it's universal in management and leadership irrespective of industry segment--is to attempt to implement "change" without total cultural change first. Cultural values determine what is measured, so collecting the RIGHT data is crucial. Determining what constitutes "success" is another point missed consistently. Finally, policy and programs must be living documents that reflect cultural change and support and encourage things that positively impact "success." It takes a lot of work, a lot of commitment, and a lot of communication; few at top exec levels have displayed this degree of focus.

  Neal Gold Posted December 11, 2008 8:09 AM
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  This story appears quite ironic. How would anyone rate the performance of the federal government in light of a 1930 scale stock market crash, a failed banking system, runaway mortgage and credit market defaults, and an economy in the dumpster?

  Worrying excessively about the performance of the Post Office is irrelevant to the major problems of today or the future. amen

  joe Posted November 24, 2008 12:03 PM
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  They should also promote looking @ the mandatory source programs and make sure that they are not ripe for corruption because of lack of oversight.

  Carol Anderson Posted November 19, 2008 8:51 AM
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  They are asking for performance the same thing taxpayers have been demanding for years. Unfortunately our vaulted CS aren't listening otherwise they would be 100% behind personnel programs like NSPS

  dan ketter Posted November 18, 2008 2:34 PM
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  These are lofty ideals; however, how do you measure performance and what factors determine that performance? Public service is not the same as that in the private sector. Take the Centers for Disease Control, if they spread the news that a new flu strain has arrived, but a lot of people get sick, did they excell. Many agencies do not have a "product" that can be measured. Do we really want the Justice Dept cutting notches on the handles of their briefcases for every successful trial? First program performance MUST be defined in concrete, unambiguous, terms; then and only then can it be measured.

  Richard Black Posted November 18, 2008 8:23 AM