Editor's Notebook

hat federal executives need is an easy-to-use guide to the complex tools of modern management in government. And I have one to recommend. But more on that later.

First, let us reflect on how much simpler things were in the good old days, before IGs and GPRA and the NPR, not to mention ITMRA, CIOs and BPR. Then, a young man like Lucius Battle, returning from war in the Pacific, could quickly rise toward the top in the bureaucracy and soon find himself paying calls on the President in the White House.

I was privileged recently to hear Battle give an informal talk about his career in the field of foreign affairs, and was struck by how much simpler and smaller government was when he joined it, so much less labyrinthine and more direct in its treatment of policy issues. He was present at the birth of the American foreign policy establishment with men like Clark Clifford, Dean Acheson and Paul Nitze and during construction of such institutions as NATO and the United Nations. In the much smaller inner circle of those days, "there was a lot of laughter," Battle said. Today, by contrast, he said he "cannot believe that anyone is having a good time."

The absence of joy is a theme that runs through talks I myself give about the conditions of work in the federal government today. I illustrate these talks by showing slides of Government Executive covers, organized to reflect our treatment of the (generally hostile) external and (contentious) internal environments in which federal managers work; the political shifts that have brought on downsizing, reinvention and privatization; and also the good news about successful federal projects and innovations. "You paint an awfully gloomy picture," a retired federal executive in my audience complained last month. I think it's a true picture, I replied, hastening to add that we work hard to provide our readers with information they can use to improve their own performance and that of their agencies.

These days there is more to know about laws, regulations, business practices and technology than in Lucius Battle's time. By law and by necessity, today's general manager must be familiar with acquisition and procurement rules, information technology and how it fits with business process reengineering, asset management, activity-based costing, culture change, strategic planning and performance measurement. Specialists in one of these areas must have some level of knowledge of all of them.

Over time, we have covered these subjects in Government Executive. But as our coverage accumulated we came to the view that our audience would find it highly useful to have access in one place to all the vital tools of modern management. So this month we are publishing a handbook for 1998 that will give managers an unparalleled resource for getting the work of government done right. Copies of this inexpensive handbook can be ordered by calling (800) 356-4838. Discounts for bulk orders are available.