Reforming A Federal Agency: My Top 10 Thoughts to Unify Organizations

Ever since the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published OMB Memo 17-22 in April, a lot of attention has been paid to reform in Federal agencies. Agencies across the Federal government have begun the process of figuring out how to improve performance, reduce costs, and streamline operations of their organizations and, for many, meaningful changes are emerging. The history of radical change is long and storied, often driven by challenging outmoded thinking, developing new technology, and/or changing cultural sensibilities. Shaping any change starts with creating a vision of the desired end-state and explicitly identifying the barriers for achieving the desired vision. While the vision will undoubtedly vary by agency, I believe there are some universal barriers that need to be addressed to achieve the desired end state.