Managing & Technology — Dennis D. McDonald's Web Site

Dennis D. McDonald (ddmcd@ddmcd.com) consults from Alexandria Virginia. His services include writing & research, proposal development, and project management.

All in Metrics

On Measuring Open Data Benefits in International Development Projects

Aug 1

Aug 1 On Measuring Open Data Benefits in International Development Projects

Dennis D. McDonald

Accountability, Metrics, Open Data, Strategy, sustainability

This demarcation between access and actual usage of information has significant measurement and cost implications. No matter how good we are at designing and managing systems for delivering data to users, we’re still going to be challenged in linking system-delivered data to the value of its usage.

May 21
May 21 Open Data and Performance Measurement: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Dennis D. McDonald

Data, Data Access, Metrics, Open Data, Performance, Standards, Statistics

Now we’re seeing more attention being paid in the public sector to data management strategy as data assets become a more visible — and public — components of government action. That’s a good thing.

Dec 6
Dec 6 The Knight Foundation's Civic Tech Report: "Open Government" Expenditures

Dennis D. McDonald

Data, Data Access, Local, Metrics, Open Data, Research

The Knight Foundation’s report The Emergence of Civic Tech: Investments in a Growing Field has some very intersting data on the investments in “open government” and “open data” that it refers to overall as “civic technology.”

The Changing Culture of Big Data Management

Oct 29

Oct 29 The Changing Culture of Big Data Management

Dennis D. McDonald

BDPM, Big Data, Collaboration, Data Access, Knowledge Management, Metrics, Statistics, Data Program Management

In some ways managing “big data” tools and processes is no different than figuring out how to manage any other type of technological innovation. The technology is introduced, experts emerge and help control and shape evolving practical applications, and management eventually figures out what is worth keeping and what can be discarded.

AGA’s Citizen Centric Reporting and Government Transparency

Oct 23

Oct 23 AGA’s Citizen Centric Reporting and Government Transparency

Dennis D. McDonald

AGA, Citizen centric, Data Access, Local, Local Government, Metrics, Open Data, Transparency, eGovernment

The idea behind AGA’s citizen centric reporting initiative is straightforward: give citizens numbers about the government they can understand.

How To Make Datathons and Hackathons Sustainable

Oct 10

Oct 10 How To Make Datathons and Hackathons Sustainable

Dennis D. McDonald

Agile, Appathon, Best Practices, Big Data, Data, Data Access, Datathon, Definitions, Governance, Hackathon, Metrics, Open Data, Project Management, Statistics, sustainability, Innovation

What’s a “datathon”? Here’s one suggested definition from NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge:

Meetings and the Limits of Government Transparency

Sep 4

Sep 4 Meetings and the Limits of Government Transparency

Dennis D. McDonald

Data, Data Access, Metrics, NSA, Performance, Privacy, Transparency

The title of this article is “Meetings and the Limits of Government Transparency.” No, I’m not writing about NSA, Snowden, or national security. I’m writing about some government staff meetings and how open they should be to the public.

Outline of a Sequestration & Project Management Research Program

Jun 27

Jun 27 Outline of a Sequestration & Project Management Research Program

Dennis D. McDonald

Metrics, Project Management, Sequestration

I’ve been researching how the federal budget sequester is impacting federal projects and project managers. In “Mitigation of Sequestration Impacts on Project Management” I suggested that not all Federal programs are able to quickly assess and reconfigure ongoing projects in the face of sequestration-related uncertainties, so I’ve given some thought to …

Mitigation of Sequestration Impacts on Project Management

Jun 13

Jun 13 Mitigation of Sequestration Impacts on Project Management

Dennis D. McDonald

Metrics, PMO, PPM, Project Management, Sequestration

How you respond to the impacts of Federal sequestration on ongoing projects will be at least partly determined by how “mature” your project management practices are.

Transparency Is Not An End In Itself

May 13

May 13 Transparency Is Not An End In Itself

Dennis D. McDonald

Accountability, Data Access, Local, Metrics, Open Data, Sequestration, Transparency, Innovation

While data generated by a government program should be readily available and shareable among its target constituencies and members of the public, I also believe that resources devoted to improving the transparency of a government program should also promote the accomplishment of that program’s goals.

How Our Increasing Digital Connectedness Improves Government Program Evaluation

May 1

May 1 How Our Increasing Digital Connectedness Improves Government Program Evaluation

Dennis D. McDonald

Accountability, Big Data, List05, Metrics, Performance, Statistics, Transparency, eGovernment

There will always be a need to conduct formal evaluations of how well government programs perform. Such evaluations must take into account the complexity of programs and the need to distinguish among short term and long term impacts and the intervening conditions that also impact program effectiveness.

Just Measuring Government Performance Is Not Enough

Apr 19

Apr 19 Just Measuring Government Performance Is Not Enough

Dennis D. McDonald

Accessibility, Accountability, List05, Metrics, Performance, Transparency, eGovernment

The Washington Post article this past week “Why not measure how well government works?” asks the reasonable question, “Why aren’t more government programs evaluated?” Also asked, is “Why aren’t government programs that are evaluated and found wanting just canceled?”

On Defining the "Maturity" of Open Data Programs

Mar 25

Mar 25 On Defining the "Maturity" of Open Data Programs

Dennis D. McDonald

Big Data, Data Access, Definitions, List05, Metrics, Open Data, Transparency, eGovernment

Making government program data more “open” should be the responsibility of the program that is responsible for generating the data. The cost of doing so should also be part of the budget of that program.

How Will We Know When "Sequestration" Hurts Us?

Mar 4

Mar 4 How Will We Know When "Sequestration" Hurts Us?

Dennis D. McDonald

Metrics, Sequestration, Statistics, Transparency, eGovernment

Given availability of data on government programs from sources as diverse as Performance.gov, Data.gov, Sunlight Foundation, and the State of the USA project, where can we go for impartial reporting on the impacts sequestration will have on the US economy?

Developing a Collaborative Approach to Improving Project Management Practices, Part 1: Culture

May 30

May 30 Developing a Collaborative Approach to Improving Project Management Practices, Part 1: Culture

Dennis D. McDonald

Best Practices, Collaboration, Community, Google+, Governance, Management, Management Tools, Metrics, PMO, Project Management, Risk Management, SharePoint

In Agile grows up and new challenges emerge author Rick Freedman points out what project managers, sooner or later, learn from the School of Hard Knocks: changing and improving project management practices to improve the likelihood of project success involves not just improved management methods but also cultural changes within the sponsoring organization.

On the Importance of Authentic Social Media Engagement

Nov 1

Nov 1 On the Importance of Authentic Social Media Engagement

Dennis D. McDonald

Anonymity, Authenticity, Engagement, Google+, Metrics, , Twitter

I recently had a discussion with Robyn Tippins on Google+. I know Robyn from our podcasting days and from Linkedin Bloggers. Robyn, who recently moved to Read Write Web to serve as Community Manager, had mentioned she was hoping it would be possible to schedule posts in advance on Google+:

Audit of the VA's Project Management Accountability System (PMAS) Implementation

Aug 31

Aug 31 Audit of the VA's Project Management Accountability System (PMAS) Implementation

Dennis D. McDonald

Accountability, Governance, List_AR, Metrics, Project Management

Here’s some light reading: the US Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ Office of the Inspector General’s “Audit of the Project Management Accountability System Implementation.” Known as “PMAS,” the system was put in place in 2009 to provide better oversight of the VA’s troubled IT development projects. This was done in light of a history of cost overruns and failed IT projects at the VA.

Jul 7
Jul 7 Is the "Content Web" Really Dying?

Dennis D. McDonald

Content Management, Documents, Google, Google+, Media, Metrics, Research, Search, Statistics

It’s fashionable these days to point to Facebook’s ascendancy as why Google-type search’s dominance of the Internet is over.

Content May Not Be King But It Still Behaves Like Royalty

Jun 27

Jun 27 Content May Not Be King But It Still Behaves Like Royalty

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, Internet, Jeff Jarvis, Media, Metrics, Publishing

One of my favorite media commentators is Jeff Jarvis. I especially enjoy his weekly converaations hosted by Leo Laporte on This Week in Google. Jarvis’ perspective always gets at the big picture of what’s happening with the web economy.

Jan 18
Jan 18 Past Month's Website Visits by Operating System

Dennis D. McDonald

Analytics, Metrics, Operating System, Statistics, Windows

This chart shows the distribution of the past month’s visits to Dennis McDonald’s Web Site, by operating system, as of January 18, 2011: