B&G REPORT.

Late last year, Bill Eggers, executive director of Deloitte's Center for Government Insights, wrote on LinkedIn that "Over my decades working on government reform, my one major complaint has always been that think tanks have focused so much time and resources on policy and too little on policy execution and the nitty-gritty of government operations He was playing our song, and we’d like to add that we find the same unfortunate phenomenon doesn’t just exist in think tanks but

We do an awful lot of reading of press releases in which various states or localities (or frequently an outside public relations firm) refers to some initiative as a “best practice.” Typically, if we write about the topic, we substitute in other phrasing, like a “practice that works,” or an “evidence-based approach,” (if it is). Of course, when we’re quoting from a study or a report we’re stuck with the phrase “best practice,” as we don’t change direct quotes to suit ourselve

Several decades ago, when we first developed a passion for performance management, we leaned upon a cadre of people who were pioneering...

Over more than 30 years of covering state and local government, we can’t recall ever talking to a public sector manager who loved going...

There are all kinds of variations on the theme of the three big lies that people tell in the normal course of day-to-day life. One of our...

Recently, a relatively high-level manager in a large southern city told us about the progress her city was making in energizing a...

We have to admit it. More than once we’ve referred to a policy or management approach as a “best practice.” But mostly those words were...