Page 17 - FCW, June 2017

Commentary|ALAN P. BALUTIS
ALAN P. BALUTIS is a senior director and distinguished fellow in Cisco Systems’ U.S. Public Sector.
The unending saga of management reform
Most elements of Trump’s management agenda are nothing new. In fact, they’ve been under scrutiny for decades.
Just a few short months ago, good- government types were bemoaning the lack of a “management agenda” for the new Trump administration. Then came a flurry of activity that silenced those concerned: a White House meeting with leading private- sector executives; a draft executive order on cybersecurity; expres- sions of support for the Moderniz- ing Government Technology Act; a federal hiring freeze; the creation of a White House Office of American Innovation; the establishment of
an American Technology Council;
a call for plans, due Sept. 30, to reorganize executive departments and agencies; and the release of the president’s fiscal 2018 budget with a section on management at the very front of the document.
That management chapter promises the development of “the President’s Management Agenda focused on achieving significant improvements in the effectiveness of its core management functions.” Goals will be set that are critical “to improving the federal government’s effectiveness, efficiency, cybersecu- rity and accountability.”
That sounds like a full slate, but let’s think about the management reform agendas (noting that they weren’t always called such) of the past few decades: government reor- ganization, Reform ’88, a thousand points of light, Reinventing Govern- ment, and Management Agendas for presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama (same name, some- what different focus).
One could easily go all the way back to a golden era in public administration and government reform to the Hoover Commissions of the Truman and Eisenhower administrations 70 years ago. But it’s overkill to go all the way back to when President Donald Trump was a youngster. Let’s go back only
What company would have basically the same management reform objectives for over 30 years and still be in business?
halfway, to when senior aide Jared Kushner was a baby.
In 1982, the Reagan administra- tion unveiled a “major management reform” package that it said would eventually allow the president to run the government as efficiently as a private corporation. Called Reform ’88 because it would take six years to implement, the initiative prom- ised to concentrate on what have since become the “usual suspects”: • Standard accounting and other administrative systems.
• The modernization and integra- tion of computer systems.
• A reduction in federal paperwork and internal agency regulations.
• Shared services.
• A government that acts in an effi- cient and businesslike manner.
• Streamlined personnel and pro- curement operations.
• A reduction in overpayments, underpayments and improper payments.
• Collection of delinquent debts.
• The elimination of excess govern- ment field offices, and...
I could go on, but you get the idea. In spite of years of effort, little has changed. What company would have basically the same manage- ment reform objectives for over 30 years and still be in business?
So I hereby propose a deliberate- ly terse Trump Management Agenda — and it needs to come first. Before new White House task forces and presidential commissions. Before new executive orders and Office of Management and Budget directives. Before additional congressional hearings, legislation or Govern- ment Accountability Office reports. Before new offices are created and filled with change agents, thought leaders, visionaries, innovators, rock stars, heavy hitters, big think- ers or Silicon Valley transients.
The future is about managing risks and expenses and providing sound customer service. It’s about delivering and executing. It is about solid management, administration and execution.
For at least the past 35 years, we’ve been over-led and under- managed. What we need today
is more and better management. President Trump: JUST DO IT! n
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