Blog
October 18, 2005
Challenging Torvald: Specs Are the Language of Negotiation
According to an article in SYS-CON, Linus Torvald posted a message on the ‘net saying that specs don’t help in software development, that they are a needless level of abstraction.
Torvald may be right when the developer is the client, creating a program…
September 28, 2006
Franchise funds and the GMLOB
We’ve been doing some research into the business models that are driving the various Lines of Business initiatives, and recently compiled some information about Federal franchise funds that we thought might be good to share.
“Franchise funds” is a 1994 program that…
August 1, 2006
ITIL and EA are not the same thing
GCN has an interview with Malcolm Fry, who’s considered the “father” of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Fry says that “ITIL is, to some degree, enterprise architecture”. But as Wikipedia accurately describes, ITIL is a set of service management best practices.…
November 13, 2007
OMB details spending database instructions
The inimitable Jason Miller of FCW has just detailed the latest on FFATA and FedSpending.gov. Highlights here are:
OMB wants agencies to test their processes for submission of data to FPDS-NG and FAADS
GSA awarded a contract to Global Computing Enterprises to build…
October 5, 2006
Grants performance accountability and the PART
GovExec has a nice piece about GAO-06–1046, the report I blogged about a while ago. GovExec’s article has a nice summary of why the report was requested:
The study was requested by Rep. Todd Platts, R‑Pa., chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on…
April 24, 2007
New OMB Management Watch and High-Risk lists published
GovExec reports that OMB released updated versions of the Management Watch List and High-Risk List last week. As they put it:
Business cases for IT investments end up on the list if OMB officials find one or more weaknesses. The plans…
March 27, 2012
How To Build an Online Community
One key to the success of the NITRC web site is the strong community support we have from it’s target audience: neuroscience researchers. This didn’t happen overnight. There were a lot of steps that led up to where we are now, and…
April 20, 2016
Potomac River Watershed Cleanup at Snakeden Branch
At the weekend, TCG lent a hand with Reston Association for the Earth Day initiative Potomac Watershed Clean Up 2016. TCGers and their families and friends volunteered to pick up an amazing total of 159 bags of trash from all across…
November 8, 2022
Rapid Prototyping in the Federal Sector: Finding the Right Solutions Faster
Natural disasters. Swings in financial markets. New cybersecurity threats. The world moves quickly but technological change in the Federal sector often does not.
Federal agencies need development methods that allow them to pivot quickly, explore new ideas with less investment,…
July 14, 2005
NGP White Paper #1 — phew!
So after a flurry of activity, I think the NGP’s first white paper, Accelerating Grants Streamlining, is pretty much done! I wrote about it before on the blog, and will post the final paper here too once I have permission to do so. We’ve…