I started the blog Management Consulting Forum in 2005. At that time I realized that I had a solution for the reform of State and Federal Government which no one had proposed before. The driving force came from the 9-11 and Katrina disasters. Clearly 9-11 could have been prevented if it were not for the FBI’s Bureaucracy and the Katrina bureaucratic disaster, which came after the hurricane, was clearly the fault of the Homeland Security bureaucracy. The objective of the movement is to reform government replacing the bureaucratic form of government with one with fewer levels of government, empower the lower levels to make the appropriate decisions at their level and encourage innovation.

The reform of state government can be described by two main approaches. The centralization of state Information Technology by building integrated Relational Database Management systems. with the is the streamlining of government through the elimination of obsolete and redundant agencies and in combining agencies. When these methods are used together through a state centralized 311 telephone portal such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) you can eliminate a significant amount of Red Tape and provide on-the-spot service to the public. The solution provides instant information to the government employee interfacing with the public through Relational Databases.

The second approach is the method I proposed for getting rid of the bureaucratic form of government. These two approaches can be done independently but the results will be in piecemeal savings compared to a combined effort for reform. I have provided a detailed description these in my book “Ten Steps to Jumpstarting Government Reform”. The book describes in detail the steps to be done in implementing the reforms. I have provided all of the states with copies of my book. Since all state budgets are under pressure from the current recession it is safe to assume that all are looking for ways to make government more efficient.

Given the difficulties facing the states it would appear that reforms could be adopted without objection. After overcoming the obvious objection to change that comes with any reform. There is the difficulty in getting state budgeting personnel to accept the fact that their top-down method of budgeting, the opposite of industries bottom-up method, is wrong. This is a big deal to get budgeting personnel to recognize that the way they have been operating for years is wrong. State legislatures are at fault too and are likely to support the current budgeting method. This is an awful lot for a Governor to overcome even if he has bought in to the new method.

The difference between the two methods of budgeting follows. I call the government process Top-Down budgeting where little effort is put into finding the most efficient and effective solution before funding it. This is the opposite of that done in private industry which I call Bottom-Up budgeting, finding the most appropriate solution before funding it. The bottom-up solution is based on Work Measurement meaning that the actual costs in labor and other expenses are known at the time of approval by a private companies’ management. This is at the heart of the reform but in my proposal I have found a better way of doing Work Measurement. Rather than using time study as found in industry I propose using Total Quality Management and other techniques for a much more humane approach.

See the following articles for background information.
Article 89. Focusing America’s Anger and Anxiety on the Root Cause- the Need for Bureaucratic Reform
Article 92. Article on Downsizing by Donald Rumsfeld
Article 94. Reforming FEMA and Homeland Security
Article 97. Getting Innovation by Changing Organization Culture
Article 101. The Hampton Virginia Innovation Story
Article 102. Government Reform of California Agencies and Commissions
Article 103. Reforming Bureaucratic Government the Subtle way by Bringing Innovation to Government
Article 104. Down Sizing State Government the Easy and Safe Way
Article 106. Where do the Government Reform Savings Come From?
Article 113. Private Versus Public Budgeting Practices
Article 117. Overcoming Bureaucratic Resistance to Government Reform
Article 118. Examples of Cooperative Innovation