As this is a public group, it will be possible for interested
"non-members" to browse our postings to see if we are the sort of
group that they would like to join.  I've done the same thing, and
one of the first questions that I ask myself is "Who ARE these people
(and what's their background)?"

So, let this be the discussion-thread for you to introduce yourself
to the group (and to future members).  I'll go first.

I'm Stephen Buckley, grew up on Cape Cod, Mass., got a degree in
Environmental Engineering (Purdue/Indiana), spent next 25 years in
D.C., mostly as a federal employee at five different
agencies.  Because my work was in the environmental area, it had
legal requirements for Public Engagement, and I was involved in the
providing guidance and determining compliance with those requirements
by my federal agency.  (So I have first-hand knowledge about
"performance measurement" in government organizations.)

I was involved in the 1990s "pre-cursor" to President Obama's
initiative for "Open Government" (http://www.whitehouse.gov/open).
That previous effort, largely unknown by today's younger feds, was
launched by President Clinton in 1993 and headed for the next 8 years
by V.P. Al Gore, was called the "National Project for Reinventing Government".

Just like the current "OpenGov" effort, it was about engaging with
citizen-customers in order to "work better, cost less".  During that
time, I created and moderated the 1,000-member "REGO-L" email-group
(1993-95), as well as the very first web-forum for the public to
comment on a federally proposed action (1997).

The "REGO" effort, however, did a very poor job of rating its success
across the federal bureaucracy.  Only the "best" agencies's work was
evaluated and recognized.  And now, after two years, the "OpenGov"
shows all the same signs that it is repeating that past failure to
measure itself (e.g., press-releases extolling agencies' activity as
actual progress).

So let us now talk with each other about learning from that mistake,
and figuring out ways to promote the development and use of standard
metrics for some objective measurement of the progress of the
"OpenGov" effort, at all levels of government, in the U.S. and other countries.

Please feel free to email me confidentially if you have any questions
about this discussion.  (And if you want me to call you, add your
phone number.)

vr,
Stephen Buckley, moderator
"OpenGov Metrics" google-group
http://www.OpenGovMetrics.com
http://twitter.com/opengovmetrics
also: http://twitter.com/transpartisan
.