Getting Results in GovernmentA checklist for effective policies and programs |
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Governments have achieved extraordinary outcomes in complex environments. This is no more apparent than in NASA’s Apollo program. So why do so many government programs fail?
William D. Eggers, Global Director, Deloitte Research-Public Sector, Deloitte Services LP, and John O’Leary’s If We Can Put a Man on the Moon… investigates why some government programs fail to deliver on their intended goals while others succeed. Michael Barber’s Instruction to Deliver sets forth an approach centered on posing challenging questions to leaders of major initiatives to ensure that their programs stay on target to achieve their intended goals. Complementing these two guides, Atul Gawande’s Checklist Manifesto illustrates how simple, well designed checklists bring structure to difficult tasks, leading to a “higher standard of baseline performance,” and preventing common yet avoidable errors.
The solution
Deloitte created the checklist for Getting Results in Government by combining key lessons in the above books with the experience of Deloitte professionals who have advised Government clients on some of their most challenging goals. This checklist can be applied to all types of initiatives at any level of government—federal, state, or local.
How it works
The checklist is broken into six sections, each representing a key stage in a government program’s journey
- Idea: Developing the idea for a program that is both effective and implementable.
- Design: Articulating the specifics that lead to an implementable program.
- Approval: Securing the agreement of the stakeholders who decide whether your program is implemented.
- Implementation: Establishing the ‘architecture’ for delivering your program to meet its intended goals.
- Results: Ensuring the program delivers the outcomes as designed.
- Re-evaluation: Continuously assessing the program design to be sure that it continues to deliver results.
Within each section, key success factors for that stage of the program are listed. Based on those factors, the checklist poses a series of questions, which program designers and managers can ask themselves in order to maximise the chances of success.
This checklist can be used to chart the path for a new initiative, identify how to get a failing program back on track, or retrospectively diagnose why a program has succeeded or failed. If applied early and often, this checklist will be a powerful addition to your program management toolkit and a valuable resource for keeping your program on the road to success.
For the Checklist, download the PDF attachment below.
As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP [and its subsidiaries]. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.
Getting Results in Government: A checklist for effective policies & programs
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