Performance Data: 'Use It or Useless'

At a recent gathering of about 40 public management academics and practitioners, the overwhelming message was that the push for a results-oriented government — and for the related use of metrics to drive performance improvement — is very much alive and well. The IBM Center for the Business of Government brought the group together to discuss the Obama administration’s research agenda for the coming years. The use of performance measurement in government was born in the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, the first management reform legislation Bill Clinton signed as president. It has survived the transition to two other administrations.