Category Archives: Gov/Mil News

Gov/Mil News on GovEvents Blog includes editorials and media pertaining directly to current events happening in Government & Military.

National Guard Chief Predicts Changes In Training

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From time to time GovEvents will come across information we feel our members and audience would benefit from. Here's something we wanted to share:

As some Army National Guard soldiers begin training under a new system that increases the number of days on the range, the chief of the National Guard Bureau predicts "some changes" if the greater demands are not sustainable over the next few years.

In remarks at a March 12 forum hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army's Institute of Land Warfare, Air Force Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel said the Sustainable Readiness Model put in place in fiscal 2017 as a means of reaching a higher level of readiness across all components makes higher training demands on reserve forces. It may not be sustainable for individual soldiers whose "civilian lives won't be able to tolerate it," he said. "I predict there will be some changes."

"Those heavy brigades are going to do 39 days one year, 48 days next year, 60 days in that third year and to sustain that readiness they're going to do 51 days the following year," Lengyel said. "That's a lot of training days. A lot of days." Continue reading →

A Bitcoin for Your Thoughts: Demystifying Blockchain

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Blockchain is a new way to structure data for greater sharing and security. Its algorithm and distributed data structure were initially designed to manage online currency (like bitcoin) in a way that does not need a central administrator to distribute it among people. This removed the need for a middleman (like a bank) to authenticate that what was being transferred was real currency. Instead, this authentication happens because all of the nodes on a peer-to-peer network connected to the block (the asset, money, or data) have to "approve" its transfer to a new party (a good image of this process is found here).

Blockchain essentially provides an online ledger book. The records (or blocks) are individually secured using cryptography that links them to one another and gives each block its own timestamp and provides data about that particular transaction (who it went to). Looking at the ledger you can see where data started and where it went. Through cryptography and the intricate linkages, the blocks (the original asset) cannot be tampered with. This traceability and security has gotten the attention of the government as a way to better protect sensitive data and transactions. Agencies are investigating how to use it to speed procurement, secure employee records, and better enable electronic health records.[Tweet "The traceability & security of blockchain tech has gotten the attention of the Government. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

Eight is Great!

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This year GovEvents celebrates its eighth anniversary being the premier online resource for government and military events worldwide. GovEvents was created to provide a one-stop-shop for the government community to find the events that aid in their professional development, their organization's mission, and their business goals.

 

We're proud of the growth we've seen over the past eight years, but more importantly, we're thankful to the community that has made it possible. In that spirit, we wanted to provide our "Top 8" list of things you may not have known about GovEvents and the government events market.[Tweet "This year GovEvents celebrates its eighth anniversary . #GovEventsBlog"]

 

#8) When we launched, our team researched and posted approximately 90% of the events on the site. Today, that statistic is flipped with our members posting 90% of the events you see and the GovEvents team filling in the other 10%.

 

#7) Speaking of members, we have more than 80,000 registered members on our site driving the diversity and depth of the information our users have access to.

 

Continue reading →

Resolve to be a Better Attendee

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Being a few weeks into the New Year, you may have begun to slack and are no longer on track with your well-intended resolutions. That does not mean that you should abandon the drive to better yourself as it's not too late to register for events to help you do so. Getting approval in the government community to attend events can be a month-long or more process, so now is the time to take action. Once you have approval, make sure you are getting the most out of that event to prove ROI to your organization and to yourself.

After you are signed up to attend an event, no matter if it is a multi-day out-of-town event or a local breakfast meeting, it's important to define your goal for attendance. Is it to learn? Meet new people? Network with specific contacts? Gather information for others in your department? Likely a couple of these will be a part of your rationale for attending. This article provides some great planning checklists organized by each of these goals (as well as others) so you can plan your time accordingly.[Tweet "Resolve to be a Better Attendee -- Define your goals for the events you attend. #GovEventsBlog"]

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Becoming Agile with Government Technology Solutions

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Agile is an iterative approach to software delivery, building solutions from the onset of a project rather than trying to deliver it near the end. The use of this methodology is built on the need for flexibility and adaptation to changing requirements. It is a response to the reality of building modern technology solutions, software, and processes. As nothing stays static in today's business climate, the way systems are developed had to change.[Tweet "Becoming Agile with Government Technology Solutions. #GovEventsBlog"]

Agile is a departure from the traditional waterfall development practice defined by linear and sequential order. A solution in a waterfall project cannot move forward until the previous step is completed. Once that step is complete, there is no going back to fix or change it - even if business needs require a change. In contrast, Agile-led projects are focused on delivery of smaller pieces of the solution with the understanding that failure is ok and an inevitable part of the process. Since all of the pieces of an application are not as dependent on one another, failure in one area will not break the whole system as it would in a waterfall process.

The adoption of Agile in government has been slow but steady. There are both cultural and procedural barriers to wide adoption of Agile. Procurements must be written differently to enable an Agile approach, and people working on the projects have to be willing to shift their thinking and workflows to accommodate the Agile process. Agencies, tired of long development cycles that result in technology that is out of date by the time it launches, have begun trying out Agile approaches and finding great success. Localities can quickly roll out digital solutions to citizens, systems become more secure, and agencies can meet cloud migration mandates and goals.[Tweet "Agencies tired of long development cycles, have begun trying #Agile approaches with great success. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →