Obama's Second-Term Management Agenda To Focus On People Power

The architects of President Barack Obama's second-term management agenda say changing the culture of the federal workforce — not just technology — is driving the administration's efforts to make government more innovative.

Speaking before the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the National Academy of Sciences Thursday morning, Steven VanRoekel, the federal chief information officer, also said the focus is on building on past successes to make lasting change ordinary Americans can feel in their everyday lives.

"Our key metric here is not only thinking about the plumbing of government — how are we driving better benefit there — but also how are we doing things that are knowable and feel-able with the American citizen," he said.

VanRoekel, who was joined by Todd Park, the federal chief technology officer, provided the most detail to date on the revamped management agenda. The update is based on four pillars: