What is Smarter Government?
Governor Martin O’Malley wrote Smarter Government in collaboration with ESRI in November 2019 as a capstone on his political experience. In it, Mr. O’Malley outlines his career-long pursuit of more effective government through “Stat” programs. He was initially inspired by Jack Maple and his CompStat program in New York City’s Police Department. Eventually, the two would collaborate on what might soon become known as the single most effective strategy to govern a city or state.
CompStat was a revolutionary idea at the time – it was originally known as Charts of the Future and involved sticking colored pins into a paper map to display data on the intersection of crime and police activity. While it was significantly upgraded in terms of technology, the core tenets remained: timely and accurate information or intelligence, rapid deployment of resources, effective tactics, and relentless follow-up. The result was a major shift in the success of the police department to not only solve but also prevent crime by strategically deploying officers and other resources across the city.
Over the first few chapters, Mr. O’Malley tells the story of working with Mr. Maple to bring CompStat to the city of Baltimore when Mr. O’Malley became Mayor. They called the new system “CitiStat.” There are six main elements of the CitiStat strategy for performance management:
- Performance management and data-driven processes
- GIS technology
- Customer service technology (like a 311 call number for city services)
- Collaborative, informed decision-making
- Openness and transparency
- Getting things done by bringing people together regularly (and optimizing the meeting space and project management process)
Mr. O’Malley’s administration made extremely impressive progress during his time in office – both as Mayor of Baltimore and then as Governor of Maryland. He reduced crime and blight, reduced healthcare costs, and quite possibly saved the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from total destruction. His book includes several contributors, but it is obvious from the language and the content that Mr. O’Malley is a true expert in this area. He now teaches the concepts at Universities in the region, and consults on bringing Stat programs to the Federal Government level and beyond.
Why won’t it work in my city?
If there is a “secret sauce” for effective city and state government, why is this not the standard operating procedure for all public administrators? The truth of the matter is performance management in general, and CitiStat in particular, can be controversial and difficult to implement. Not everyone is on board with showing their peers “how” they work, and getting potentially a dozen departments aligned on a schedule and goals is challenging, which creates significant barriers to entry. I believe that it can work anywhere, but it will only work where an administration can manage these three risks.
Leadership
One thing that becomes clear through Mr. O’Malley’s war stories is his indisputable strength as a leader. This is not a boast or exaggeration by someone telling his own story. By highlighting both his wins and losses, Mr. O’Malley reveals much about the thinking behind his actions. His ability to see the opportunity that CitiStat offered, rally his colleagues to the cause, and consistently participate in the process at the appropriate level made the success of his subordinates possible.
You cannot implement one half or one third of CitiStat – you have to dive in head first and stick with it through your time in office. Not all leaders are prepared to take that plunge, but if they can believe in the fundamental value of the system, it can lead to massive successes.
Capacity
Similar to the leader’s capacity, the administration must have sufficient capacity to establish the processes needed to establish CitiStat. They must be the ones to conduct the meetings, measurement, and implementation of improvements to their service area. To be clear: any administration has the ability to choose CitiStat as a framework for performance management, but not all administrations will succeed in its total adoption.
Mr. O’Malley talks about the crucial first few months of an administration. It is here, he says, that you must move confidently and completely towards CitiStat or else you will miss the opportunity entirely. Without the buy-in and quick action taken to make these changes, too many in the administration will have the built in excuse that changing how we work will reduce velocity.
Ego
The final risk is maybe most existential to the CitiStat methodology. For an incoming administration, it is just the last politician’s shiny object. Any executive entering a political office will be most concerned with their priorities and promises from the campaign trail, as well as their own legacy that they must begin to write.
When Mr. O’Malley left Baltimore, his successor did keep CitiStat in place, but without the same zeal. Gradually the interest and urgency eroded, and eventually there were departments going months without the customary bi-weekly meetings. The succeeding Mayor did not view the CitiStat process as their own, and they did not give it the same attention or resources that they lavished on their own projects. Unfortunately, their ego kept them from embracing a strategy that may have helped them achieve exactly what they were setting out to do.
Conclusion
Despite being a very systematic and data-driven approach to management, CitiStat absolutely needs enthusiastic leadership and shared sense of responsibility to carry out. Many cities use data to make decisions, and some might even have transparency across departments. There are many fewer though that perform the rituals associated with CitiStat that cement it as the overarching framework for how governing gets done.
Cities that want to make CitiStat the standard must ensure that there is a process in place that can make it viable with or without strong executive leadership and that make it more durable than a political project would normally need to be. To achieve this, administrators might consider:
- Establish a cabinet-level position to manage CitiStat.
- Create administrative policies, or if possible legislation, requiring Departmental CitiStat meetings to take place regularly.
- Limit the discussion of or praise for CitiStat in public – the more it is associated with one administration or individual, the less durable it becomes!
Joe Buckshon 