New book livens up performance management

So maybe a book on government performance measurement isn't a suggested reading for Oprah's Book Club.

But Governing magazine's Jonathan Walters' new book "Measuring Up: Governings' Guide to Performance Measurement for Geniuses [and Other Public Managers]" will leave you surprised at how painless and downright amusing it can be to learn the ins and outs of government's latest management trend.

This straightforward, entertaining and humorous book is an essential read for managers looking to breathe some life into the tedious process of implementing a performance measurement plan.

"The rightly wary public manager would do well to ask what is so special about performance management -- what distinguishes it from the other quick fixits they've been subjected to over the course of their careers," Walters writes.

The answer, bluntly enough: performance management is here to stay. Given that premise, the author proceeds to knock down the seven reasons managers give for neglecting to pursue performance measurement programs and illuminates the one reason why managers have no choice. Sure, managers claim "been there done that," "it's unfair," "performance measures will beat me up, not help me out." The fact of the matter is "when performance measurement rolls your way, it won't be an optional exercise," Walters contends.

In Chapter 3, the author clearly and cleverly unpuzzles the "magnificent seven" basic words that underpin performance measurement: mission, goals, outcome, indicator, activity, output, input and efficiency. Walters brings to life the vocabulary by giving a quick pep talk about being bogged down in definitions and presenting what he calls "street level examples."

"Say you're in charge of the city sanitation department," he writes. "A key activity is picking up garbage, an output might be the number of trash cans you've hoisted...the goal is a pristine city."

The reader leaves this chapter with a firm grasp of the key phrases.

Chapter 6 presents a compelling discussion about activity-based costing (ABC), which as the author points out has caught on at the city and state level, but is lacking on the federal scene, despite a concerted effort from the General Services Administration.

"ABC gets to be a trickier proposition as you go up the governmental food chain, because as you go up, what government does, as a rule, gets more abstract," Walters says.

The remainder of the book delves into performance measurement's "twin" offspring: performance management and performance-based budgeting.

Performance measurement will not completely shift the focus of government from rules and regulations to results, but it will make a significant impact, the author concludes.

"Performance measurement is not magic; it's a lot of work; not everybody gets it, or wants to get it; it's probably politically impossible to even try in some places; and it's not the answer to every problem facing government everywhere," Walters writes. "But when applied sensibly and in the right setting, it has the potential to help government do its job better."