“Agile and digital governance” research colloquium

We are happy to announce the start of the “Agile and Digital Governance Research Colloquium“. Together with Professor Greta Nasi (Bocconi University), Professors Rainer Kattel and David Eaves (UCL), and Professor Jae Moon (Yonsei University), I am collaborating over the next few months to create a forum in which we can share our newest research

New article (in German): What German public administrations can learn from the Estonian digital transformation

Robert Krimmer and I brainstormed about the differences between Germany and Estonia and summarized our ideas in an article for practitioners that was published in “Innovative Verwaltung” earlier this years. Here is the link to the original text and the fulltext on ResearchGate: Was Deutschland von Estlands Transformation lernen kann I translated most of what

New article: Competences that Foster Digital Transformation of Public Administrations. An Austrian Case Study

Together with Noella Edelmann, I published a new article that looks at the types of competencies that are necessary to support the digital transformation of public administrations. In this article, we talked to Austrian digital transformation experts. Austrian is an interesting case because they rank relatively high on the DESI index and invest in lots

New research report: Human-centricity in digital delivery – enhancing agile governance

I recently published a new report titled “Human-centricity in digital delivery – enhancing agile governance” which is based on interviews I conducted over the years with members of several different digital service teams in government. These teams are set up to bring in new competencies and work practices into government to transform existing public services

Launching ‘Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age’

Repost via “Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age“ Digital has changed the way that billions of people live their lives. It has transformed the way that couples meet and friendship groups evolve. It has allowed millions to shift their place of employment during the pandemic. It has given nations new ways of going to

Call for Papers: Special Issue “AI in the Public Sector” in PMR

AI in the public sector PMR Special Issue call for papers Guest editors This special issue will be edited by an experienced team comprising Professor Helen Dickinson (University of New South Wales, Australia), Professor Ines Mergel (University of Konstanz, Germany),  and Professor Jari Stenvall (Tampere University, Finland). Rationale This special issue will provide a resource

Agile: A New Way of Governing

By Ines Mergel, Sukumar Ganapati, Andy Whitford Pre-print accepted for publication in Public Administration Review Full reference: Mergel, I., Ganapati, S., Whitford, A. (2020): Agile: A New Way of Governing, in: Public Administration Review, published online on May 18, 2020. Abstract The evolving concept of agile has fundamentally changed core aspects of software design, project

Making Government Agile

by Ines Mergel, Sukumar Ganapati, Andrew Whitford Abstract We sometimes dismiss Agile methods too easily – that they are nothing but colorful post-its and hype. Our goal here is to help public managers see how Agile concepts can be part of the standard toolbox of teams and managers working at all levels of government. We

Competencies for the digital transformation of public administrations

Abstract: The digital transformation makes it clear that public administrations lack skills for its implementation. This article reports on the results of expert interviews and shows ways to achieve digital maturity in public administrations. Introduction: The digital transformation of public administration is increasingly shifting the focus to competencies instead of processes and tasks. HR departments

Prosocial motivation of IT professionals joining government (new article)

Together with Nicola Bellé and Greta Nasi, I analyzed the motivation of IT professionals joining government. At times, when IT workers have a large amount of choices and are more likely to get higher paying jobs outside government, how can government align incentives to attract talent to the workforce? To answer this questions, we analyzed