For those of you who know me, you know that I believe that improving the efficiency effectiveness of how government operates and improving how government engages with citizens is critical. From my first work and experience in government up back in the late 1980’s through my continued work at Department of the Interior and other places, I have always felt that if we focus on the end user – whether it is the government employee or the citizen – we could really do a lot to improve the results of government.

The world is changing. Whether it is in the technology, the people, or the organizations, disruptions are forcing government to evolve. New disruptive technologies emerge every day that are changing how we interact and relate – person to person, business to person, and government to person.  People need to interact with for new reasons and with new problems that need to be solved. Government as an organization is being forced to evolve by internal and external forces.   This is where I will start and focus first – at the intersection of these three areas for government and how shifts in technology can provide some solutions.

Government, though my initial focus area, will not be the only area that I will be looking at. I will also be going back to my roots in this adventure and taking a look at the impact of clean tech on how organizations.  Making our organizations sustainable is more then just green IT, good CSR reports, and improving energy efficiency.  It is really a significant shift in how we think about our processes and our organizations and then using emerging technologies to make it more sustainable.

I will also be striving to better develop the application of design thinking in the areas of government, sustainability, and others, and will continue to focus primarily on the end user.  More on later as I think through and develop these area.

I will also be working through a new version of the Web site, new branding and adding more content (yes, posting more for all of you that have been asking!) over the next couple of months. In the mean time, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at alan at altimetergroup dot com. Looking forward to the adventure!

As the title indicates, I am shifting my research direction to move back more towards my passions and something that is very important to me. But first I want to say thank you to all of my current readers and subscribers. I apologize that I haven’t kept up with my part of posting as often as I should be, but as I learned blogging is not always the priority it should have been.  I will strive to take that lesson to heart as I move forward.

How will things be changing? Beginning next week you will see a shift in the topics covered on this blog. First, I will still be researching and writing about social media and government because I think one of the key aspects to any solution for the large number of problems we face is citizen action and engagement, and that vision of engagement has its best chance to be realized through social media.

Second, I am also going to start digging back into the whole government market from an technology vendors perspective. Prior to my time at Forrester, I served in the Office of the Secretary at the Department of the Interior and worked for a government systems integrator (aka Beltway Bandit). When I first joined Forrester, it was to focus on government though this changed with the sift to roles. The reason I am returning this to my quiver is this market is a mess. Too many vendors have serious misconceptions about the government market, how government works, how government buys, and what government is buying. On the opposite side, the heavy influx of vendors looking for stimulus dollars have overwhelmed most government buyers. I spoke with a former colleague of mine last week who said he now spends more time fielding calls from vendors looking for appointments to sell him something instead of doing his actual job. So it sounds like both sides need a little help in sorting out this mess.

But the largest change you will is is that I am going to be spending a lot more time looking at clean technologies, sustainability issues, energy issues, corporate responsibility, and social change. I promise this won’t be another blog about how to live more green, though I do think that is important (you can find more about that as I resurrect A Green Dad). Instead, I will be looking at these issues from a business perspective, both at the tactical level and the strategic level. I have always been interested in natural resources, sustainability, green technologies, etc. Enough so that I spent tens of thousands of dollars getting two-plus graduate degrees in the areas of natural resources management and environmental policy. But I set aside my passions to “make a living,” a mistake that most of us are all to familiar with.  I am going to correct that mistake and add something valuable to the rising chorus of voices around clean technologies and sustainability.

Over the next couple of months you will notice some of changes to this blog. A new layout is coming, some new links, some guest posts, some interesting interviews, and a lot of new content. Should be a lot of fun!

Looking at government, technology, social media, sustainability, renewable energy, and cleantech should make for some interesting research and reading. I know not everything will appeal to everybody, and that is okay. But I do hope that you will come along with me on my professional journey.

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last month or so. I wish I could say it was because I had taken a long holiday at the beach, but it wasn’t. I just got caught up with all of the work that pays the bills and maybe a few trips with the kids to the swimming pool. Now that things are slowing down a bit and school is starting, I will start posting more frequently. There will also be a shift on what you will see me writing about, but more about that later this week. As they say, now on with the show.

What will the Ronin Research Group blog cover? It will be a professional and objective look into the intersection of the government Web world, government and broader social culture, social media, citizen engagement, and the vendors and technologies that underpin it. My expectation is that the result will be a candid and honest conversation and assessment about what can or does work, what others have tried, and what is of value in the new world of Government 2.0. The discussion could, and should, range from the strategic to the tactical, but will focus on three macro trends:

• The changing nature of government-to-citizen digital engagement
• Shifts in technology and how they can help government engage with citizens and business
• What strategies to employ to pull it all together

The focus of all of this will be the end user – the citizen or the business that government is interacting with..

I was a former analyst at Forrester and I am sure that I will pull from experiences there that covered the digital properties, social media, eGovernment, and the broader Web world, but I am also expecting that this will be a two way street – that I can learn and interact here in ways that will benefit my work and clients. I am also smart enough to know that I there is a lot to know about digitally enabled government and technologies, that I only know some of it, and that this interaction and conversation is an opportunity for me to learn.

I encourage you to join the coversation.

Alan