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Based on our examination of presidential transitions, and in particular the 2008–2009 experience, it is time once again to revisit and amend the presidential transition law to place requirements on the White House to better facilitate transition activities, and to enable campaigns and the president-elect to be better prepared to govern.

In this Ready to Govern report, we examine the three phases of the 2008–2009 transition—the pre-election timeframe, the period from the election to the inauguration and President Obama’s first year in office. In each section, we provide a short narrative based on the experiences and reflections of some key participants in the transition, and offer a series of recommendations for each phase on a broad range of transition issues. These include:

Center for American Progress report that analyzes comprehensive new data on delays in the appointments process as well as appointee turnover in Senate-confirmed positions in executive agencies over the past five administrations.

This memoradnum, written by the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s general counsel, sets parameters for the incoming transition team members joining from Obama for America 2008. The memo covers engagement in partisan political activities, promotion of political causes in accordance to the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and appropriate use of files and documents that were used for former campaigns.

The code of ethics details the expectations for members of the incoming Obama transition team. The document includes guidelines for accepting gifts, disclosing previous lobbying experience, disqualifications associated with conflicts of interest, and other standards of conduct expected from employees of the Transition Project.

This memorandum, by presidential transition advisors Harrison Wellford, Mirah Horowitz and Tom Shakow, details key benchmarks with which to measure a successful transition.

This detailed outline from the Obama-Biden Transtion Team leadership provides guidance to the transition agency review teams for reporting their research about federal agencies. The document contains sections discussing the general purpose, audience and an eight-section outline for a standard reporting and data gathering format.

This partial organizational chart for the Obama–Biden Transition Project details the structure and reporting relationships of the transition presidential appointments team.

 

Obama Personnel Guidance: Memo providing the requirements for the transition team’s recruitment and use of executive branch and private sector personnel.

The key to improving our federal government’s operational health is a robust management framework “a roadmap to reform” that tackles challenges from federal budgeting to the use of technology to deliver services. The centerpiece of the president’s government reform plan needs to be a strategy to restore prestige to and increase the capacity of our federal workforce.

Each aspect of the government deserves more attention, but the new president’s management framework should focus on the talented, but underutilized, civilian workforce. The goal should be clear: to improve organizational performance. Core components of an effective workforce, which foster high performance, include:

IBM Transition 2008 webpage provides four articles on the Prune Book.