About the author Journalist David Donaldson is a journalist at The Mandarin based in Melbourne. Follow David Donaldson
Premium Case studies A tale of two procurement processes: how consultation can create happy stakeholders — and help you avoid breaking the law Thursday January 23, 2020 By David Donaldson Case studies Two recent train procurement processes demonstrate the importance of early consultation. Victoria ended up with happy stakeholders while Queensland is retrofitting vehicles after breaking its… Read more
Premium Case studies Tackling entrenched disadvantage: the four innovative approaches Victoria is trying, from social procurement to place-based services Monday January 20, 2020 By David Donaldson Community & Social A push for social procurement, better data linkage for users of multiple services, improving place-based service capability, and working more closely with public housing tenants:… Read more
Premium Trends and research Teams that admit their mistakes perform better. How to boost psychological safety in your workplace Thursday January 16, 2020 By David Donaldson Features Plenty of organisations talk about boosting psychological safety, but actually putting it into practice is difficult. Being open about your own fallibility and asking lots… Read more
Premium Insights and analysis ‘Being smart is not enough’ — instead of searching for the perfect all-rounder, build a diverse team Friday December 20, 2019 By David Donaldson Features What skills do different policy shops look for in staff? A public management expert, a think tanker, and a consultant-turned-public servant weigh in. Read more
Premium Insights and analysis Improving cultural diversity in the public service: understand different leadership styles and be prepared to push back on resistance Tuesday December 17, 2019 By David Donaldson Features The leadership of Australia’s public services is really white. At last count in 2018, government departments across the country had a higher proportion of chief… Read more
Premium Interviews Miriam Vogel delivered implicit bias training for Obama. Now she guides AI developers: ‘Many more lives are impacted by the bias of that black box’ Wednesday December 4, 2019 By David Donaldson Communications & Technology Miriam Vogel developed and led implicit bias training for federal law enforcement while at the United States Department of Justice. Tackling defensiveness is an important… Read more
Premium Interviews Bringing Islamic State survivors to the UN: Obama’s ambassador Samantha Power on breaking out of bureaucratic isolation Thursday November 28, 2019 By David Donaldson Features Obama's ambassador to the UN on how she avoided bureaucratic isolation while tackling ISIS, why presidents prefer golf, and finding 'one's slice of change that… Read more
Premium Expert briefings Magic concepts in policymaking — beware the appeal of ‘fix all’ ideas, and spend time on the details Thursday November 28, 2019 By David Donaldson Features Falling back on 'innovation' or restructuring as a solution to deep problems can obscure the work needed to fix the problem. Here's how to know… Read more
Premium Case studies Project leaders need to deal with a little messiness. What to expect when designing (or redesigning) a digital service Tuesday November 26, 2019 By David Donaldson Communications & Technology When designing a new service, there can be a lot of pressure to nail down a project plan and get on with it. But spending… Read more
Premium Interviews ‘Technology is the easy part’: innovation needs workplace cultures where smart people can ask dumb questions, says Sam Hannah-Rankin Thursday November 21, 2019 By David Donaldson Features Even if you've completed your course in agile and lined up the authorising environment in favour of change, workplace habits and the relentless daily pressure… Read more
Premium Interviews Understand the context and motivations behind the minister’s request, recommends Gillard CoS Ben Hubbard — and don’t be an ‘adviser denier’ Friday November 15, 2019 By David Donaldson Features Ben Hubbard twice worked as chief of staff to Julia Gillard — in separate stints as deputy prime minister and PM. He was CEO of… Read more
Premium Expert briefings The ‘dominant, powerful, charismatic individual who breaks the rules’: corrupt senior executives — why do they do it? Wednesday November 13, 2019 By David Donaldson Features Corrupt senior officials tend to have particular personality traits — and it's about more than greed. The experts reveal the behavioural red flags to look… Read more
Premium Case studies Innovating for customers: putting senior staff in front of citizens brings unexpected discoveries and undercuts silos Thursday November 7, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Singapore’s Innovation Lab is helping public servants work more closely with stakeholders and prototype new services, explains Alexander Lau. It's led to some surprising findings… Read more
Premium Case studies From mountains of paper to fully online case management: what the Victorian Supreme Court’s digital transformation taught Justice James Elliott about leading IT projects Wednesday November 6, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Victoria's Supreme Court has spent several years bringing its outdated tech systems up to date. Justice James Elliott explains how the court improved capability and… Read more
Premium Case studies Rebecca Brown reflects on WA’s health system reform: invest time in stakeholders, and call in systems thinkers Friday November 1, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies A few years ago Western Australia overhauled its health system with the aim of improving patient outcomes and saving the state money. One of the… Read more
