There are two primary reasons why operational issues are often overlooked: Our government is run by short-term political leadership that often has little incentive to focus on long-term issues, and our government operates in an environment without any real-time metrics for performance or organizational health. The transition from one presidential administration to the next offers an important opportunity to change this paradigm and push to improve government operations.

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. Every single policy of the next administration will be influenced by the people charged with executing it. Simply put, good government starts with good people.