QUESTION
How does the Mayor's Office of Operations flag and escalate critical issues?
0:25:38
·
3 min
The Mayor's Office of Operations relies on data instruments and liaison relationships to escalate critical issues to deputy mayors, prioritizing interagency work and direct intervention when necessary.
- The office collects information crucial for deputy mayors to make informed decisions, though it doesn't aim to solve every problem itself.
- It uses automated tools to flag issues, complemented by the critical judgement of its staff.
- The current mayor prefers color-coded dashboards, which promotes a culture of performance management and accountability.
- The importance of maintaining relationships with agencies is emphasized, as it often leads to the acquisition of higher quality information than what leadership might have.
- There's an acknowledgment that sometimes smaller data variations can carry significant implications, underscoring the office's nuanced approach to data analysis.
Lincoln Restler
0:25:38
And I was pleased to hear you say that your performance management team is regularly engaging deputy mayor offices and sharing feedback and input with them.
0:25:48
Could you just kind of walk us through when all see a critical indicator moving in the wrong direction, whether that be in the PMR or the DMR.
0:25:56
Like, what's the process for flagging issues for city hall?
0:26:00
And agencies.
0:26:02
Do you keep track of what action ops has taken when an indicator is moving in the wrong direction?
0:26:08
And the a corollary risk policy response.
Dan Steinberg
0:26:15
So the relationship between the the our the liaisons is the the kind of the crux of of the value that we add.
0:26:22
Because that's where we collect information that the deputy mayors need to know in order to make decisions.
0:26:32
We're not necessarily aspiring to come up with a solution to every single problem, obviously, and and implement it ourselves.
0:26:38
We we see our sort of role as being the distillation function to really escalate the right issues and give them the information they need to make sound decisions.
0:26:47
Obviously, our project management team does directly tackle a lot of issues, and and we can talk about the work they're doing.
0:26:53
But occasionally, a flag, you know, can become a project.
0:26:58
I always like the joke that every flag is a project.
0:27:01
It's not necessarily true, but but, you know, we are always on the lookout.
0:27:05
For for opportunities to intervene directly.
0:27:08
We tend to add the most value on its interagency work, and and and sometimes an issue that we escalate really is more appropriate for the deputy mayor to understand and manage directly with their agency, and it's ultimately their prerogative.
0:27:24
So I guess the answer is it depends, but but we are very rigorous in terms of how we, you know, we we've built essentially data instruments that that flag is used for us in an automated way, but that's no supplement for the critical faculties.
0:27:42
That we have.
0:27:42
And so
Lincoln Restler
0:27:43
do you still use the kind of red, yellow, green,
Dan Steinberg
0:27:45
all of this?
0:27:46
The mayor this mayor in particular loves color coded dashboards.
0:27:50
And and to be honest, just the fact that he looks the data means that other people do in the sense that it creates a sort of environment of of you could almost call it paranoia and that I don't think any manager wants to be responsible for data that the mayor is seeing and they haven't.
Lincoln Restler
0:28:07
Right.
Dan Steinberg
0:28:07
So it's very helpful in terms of, like, the the culture of performance management.
0:28:13
But I I just wanted to add that you know, sometimes the the data just doesn't speak for itself.
0:28:18
Right?
0:28:18
So we have thresholds.
0:28:19
Something could go up or down 10%, and that'll pop that'll percolate in the systems that we have.
0:28:23
But sometimes an indicator that slips 5% is has more significant ramifications for the public.
0:28:30
Sometimes something that just slips a little bit has very severe implications.
0:28:33
Or is happening because of the very severe root problem.
0:28:37
So that's where our staff and their sort of knowledge come into play and the relationships that they have And frankly, sometimes they get better, higher quality information directly from the agencies than leadership might.
0:28:49
And so we add a lot of value through maintaining those relationships.
Lincoln Restler
0:28:58
That is very helpful.