Infrastructure Spending Stimulus: Good in Economic Theory – A Fail in Political Economy Practice?
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. – HL Mencken ‘Canada’s national newspaper’ the Globe and Mail on January 16th 2016 (Folio infrastructure A8) quoted a ‘simple’ Finance Canada table showing that for every dollar spent on infrastructure there is an increases in economic growth by 1.5 dollars. […]
2015 in Review – Turmoil in the World – Transition for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation?
2015 was one of some turmoil in world terms. It was also the international year of evaluation. For many of us in evaluation and performance monitoring practice in Canada however, there were actually some encouraging signs which have emerged this year. Here are five inter-related phenomena which bode well for performance planning, monitoring, evaluation and […]
Results Chain Approach Validated by Scottish Paper on Research Uptake and Impact
The results chain approach and content found in most of the articles published on the PMN web site – dating back decades (see https://www.pmn.net/wp-content/uploads/PMN-Results.pdf for a retrospective results chain illustration of the acceptance of reach and results chains – as contributed to by PMN work) continue to gain acceptance. Sarah Morton of the University of […]
Article on the Brussels Seminar
http://www.itad.com/reflections-on-a-seminar-on-intervention-logic-and-contribution-analysis-at-the-ec/
Steve Montague Wins Contribution to Evaluation in Canada Award
At the 2015 Canadian Evaluation Society National Conference in Montreal the Contribution to Evaluation in Canada award was presented to PMN partner Steve Montague. This award puts Steve into an elite group of Canadian evaluators who have been recognized through the Contribution to Evaluation Award and have been made a Fellow of the Society. This latest […]
2014 Year End Message: The critical link between ‘what we want’ and ‘how we get there’
The critical link between ‘what we want’ and ‘how we get there’ S. Montague, December 2014 There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip (Old English proverb) A key theme emerging from our practice and workshops this year – in Canada, Europe and Australia – has been the need to understand the critical […]
How Not to Deal With Airline Overbooking: Why Equal isn’t Always Fair and Choice Mechanisms Work Better Than Command and Control
by Steve Montague My wife and I recently celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a trip to Europe. Everything went well until the last day when we went to Schiphol Airport to check in at KLM – Air France. We were shown as ‘standbys’ on our tickets. This was news to us. We had booked […]
How do we transform evaluation to be more strategically relevant and timely? Adopt a cumulative learning approach.
Recent evaluation leadership meetings in federal circles have suggested that the function needs to become more timely while also becoming more strategically useful to decision-makers. In my evaluation practice and teaching I have come to the conclusion that a greater emphasis on cumulative learning vis avis program archetypes is a good part of the answer […]
2013-14 Key Events
European Union (September 17-18, 2013) The Canadian Experience Master class with Steve Montague. Steve presented a Master class to the Group of Resource Directors (GDR) of the European Commission Secretariat General on lessons from the implementation of results-based management (RBM) by the Canadian Federal Government. The overall purpose was to inform and inspire the Secretariat […]
A systems approach in complex regulatory environments
The reduction or mitigation of risks or harms is a major priority of the Government of Canada in matters related to Canadians’ health, safety, security and environmental protection and even economic ‘harms’ such as fraud. While the goals are simple, the situations are usually complex, featuring multiple actors, dynamic environments and highly variable circumstances. For […]