Rating: 
Summary: What reinvention is REALLY like
Review: "The Reinventor's Fieldbook" is a great resource for anyone trying to reinvent/reform/transform/reengineer a government organization. It tells human stories that illustrate how your counterparts have tried, stumbled, and succeeded, at least partially.It makes vivid the issues of serving customers, winning compliance, and changing culture. I felt like I had lived through Osborne's and Plastrik's stories.
Rating:
Summary: CONCISE AND PRACTICAL
Review: As a government administrator, THE REINVENTOR'S FIELDBOOK, provides me with concise, practical and useful ideas, concepts and lessons for improving service, burning the red tape and serving our citizens better. Packed with real world examples, Osborne and Plastrik have written a book that is useful for both quick reference and studied review. The description of what works, and, more importantly, what doesn't work, helps the reader navigate the minefield of politics, personality and bureaucracy. Colleague's successes and failures are explained in a way that is immediately understandable and applicable to the real world of government today. THE REINVENTOR'S FIELDBOOK is a map for change and improvement and a guide for prospering in an era of administrative and service revolution!
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Summary: Therapy
Review: For most people government means bureaucracy. Not anymore. The Reinventor's Fieldbook lays out a new organization that will grab your imagination and focus it on performance. The book describes "how to" build a high performance government organization. It is filled with tools, stories, and references from all over the world. The hard research has been done for you. Frankly I didn't think you could compile this much information and make it manageable. But the extraordinary research provided in the Reinventor's Fieldbook is presented in an easy to use format. Tools and methods are tied to issues of governing. The Reinventor's Fieldbook is one of a kind. It is the "how to" guide for delivering high performance government service.
Rating:
Summary: One Of A Kind
Review: For most people government means bureaucracy. Not anymore. The Reinventor's Fieldbook lays out a new organization that will grab your imagination and focus it on performance. The book describes "how to" build a high performance government organization. It is filled with tools, stories, and references from all over the world. The hard research has been done for you. Frankly I didn't think you could compile this much information and make it manageable. But the extraordinary research provided in the Reinventor's Fieldbook is presented in an easy to use format. Tools and methods are tied to issues of governing. The Reinventor's Fieldbook is one of a kind. It is the "how to" guide for delivering high performance government service.
Rating:
Summary: Making good ideas practical
Review: From Reiventing Government to Banishing Bureaucracy and now The Reinevntor's Fieldbook, Osborne has been making good ideas for improving the performance of public organizations ever more practical. The Fieldbook does a great job of pulling it all together. With the Fieldbook in hand a reinventor can feel confident that he or she will have a wealth of specific ideas to use in pursuing improved performance. Furthermore, since government reinvention does not follow a predictable path, Osborne has created a ready reference for use by reinventors as they confront the unexpected. This book makes big and important ideas useable for all of us.
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Summary: Useful hands-on information on the many tools available
Review: Government has no choice but to look for ways to work better. The push for reform of public administration is real, and fortunately there are numerous success stories from some reinvention pioneers that can help light the path toward improvement for the rest of us. The text profiles a fairly comprehensive package of the tools. Most reforms or best practices approaches should not seek to duplicate others' successes but rather should be viewed as guidance by illustrating successful principles for adapation. This volume provides excellent profiles of successes and useful information that should be invaluable to those seeking such guidance. This volume will be one of many resources my county is using to develop its performance initiative to ensure we are operating in a manner consistent with the public's expectations for our use of their dollars.
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Summary: It Works! It Works!
Review: I was one of the tens of thousands of public servants inspired by David Osborne and Ted Gabler's 1992 "Reinventing Government" book. I set out back then to apply and build on their original 10 principles of reinvention. The going was tough and I stubbed my toes occasionally, but I learned some amazing things about how these principles did work and how they inspire phenomenal changes when put to use. The great thing about Osborne and Pete Plastrik's new book, "The Reinventor's Fieldbook," is that it provides what the 1992 book was missing -- practical experiences in making reinvention real. It's a great reference for all beginning and experienced reinventors and helps avoid the pitfalls that practitioners want to avoid if they can. Most practitioners want to be on the "leading edge," not the "bleeding edge." This fieldbook puts in one place what works, what to watch out for, and inspiration to try new things. In my experience, I've had hundreds of visitors who want to reinvent their governments ask, "how did you do what you did?" Now, I can not only tell them my experience, but point them to "The Reinventor's Fieldbook" knowing that with it in their hands, they've got the best grounding you can get in practical know-how for reinventing in the public sector.
Rating:
Summary: Be forewarned!
Review: I'm not objective because David Osborne is one of my business partners. Yet, I'm confident almost anyone who is serious about making government work better will find this reference book worth ten times its price. Osborne and Plastrik are giving us an amazing compendium of the knowledge and experience of thousands of reinventors. It is beautifully organized and cross referenced so that you can find everything from helpful little tips to comprehensive strategies. You name the problem, and the Fieldbook will give you multiple approaches to solving the problem. Reinvention is inherently exploratory. Explorers need good maps. The Reinventor's Fieldbook is the best map available.
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Summary: I bought 25 copies
Review: My organization has analyed itself using the 5 C's framework from the predecessor work from Plastrik and Osborne ("Bannishing Bureaucracy"). We have found the framework not only useful in describing the dimensions of reinvention, but also useful to us in the formation of teams to implement reinvention strategies. The added benefit of "The Reinventor's Fieldbook" is in its encyclopedic value in terms of working examples and case studies from all level of governments-nationally and internationally. I can think of no better testimonial for this book than to admit that I ordered 25 copies of it for all of the senior managers in the organization.
Rating:
Summary: Therapy
Review: The only thing this book is missing is a guide to the therapy you'll need when you fail to succeed. Many of the successes have turned to failure--you can succeed for a year or two, then you're out of businesses. These folks are charlatans of the worst kind. They encourage you to take great risks, come around to get your story, but are no where to be found when the governor or mayor or vice president leave office.
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