Personnel Vetting Process: Creating the Stakeholder Persona Profile

Understanding Stakeholders in the Personal Vetting Process

Have you seen our Blog Series on the Personnel Security Process?

Applying Journey Mapping to the Personnel Security Vetting Process

Challenges and Improvements in the Personnel Security Requests Process

Key Players in the End-to-End Security Clearance Process

What Does the Personnel Security Process Entail?

Obsessive Attention to Detail: Not Just for Superbowl Winners

Guest Blog Post: What Did We Learn about Cybersecurity in 2018?

Big Sky Associates Announces Bill Fischer as Director and Majority Owner

So Many Projects, So Little Time: 5 Tips for Choosing Wisely

How to Build a Kickass Operations Plan in 5 Easy Steps (And Why You Need One)

3 Tips for Getting Your Process Map Right

Your Security Program in 2018: Less Vader, More Chewbacca

Relying on The Same Old Security Credentials Doesn’t Work in Today’s Cyber Environment

Oops! Security Breach: What that Means for You

#CyberAware Month: Cyber Security Professionals

Hello October! National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Who’s Your Project Champion?

Deep Dive: Developing An Insider Threat Program

Major Pitfalls That Will Sink Your Personnel Security Program

Fixing the Process in Your Security Challenges

Who's Your Trusted Sidekick? Choosing a Superhero Federal Contracting Partner

The HUBZone Program Today

HUBZone Truths

Spoiler Alert - Here's Why You Need a HUBZone Partner

Fear Factor – Can You Face Your Cyber Security Fears?

Don't Rush the Process: Revisiting Strategic Objectives

Deep Dive into Process Improvement in the IC

5 Steps to Achieving Your Intel Team's Full Performance Potential

Security Investigations: What Can You Do Right Now to Improve?

Creating an Environment of Engaged Employees

Security Investigations: A Vision for the Future

What I Love Lucy has to do with the Security Clearance Process (Hint: Conveyor Belts)

Are Security Clearances Useless?

Success and Sustainability -- How to Ensure Lasting Results with Security Process Improvement

If You’ve Got 99 Problems (Then Prioritizing Is One of Them)

Houston We Have a Problem (But We Don't Know What It Is): How to Visualize Your Process

Wipe the Dirt off Your Data

6 Tips to Combat Cyber Threat

Ready, Set, Go: Project Execution 101

Grab the Low-Hanging Fruit: Selecting the Right Projects at the Right Time

Go With the Flow: A Deployment Strategy Guide for Federal Defense and Intelligence Agencies

Federal Agencies: If You're Not Improving, You're Getting Worse!

8 Common Mistakes that Open the Door to Insider Threat Risk [PART 2]

This One Change Will Take Your Government Contractor Support (and Results) to the Next Level

How We Created a Security Clearance Processing Center of Excellence

8 Steps to a Leaner Personnel Security Clearance Adjudication Process

The Secret to Understanding (and Controlling) the True Cost of a Security Clearance

How Do You Triage Your High Risk / High Value Employees?

Use This New Lean Maturity Model to Assess and Standardize Your Clearance Process

Don't Wait to Adjudicate: How Federal Execs Can Improve Security Clearance Processing Time

Getting to the left of IRTPA: The KPIs that predict IRTPA metrics

Investigations Come in Predictable Waves: Are You Prepared for the Next One?

DSS In Transition. Wants to Move to a Threat-Based Security Model

Why You Need an Agile Security Program - and 5 Steps to Get There

8 Common Mistakes that Open the Door to Insider Threat Risk [PART 1]

The Top 4 Mistakes Security Executives Make (And How to Fix Them)

Why Your New Insider Threat Program Should Create Less Work - Not More

DSS Published an Insider Threat Plan. What Does That Mean For You?

Another Snowden or Just a Hoarder?

Human Resources and Insider Threat

Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Designing an Insider Threat Program* (*But Weren't Sure Who To Ask)

Successful Project Management = Successful Expectation Management

Best Practices for Cross Functional Working Groups

3 Risk Management Tools Security Leaders Can't Afford to Ignore

RACI to the Top: How to Guarantee Your Team Members Know Their Roles

3 Ways Insider Threat Will Wreck Your Business (And How To Stop It)

9 Steps to Get the Most Out of Your Company's Risk Analysis

Value Stream Mapping: A Must-Have Tool for Insider Threat Prevention [5 BEST PRACTICES]

No Stakeholder Left Behind: How To Get Your Team On Board With Change

5 Details Often Overlooked in Pursuit of Perfect SOPs

Improve Your Processes By Writing Them Down: A Quick and Dirty Guide to Standard Operating Procedures [FREE CHECKLIST]

Can You Place a Value on Organizational Security? (Yes, and Here's How To Calculate It)

Negligence and Carelessness: Punk Rock Band, or Conforming Change 2 Requirement?

6 Tips to Position Your Security Team For Lasting Success

Use These Facts to Make the Business Case for Funding An Insider Threat Program

Insider Threat Training: Get it Right, or Pay the Price

The FSO's Secret Weapon for Conforming Change 2 Compliance [FREE SNAPSHOT ASSESSMENT]

What Can We Learn From Office Space About the "Human Side" of Insider Threat?

The One That Got Away: The Wrong Tools Won't Net The Insider Threat

These 4 People Can Make (or Break) Your Insider Threat Program [How To Build a Cross-Functional Working Group]

Compliance Is For Suckers: 5 Questions DSS Won't Ask About Your Insider Threat Program (But You Should)

How Does NISPOM Conforming Change 2 Define Insider Threat?

Is Your Company Ready for NISPOM Conforming Change 2 Compliance (and Beyond)? [UPDATED]

Insider Threats to Financial Institutions: How To Set Up Protection You Can Bank On

We're Giving Away The Secrets To Running a Next-Level Security Program. [FREE GUIDE]

1 Easy Way to Speed Up Your Security Processes - Right Now

Cyber Security: To the Network and Beyond

Cyber Security - It’s Not Just for Breakfast Any More

To Thine New Process Be True: 5 Steps to Make Your Improvements Stick

The One Simple Principle That Can Save You Millions Of $$$

10 Must-Reads for Every Executive

How To Find The Waste In Your Security Processes [Free Downloadable Checklist]

How to Prevent A Bozo Explosion in Your Service Provider Network

The Weakest Link In Your Security Process Is...

3 Bad Options for Automation in Government

Command and Control (For Contingencies) - How to Take Your Project Management to the Next Level

Working Through Culture

The ABCs of Project Failure

This One Change Will Improve All of Your Business Decisions

7 Strategies for the Government Executive

Why Your Data May Be Deadly

7 Ways to Prepare for the Future of Knowledge Work

Why Are You Handing Underpaid and Disgruntled Workers Keys to The Vault?

How to Use Protective Intelligence to Predict and Prevent VIP Threats

Five Insane Predictions about Knowledge Work

Project Selection: How to Pick a Winner Every Time

Are You Using Garbage KPIs?

A Gentleman's Guide To Good (Data) Sets: It's All About Proportion

Understand Your Operations in 10 Minutes with These 5 Simple Steps

(Lucky) 7 Insider Threat Statistics Every Organization Should Know

Key Metrics to Track Your Insider Threat Program's Progress

There are no “soft” professions like design and OD. Here’s Why.

NISPOM Conforming Change 2: Why Extend Requirements To The Private Sector? [UPDATED]

NISPOM Change 2: Start By Focusing on These 4 Requirements [UPDATED]

NISPOM Conforming Change 2: What Is It and How Does It Affect You? [UPDATED]

Chipotle's Ultimate Insider Threat

You Are Wrong About Millennials, and It’s Going to Wreck Your Business

Value Stream Mapping: Find Out How The Sausage is Made So You Can Make it Better, Cheaper, Faster

Microslicing at Hewlett-Packard: Augmenting the Human Consultant

A Simple Approach to Process Improvement That Works Every Time.

If the Password’s Not Dead: Should We Stop Dreaming About Biometrics?

Technology: The Crucial Enabler

5 Decision-Making Metrics Every Leader Must Track

Yoi! This Platform has Crazy Chutzpah.

Why Risk Assessment Should Not Overlook Top Decision Makers

Making Smart Operational Energy Decisions Part 2: A Decisions Support Framework

Making Smart Operational Energy Decisions Part 1: Pitfalls to Avoid

Why Your Understanding of Data is All Wrong

Why Creating a Culture of Security Awareness is Crucial in Tackling Insider Threat

The Future is Now - Don't Get Left Behind

The Accidental Insider, Mitigating Unintentional Data Leaks

Cyber Insider Risk for Corporate Boards: Why Protecting the Company from the Inside is Vital to Corporate Survival

Why Cyber Insider Threat Could Be The Biggest Problem Facing Your Organization

Creating a Culture of Cybersecurity at Work: Why the Hub is Not Enough

Optimizing the Military's Vehicle Fleet Part 2: FMR B-30 Done Right

Optimizing the Military's Vehicle Fleet Part 1: A Visual Overview of the Data

Microslices are Real, and They Are Spectacular

Your Top 3 Insider Threat Risk Mitigation Strategies

Strategic Resource Allocation - There's an App for That!

Why Every CEO Should Be Concerned About Hillary Clinton's EmailServer Problem -- And What They Need to Do About It

Bob Dylan: Professional Services Futurist

How to Optimize Project Selection with a Spreadsheet and Basic Algebra

Defining Three Different Kinds of Insider Threat Issues

Using Averages in Your Business Data Analysis? You May Be Overlooking Risk.

Mitigating the Insider Threat Indicators

We Hacked Our Own Site. Here's What We Learned About Risk Mitigation.

Breaking Down the Insider Threat Identification Problem

Starting an Insider Threat Program with Limited Resources

Why Insider Threat is More an Organizational Process Problem, Than a Technology Problem

OPM Hack. Everyone Is Focused on the Wrong Thing. Here’s Why.

Tips for Stress Testing Your Insider Threat Program

Creating Strong Frameworks for Your Insider Threat Program

3 Process Improvement Techniques Your Organization Can Employ Now

Cloak and Dugout: Two Organizational Lessons From Baseball’s Corporate Espionage Case

Developing An Operations Plan: 5 Key Elements

Have Ye Seen Tim Wood? Improving Your Flawed Security Process

4 Ways Process Optimization Can Minimize Costs

Understanding the Importance of Project Maintenance

3 Internal Security Measures Every Organization Should Consider

Jawbone’s Trade Secrets Sprint Away

Unlocking the Chinese Puzzle: Insider Espionage and Four Ways to Protect Your Organization

Why Operational Efficiency Needs To Be Your Top Priority

How Insider Threats Create Problems for Commercial Organizations

How Insider Threat Assessments Help Agencies Evaluate and Transform Their Programs

The Basics of Project Execution: Ensuring You Deliver Results

Why Project Monitoring is Critical to Success

5 Keys to Organizational Decision-Making

3 Project Realization Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Project Selection: 5 Things Every Organization Should Consider

What is the HUBZone Program, and How Can It Help You Succeed?

How Prime Contractors Benefit From HUBZone Subcontractors

Elite Data Analysis For Security V: Leverage Machine Learning

Elite Data Analysis For Security IV: Statistical Modeling

Elite Data Analysis For Security III: Emphasizing Data Quality

The #1 Myth Federal Executives Believe About Contracting

Elite Data Analysis For Security II: Data Dashboard Pitfalls

Elite Data Analysis For Security, Part I: Data Collection Tactics

It’s Time To Put Your Insider Threat Program To The Test

5 Decision Analysis Ideas For More Agile Agency Security

Two Resource Allocation Secrets For Improved Agency Security

3 Trends Killing The Legacy Consulting Process At Agencies

Why Your Security Analysis Metrics And KPIs Are Wrong

3 Ways To Use Data Analysis Tools – Without Big Data IT

How To Dominate And Defend Your Federal Agency’s Operations

6 Agency Functions That Deserve Process Improvement Projects

Winning Strategies For Disadvantaged Defense Agency Leaders

The Secret To Superior Security Analysis: Micro-Weight Tools

The Art Of Superior Strategy For Security Agency Operations

9 Risk-Free Ways To Enhance And Enrich Your Risk Analysis

Why Organizational Security Requires Continuous Improvement

How To Use Value Stream Mapping To Address Insider Threats

7 Criteria For Hiring A Professional Services Firm

Hypothesis Testing Do’s And Don’ts For Your Federal Agency

Avoid These 3 Mistakes When Outsourcing Process Improvement

MVPs: Decision-Making Tools That Deploy In Days, Not Decades

5 Tips To Get To The Root Of Your Root-Cause Analysis

Why End-To-End Insider Threat Detection Is Your Only Option

Measure What Really Matters: The Secret To Effective KPIs

3 Tactics To Make Your Bank Acquisition Worth Your While

When It Comes To Your Data Analysis, Think Small, Not Big

Profit Or Loss? The Difference Is Customer Lifetime Value

The 5 Most Important Do’s And Don’ts Of Data Dashboards

48% Of Your Bank’s Customers Are Eroding Your Profitability

5 Questions To Ask Before Hiring a Contractor or Consulting Firm

Profitability Analysis: Is Your Bank’s Bottom Line Bleeding?

5 Decision-Making Metrics To Start Using At Your Agency

4 Principles For More Robust Liquidity Risk Management

5 Process Improvement Myths That Need To Be Busted

How To Find And Fix The Problems In Your Banking Operations

Error-Proof Your HSPD-12 Compliance: Best Practices And Lessons Learned

8 Tips For Business Process Improvement In Your Corporate Bank Setting

Syncing Project Management And Process Improvement For Your Agency

3 Essential Components Of Lean Banking Just For The CFO

Do Your Process Improvement Efforts Return Quantifiable Results?

What Do New Lending Regulations Mean For Your Middle-Market Bank?

4 Reasons Why Your High-Level Process Map Isn’t Effective

Why A Value-Added Analysis Is Essential For Lean Banking Operations

3 Advantages Of Process Mapping For More Effective Banking Employees

How To Get Your Agency’s Insider Threat Program Off The Ground

5 Ways A Cost Analysis Ensures The Best Return On Your Investment

Rally The Revenue Side Of Your Efficiency Ratio, Don’t Just Cut Costs

Advanced Process Improvement, Part 5: Process Monitoring And Control

Transforming The Sales Process At Middle-Market Banks

How To Avoid Data Management Overload At Your Bank

Improve Your Bank’s Efficiency Ratio By Focusing On These 4 Areas

How Banks Can Leverage Data Analysis For A Better Customer Experience

Why Your National Defense Agency Needs A Decision-Making Framework

Advanced Process Improvement, Part 4: Effective Project Implementation

Starting Operational Process Improvement At Your National Defense Agency

The Benefits Of A Root-Cause Analysis For Your Federal Defense Agency

Is It Time To Try Value Stream Mapping At Your Bank?

Compliance And Risk Management Basics For Middle-Market Banks

Advanced Process Improvement, Part 3: In-Depth Process Mapping

7 Pitfalls To Avoid In Your Middle-Market Bank Acquisition

The Benefits (And Dangers) Of Bank Mergers And Acquisitions

How To Enhance Your Bank Efficiency Ratio Through Process Improvement

3 Proven Ways To Improve Your Banking Compliance Process

How To Improve Banking Operations To Bolster Your Bottom Line

Advanced Process Improvement, Part 2: Data Analysis Pitfalls To Avoid

Why Lean Banking Is The Only Future For Your Financial Institution

Advanced Process Improvement, Part 1: Data Analysis & Decision Making

How To Use Decision-Making Tools To Empower Employees

The Project Management Process: Are You Actually In Control?

5 Tips To Simplify Your Excel Models For Organizational Data Analysis

Organizational Process Improvement: From Paper To Execution

4 Strategic Planning Steps For Better Overall Decision Making

3.5 Steps For More Valuable Business Process Improvement

Agency Operational Process Improvements: Succeed With The VPR Approach

Process Mapping For Your Government Agency: 3 Tactics To Employ

3 Reasons Why Data Visualization Is Critical To Your Enterprise

4 Principles To Better Manage Your Insider Threat Program

4.5 Process Improvement Steps To Boost Your Effectiveness Today

3 Organizational Data Analysis Practices To Avoid At All Costs

Using Data Analysis To Ensure HSPD-12 Compliance For Your Agency

3 Advantages Of Process Mapping For Employee Effectiveness

The Data Analysis Process: 5 Steps To Better Decision Making

Changes To National Insider Threat Policy: Is Your Agency Prepared?

4 Steps To Better Insider Threat Detection Without A Budget Increase

Insider Threat Prevention: Reducing Inadvertent Threats

Organizational Security Tips: 3 Key Risk Management Controls

5 Practices That Are Crippling Your Portfolio Company Operations

5 Most Important Methods For Statistical Data Analysis

Top 5 Operational Challenges And Opportunities For Community Banks

The Impact A Risk Benefit Analysis Has On Your Growing Business

How Threat And Risk Analysis Impacts Your Business’s Profit

The Navy Yard Shooting: A Silver Lining In Lessons Learned

Are You Using The Right Data Analysis Techniques?

Use Business Process Improvement To Improve Operational Quality

Achieving Operational Improvement Starts With Business Processes

Solve Your Workload Problem With 4 Simulation Steps

Mobility – Are You Connected To Your People?

Mapping Your Mind

The Three Big Objections To Data (And Why They’re Nonsense)

Vivid Thinking

Five Missed Planning And Implementation Opportunities

Top 10 Ways To Make A Bad Decision

Don’t Be Fooled By The Presentation … Execute!

Visualize and Prioritize Your Insider Threat Compliance

3 Reasons Why your “Big Data” problem is really a Small Data problem

The President’s Insider Threat Directive: Are You Compliant?

Millennials Are Regular Employees, Too!

3 Resources For Keeping Your Meetings Fresh

3 Steps for Clearing the Expectation Minefield

9 Ways to Hate Meetings Less

Look Me In The Eye And Say That!

Take Your Brain From Zero To Full In Under Ten Minutes

If You Want to Have Good Sets, Keep Things in Proportion

Two Questions For Companies With People Problems

5 Reasons Why Fixed Pricing is Better for Federal Agencies

The 3 Basic Actions for Solving Any Problem

The Two Keys to Amazing Meetings

Afraid to Air Your Dirty Laundry? Don’t be

A Balanced Scorecard

Three Consulting Tips

Keep Alive

I’m Thankful for Fantastic Visualizations of Data

Pomodoros – Not just for Tomato Sauce

The Many Hats of a Management Consultant

The Great Project Management Pitfall: Failure to Launch

Agile Organizational Knowledge

One on Ones: A critical part of the executive’s toolkit.

Smartbrief Article on Decision Trees

NERC CIP and Electromagnetic Pulses

The Real Monster in Jurassic Park: Insider Threats

The Agony and Ecstasy of Conferences

Incentives are Everything – What is Your Organization Rewarding?

How to Eat an Elephant

The Secret to Flawless Consulting…

The Basics of Feedback

Think Out of the Grid!

Why Managing Doesn’t Have to Suck

Have unintended consequences of NERC-driven critical infrastructure protection implementations been sufficiently explored?

Put an End to Zombie Projects

Summertime…and the Living’s (Still Not) Easy

Organizational Culture

Streamline Decisions with a Performance Measurement Framework

Obstacles to Greatness in Client Engagement

Integrated, Risk-Based Security

Big Data and Strategic Decision Analysis

Leaders, Organizations and Strategy

Conversations as Innovation?

EO Nerve 2012: Mike McQuary Shares Thoughts on Business and Management

Wherever You Are, Be All There

Identity Management: Unique, Usable, and Ubiquitous Usernames

Blog White Papers Case Studies Browse by Category Browse by Month Roles Based Access Control for NERC CIP Management

Active Listening as a Critical Management Success Factor

Underperforming performance frameworks in the federal government

Identity Management: Defining Roles in Higher Education

Decision Trees: Give Predictions a “So What”

Beware the Lure of Frameworks

It’s The Reward System, Stupid!

The Workforce of the Future Expects Freedom

Effective Communication: A Key Leadership Skill

Stand-Up Meetings

Decision Biases

Executives Can Enable Meaningful Work AND Affect the Bottom Line

Execution: Just Do It!!

Quora: Do organizations really need a process for innovation or is it just a matter of hiring good people?

Six Steps to a Better Cybersecurity Model

Gamestorming

Simple is Valuable

Is the US losing its edge in innovation?

HBR on Innovation at P&G

Vision Design Elements

Don’t allow innovation and change to stall

The Power and Responsibility of Influence

Passive Planning to Active Execution

Where’s the Love in Lean Six?

All posts