What does the term “program alignment” mean when applied to open data programs?
Guest Blog By Dr. Dennis McDonald, BaleFire Global. “Program alignment” has long been a meat-and-potatoes term for consultants involved with strategic planning. The basic idea is that the initiatives you plan and carry out to support your organization's goals and objective need to be “aligned” (i.e., supportive of or in line with) your organization’s goals and objectives. What does "alignment" mean in practice? How do you measure whether or not your activities are aligned with your goals and objectives? And what does this mean when the concept is applied to open data programs? Here are some of the things to look for including a caveat about applying this term too loosely to open data programs. The basic conditions for determining whether any initiative (for example, a program, a project, a purchase, a reorganization, a new product, a new hiring initiative, etc.) is aligned with your organization’s goals and objectives are the following: 1. You know what your organizatio