Bright Colors
It seems an entirely reasonable proposition to change the Homeland Security Department's color coding system for threat alerts. It's always struck me as proof of ineffectiveness that the colors have always had to be translated into words to communicate the actual level of the threat. Yellow or orange doesn't actually mean anything to us. It doesn't stop people getting on planes, because we don't know what the threat is, or where it's concentrated. It's not a useful tool.
And I tend to think that color-coding in general isn't particularly helpful. It's possible to get obsessively fine-grained, but a three-color system, as in agency performance ratings, doesn't actually communicate meaningful difference in performance ratings either. I think the same is true with the Homeland Security ratings, which are so useless they've become background noise.
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Government Executive Staff Correspondent Alyssa Rosenberg takes a look at news affecting the management and operations of the massive federal bureaucracy.
Nothing "communicates meaningful differences in performance." If you write a paragraph (or more), it isn't read or will be raise more questions. A single word or phrase will be as vague as a color coding system. We might as well use smiley/frowning faces. What is important is to use something simple for the general public to grasp in passing, with detailed, specific critiques for the responsible officials, and a high level of transparency for other interested parties to scrutinize. --Which is pretty much the current system.
Ted Bean Posted Thursday, July 16, 2009 10:19 AM