Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough: How to Produce Measurable Improvements for Customers and Communities

by Mark Friedman

This is the 10th Anniversary Edition of Mark Friedman's acclaimed book about Results-Based Accountability (RBA) also known in parts of the UK as Outcomes-Based Accountability (OBA). Over 75,000 copies sold and in use around the world. This is a "how to" book for government and nonprofit agencies working at the city, county, state, and national levels to improve community quality of life and the performance of program services. RBA is a common sense approach that replaces all the overly-complex and jargon-laden methods foisted on us in the past. The methods can be learned and applied quickly. And all the materials are free for use by government and non-profit organizations. In addition to providing practical methods, the book also makes a contribution to social theory by explaining the contribution relationship between program performance and community quality of life. As such it is a valuable tool for both program administrators and evaluators. The RBA framework has been used in all 50 U.S. states and numerous countries around the world. Additional information about RBA can be found on the FPSI website resultsaccountability.com and in the book Turning Curves, An Accountability Companion Reader . (For those who already have the 2005 or 2009 edition of Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough , please note that there is no change in the message and structure of RBA, and the 2005, 2009 and 2015 editions can be used concurrently.)

"BOOK CLUB" or UNIVERSITY CLASS nine session

Session 1: Prologue, Introduction and Chapter 1 (16 pages ):
Session 2: Chapter 2: The Building Blocks of (22 pages):
Session 3: Chapter 3: Population (26 pages):
Session 4: Run the Population Turn the Curve Exercise in TH Appendix E
Session 5: Chapter 4: Performance (32 pages)
Session 6: Run the Performance Turn the Curve Exercise in TH Appendix E
Session 7: Chapter 5: Putting Population and Performance (7 pages)
Session 8: Chapter 6: Management Budgeting and Strategic Planning as a Single (21 pages)
Session 9. Chapter 7: Implementation Issues and Challenges, Closing and (26 pages)

In each session the agenda should be simple.
“What did you learn?”
“How could we use this?”
The same method can be used for the essays in the Companion Reader.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

202 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2015

About the author

After teaching high school math for one year, Mark Friedman served for 19 years in the Maryland Department of Human Resources, including six years as the department's Chief Financial Officer. In 1991 he joined the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, D.C. where his work focused on helping state and local governments finance innovative child and family services. In 1996, he founded the Fiscal Policy Studies Institute (FPSI) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since 1996, he has provided training at the federal, state, county, city, school district and community levels.

Friedman's work has involved nearly every kind of government and non-profit organization from social services, health and education to transportation, environment and many more. His widely acclaimed methods have been used in over 40 states and seven countries outside the United States.

Reviews

[Katie Chappelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needed to read this book for work. It was really useful to help me understand the concept ahead of a large project with a partner who was using outcomes based methodology. However, this really could’ve been an article or TedTalk. It really didn’t warrant a whole book!

[Amber]

1 Copy

[Shane Orr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've now read this again almost 6 years later. Sometimes you get more from a book depending on where you're at when you read it. This time around, it was addressing some of the very challenges that I've been grappling with. For decades, United Ways have been in the world of outcomes and logic models. This gives a different common sense framework to address community issues. This resonated much better with me, not only than before, but also much better than other frameworks that I've read. While there is definitely a "product" that organizations could invest in to help with this work, Friedman has done a great job of providing all of the specific guidelines so that anyone could start using this right away for free. The only negative that I found is that many of the articles and links for more resources are no longer active.

[Jamie Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another book on outcomes! But this one does take a bit more practical and much easier logical approach. My only apprehension is that these things seem to shift and change every 5 or 10 years. It constantly seems as if we are reinventing the wheel. Job security I'm sure for someone. But I hope this one doesn't change. I think we have a keeper here.

[Ben Echevarria]

Good evaluation book. I wish there was more to it