NASA beefs up telework plan

In line with the government mobility strategy, NASA is working on its own framework to complement its current initiative that encourages employees to work remotely, said CIO Linda Cureton.

In a post on the space agency’s CIO blog, Cureton described the Digital Government Strategy's effectiveness at encouraging innovative technology – such as NASA’s educational app that teaches kids about rocket science.

“It gets the information to citizens in a very intimate way,” Cureton wrote.

NASA IT, which falls under the space agency’s Office of the Chief Information officer, is developing a strategy that builds off the existing “Work from Anywhere” program.

The initiative allows NASA employees to use mobile technology to “function more efficiently or effectively,” Cureton said, regardless of device they use or where they are – "in an office, a lab, an airstrip, the space station, or their dining room table," as the policy puts it.

The initiative offers two arrangements – regular and situational. In the first, Work From Anywhere hours take place on a regular basis (every Wednesday, for example). In the latter scenario, Work From Anywhere hours occur on a situational basis, meaning employees may work on a special project or a lengthy report.

“Mobility is all the rage now with an ever-increasing amount of hype,” Cureton said. “At the end of the day, when all the hype settles down, it will simply be about getting information out to those who need it, wherever they are, any time, any amount, securely.”