One of the bureaucrats on the staff here at the Carnival of the Bureaucrats observed with pride some time ago the head of an important government agency entering his agency’s headquarters. At the headquarters’ entrance are guards who check ID badges after persons swipe through an electronic badge machine. After clearing the electronic badge machine, without hesitation and with due respect for job assignments, the agency head politely showed his badge to the guard. The guard then gave him an approving gesture to enter. This is a clear indication of a well-functioning bureaucracy. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor obsolescence, redundancy, or mighty leaders can deter a bureaucrat from doing her job.
Jeremiah Owyang at his Web Strategy blog celebrates unsung heroes. He mentions “technology vendors, PR firms, agencies, and even VCs.” His failing to mention bureaucrats is a serious oversight.
Pete Graner at RedVoodoo declares:
I received a comment on my blog, referencing the Kernel Team requiring a LP bug prior to committing a patch to the tree. The person commenting called it “Bureaucracy”. … Its not about bureaucracy, its about accountability.
Mr. Graner has made a common mistake. The procedure concerns both bureaucracy and accountability. Both are useful and worthwhile.
Alex Papadimoulis at The Daily WTF celebrates serious fricking bureaucracy. This is extremely impressive. Our favorite part: “There was a reason that the support rep’s voice sounded so familiar: she was Jessica, and 774-6216 was Jessica’s number.” You have to read it to understand.
Chris, at the inspiring blog “Bureaucracy Now!” offers an uplifting quote for the day:
“Regardless of what happens — if a kid dances on your sand mandala — it’s okay. If everybody in the world had that kind of stability of mind we’d be better off.”
All bureaucrats aspire to stability. It starts with the right mindset.
Azelma Petit at Biz.Edu offers 30 Creative Ways to Fire Someone Who’s Not Pulling Their Weight. Creativity and firing have little relevance for bureaucracy. Consider this:
14. Fired Fruit Basket – People usually send fruit baskets for appreciation. Why not change the entire meaning of a fruit basket by sending a fruit basket with a “You’re Fired” card? Even though the employee will still be upset, at least they get some fruit out of it.
If we had a sense of humor, we would rate that as 7.2 out of 10 on the standard humor measurement scale. But bureaucrats don’t have a sense of humor.
Texas Politics offers a detailed, factual discussion of Texas goverment bureacracy. This is the kind of document that should replace silly, vacuous mission statements in leading bureaucratic organizations.
Village Connections has honored supporters of New Zealand’s Education Amendment Bill with a Shovel Award. This distinguished award is for “digging community into a bureaucratic hole.” The award citation observers:
The reason for the Shovel is that this Bill will add another layer of bureaucracy and more bureaucrats to the community. … it is a move away from an environment where children and adults alike develop skills in communicating with one another about whom to trust and in what ways, to one where people are forced to be dependent on bureaucracy.
Community outreach and social responsibility departments at bureaucratic organizations around the world should aspire to receiving such an award.
That’s all for this month’s Carnival of Bureaucrats. Submit your blog article to the next edition using our carnival submission form. Submissions should conform to the Carnival’s regulations. Past editions of the Carnival of Bureaucrats can be found on the Carnival’s category page.