A celebration of bureaucrats and bureaucracy. Whether in government, business, or non-profits, meetings, reports, meetings, conferences, reports, and meetings constitute daily life in a large organization.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Carnival of the Bureaucrats! The best entry in this edition has been unanimously judged to be Foreign Policy’s photo essay, The State at Work. An appropriately selective quotation from its first page: Civil servants are asked to do the people’s work with very little, sometimes with nothing at … Continue reading Carnival of the Bureaucrats #1
Faceless bureaucrats — show your faces! I am now welcoming submissions to the new (ugh) Carnival of the Bureaucrats. Rules: Submissions must come from bloggers with a day job in a bureaucracy. Except as provided in rules 3 to 5, and subject to the waiver procedure established under rule 7, to be eligible under rule … Continue reading inaugurating the Carnival of the Bureaucrats
To celebrate Public Service Recognition Week (should’ve been a month), I watched Ikiru. In this film, Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat, notes three rules for bureaucratic success: Always be on time. Never take any vacation. Do no work. He also poignantly sings Life is brief Fall in love, maidens Before the crimson bloom Fades from … Continue reading Public Service Recognition Week