prone to enthusiasms….
I spent a career as a gummint bureaucrat. I have stories.
Most identities are disguised for all the usual reasons. Some details have been elided or adjusted for similar purposes.
This is a better book than I anticipated. Edwards was obviously fascinated by Google’s founders, and the culture of the company they created. We watch as they repeatedly reorganize the leadership structure–an important concern for a middle manager–and as the author learns how he can contribute to the company. It’s an interesting, nitty-gritty view of the office (and its politics) from a privileged seat. This is well worth your time.
Filed under
Bookworm Alley
Bureaucratic Whimsy
Semi-Geekery
Posted on
March 20th 2012
Stand in line no more.
Filed under Bureaucratic Whimsy Posted on October 19th 2011
After years of missed targets, it’s fair to say we’ve proven that a system which took decades to build cannot be easily replaced. I’m reasonably comfortable with that, but my opinion’s not universally shared. Moreover, recognizing that the problem is difficult is very different from accepting an inadequate solution, which remains a real danger.
Filed under Bureaucratic Whimsy Posted on April 21st 2011
When I began this journal, my main purpose was to document the things I did for a living. I wrote these work-triggered essays so for about a year, then stopped. A few months later, as I moved the site to a new server, I removed most of the work-related pages, leaving only a handful of job-related pages which didn’t directly touch on my job. I always planned to recover and repost the removed pages at some future date, and have now done so. They can be found in the site’s Bureaucratic Whimsy category. A few have minor edits, and I’ve added an occasional explanatory note. Please be aware that all names (except mine) have been changed, though in most cases the identity will be obvious to folks who worked with me.
Filed under
Bureaucratic Whimsy
Dabbler Notebook
Posted on
March 26th 2011
An unavoidable reality of DMV life is that the Legislature rewrites the Drunk Driving laws every two or three years. The Legislative package typically includes well-intended amendments to other driver licensing laws. The Legislators rarely give much thought to the new act’s impacts on the driver’s prior record, nor to their predecessors’ attempts to improve traffic safety. This routinely gives rise to odd interactions which need to be implemented in the workflow–and written into the programming supporting that workflow. A side effect is that Computer Decide has grown quite complex. Mainframe programs supporting other departmental operations have similar issues, and have grown similarly complex.
Filed under
Bureaucratic Whimsy
Semi-Geekery
Posted on
February 5th 2011
This book lacks the wicked black humor of Klinkowitz’ other baseball novel, Basepaths, with which it shares some characters. All the same, the best stories here are both absurd and delightful, while others are passionate, and others simply preserve well-observed moments. Well worth a few hours of your time.
Filed under
Baseball CrankSpace
Bureaucratic Whimsy
Posted on
November 22nd 2010
Many of us were planning to retire in the relatively near future, with or without incentives; inevitably we’d be exchanging experience for youth in the process. On the whole, this is a good thing. But this incentive distorts the hiring pattern, as well as the retirement plans, and the effects will be more obvious than they might otherwise have been.
Filed under
Bureaucratic Whimsy
Mitten State
Over the Hill
Politickin'
Posted on
October 29th 2010
What the book does well is round out LeMay’s biography. Like most Vietnam vets, my memories of the man begin with his time on the Joint Chiefs and end with the 1968 Wallace campaign. There’s much more to this man than that, and the book is worth reading just for that.
Filed under
Bureaucratic Whimsy
Veteran Testimony
Posted on
February 4th 2010
A day full of good-byes….
Filed under
Bureaucratic Whimsy
Over the Hill
Posted on
October 1st 2009
This, as Phil says, should be routine.
Filed under Bureaucratic Whimsy Posted on July 14th 2005
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