An observation after 30 years of gov't and gov't contracting work which I have just escaped from.
We are taught from an early age to give our best effort. In its way, it is an ongoing life lesson in the how and the why of doing the best we can at all times in all things. The problem is, there are times when we are not allowed to do our best at our chosen profession because it is not permitted by our boss(es) or the larger powers that be. It is not that we are told not to do our best, but, all too often, we are encouraged to do our best for no reason. We create or produce only to have our best effort not rejected outright, but shelved, or stored. Very often, it is altered so much that it no longer resembles what we originally created before it is stored. Only in the most extreme cases it is rejected but only after many, many lengthy, time consuming attempts at our "best effort" to "fix it" or "rectify the situation".
Many times, we exercise our creativity in wasted effort simply to keep us busy and occupied. This is especially true in the defense industry were the loss of talent through a lack of contract work would, in someone’s mind, negatively affect our national security. Therefore, large, multi-million and multi-billion dollar government contracts are given to corporations in order to give people busy work. More about that later.
There are times we cannot do our best because it is self-defeating. There are times we cannot do our best because it is not, from a business or corporate view, either financially feasible, or financially desirable. These last two are nearly identical. Both reactions are perceptual, though from differing angles. It would be entirely self-defeating and financially undesirable to finish a project ahead of time. Your competitors and even some of your customers will think you cannot do an accurate scope of work or job estimate if you finish ahead of time. In fact, it would be better if you could stumble on, or in most cases, make up, a reason to actually extend the finish date and therefore the life of the contract in order to get more taxpayer dollars and enhance your profits. If you could do this, you will have impressed your customer with your thoroughness, attention to detail, and willingness to go that extra mile to "get it right". This will also impress your corporate boss(es) who will definitely appreciate your thorough attention to their bottom line. Government contract overruns have become the norm, and if you don’t have one, you are definitely doing your best, and that can’t be allowed.
If your best is not financially feasible, it is highly probable that whatever it is your are recommending won’t make your corporate boss(es) enough money. This is definitely self-defeating. If your design is too good, or your concept is too superior then the customer (in this case the U.S. government) won’t come back to you before the first deliverable and ask for a new and improved version of whatever it is you haven’t yet completed for them. This is especially true of IT systems for the government. If it is not obsolete before you deliver it, then you have done your best and that will not be tolerated. The idea is, to keep them coming back for more, even before they get anything. This is a sure guarantee of extending your corporate revenue stream nearly indefinitely. This is also a sure guarantee of your promotion.
While the lucky many learn very early in their careers that doing your best is a fools game, the ridiculous few who continue to struggle towards excellence, wind up with an internal disconnect. This occurs when what we have been taught as kids comes into conflict with what we see and experience in the real world. When we are growing up, our parents, our teachers and even our peers, constantly exhort us to do our best. As children we are taught that this country was founded on the premise of rugged individualism, self sufficiency and the pursuit of personal excellence. Yet, in the corporate world, and especially in government service, when an attempt is made to excel then we are scolded for not being a team player. If fitting in and being accepted was important in middle school, it is even more imperative in the corporate and government world. We are not supposed to race to the top, but shuffle to somewhere safely in the middle. If the teams’ objective is conspicuous mediocrity, then we need to go along with the team and take pride in the fact that we didn’t do anything that was out of line with expectations, or just as importantly, procedure.
For many sections of the government, procedure is the ruling god of all things. How a particular something is accomplished or not is vastly more important than what is actually done. The "how" is governed by a strict set of rules. "Did we follow procedure?", becomes THE question that must be answered in the affirmative every time or else internal corporate and customer condemnation follows. These rules give form and bureaucratic legitimacy to our billion dollar busy work, while giving minimal lip service to genuine function. In fact, function actually becomes less important the longer a project goes on. The actual deliverable becomes lost in a mountain of forest killing change orders, modifications, add-ons, shifting "customer requirements", design reviews and critical design reviews. But the "how" remains the great cosmic constant, and the rules defining "how" a change order is done, or "how" new customer requirements are "folded" into the design, or "how" a modification or "mod" for short, is documented becomes the driving force behind program management, and ultimately staffing. Staffing then translates into billable labor hours, which in turn adds to the corporate profit margin. The company will need to hire more and more people who are familiar with "planning and procedure", or "Mil-Standards" or most desirous of all, someone who is adept at the arcana of "DoD Acquisition Management". Of course most rational people would question the management abilities of someone skilled in DoD Acquisition Management if their DoD acquisitions keep running over budget. But as we all know those rational enough to ask the question are deemed malcontents and whistleblowers and their careers are surely doomed because they certainly are not on the team.
For many in government or corporate service the light of ingenuity in a person’s eye or the spark of creativity in a smile has long been replaced with the dull plodding acceptance of the "way things are done". Not rocking the boat and adherence to procedure has replaced innovation and imagination. The first time an imaginative person suppresses a good idea in favor of compliance with the system marks the moment of surrender of that individual to the collective. Bureaucracy rewards conformity, not ingenuity. Those who learn how to play the bureaucratic game will see their careers and paychecks advance, while the ones who want to make a difference will not.
Why do you think so many government or corporate workers are so cranky? They couldn’t all be having a bad day all at the same time. These are well meaning people who are constantly imbibing forty hours of frustration. Week after week, month after month, year in and year out. If they could, many would quit. But once past a certain point in age or time in government, leaving becomes impossible. There are kids to put through school and a retirement package to think of. They, like so many others, are stuck where they are. Far too many of us really do wind up as cogs in the larger government or corporate machine. And, as we all know, cogs will eventually get ground down and will have to be replaced.