The end of an error

Retirement looms, and I'm feeling the urge to wrap up some of the things I'd like to get done before I leave:

I've given up on procurement reform. Despite the hopeful post on some welcome words from the Administration, it's apparent that this President isn't any more focused on this important issue than the last several. He and Congress will tussle over every dollar appropriated, but they won't lift a finger to improve the way those dollars are spent. That seems like work. It also might cut some of their pals out of lucrative contracts with too-fat profits. Yeah, I'm bitter. Email objections to management, letters to the Commissioner, Inspector General complaints--nothing worked to make our officials decide that following the Federal Acquisition Regulations was a good idea.

Slowly but surely, systemic process control is embedding itself into the way we do business. Boosted by jargon-spouting contractors and the widespread adoption by the private sector as well as government of the ITIL and CMMI standards and goals, we've set up change control boards and some of the disciplines that make them work. That's what I've been working on most of the last six to eight years, and it's functioning pretty well. That's not to say that the executives don't cut corners, but they're getting out of the habit of giving off the record orders to subordinates to make big changes to our systems and infrastructure. People ask for the work request and change request numbers before they do stuff. It's an improvement, even if there is substantial overhead involved. I'm making incremental improvements in the processes I'm responsible for running, and documenting them to a greater degree. I've also been assigned some new stuff that promises to improve the way we organize and document our core processes.

Management is a lost cause here. They make wacky decisions for reasons having little connection to getting work done. The most recent example is their pulling more than half my team and making a promise (yet to be irrevocably fulfilled) of slotting someone in behind me. I'm trying to do what I and two others were doing a month ago. So far, no disasters, but I'm one busy week away from disappointing a lot of people. Well, I do what I can, and don't worry about what I can't do. For sure, my management has no clue, despite my detailed reports, which they either don't read (my guess) or don't comprehend.

All over the agency, I hear people predicting a drop in the quantity and quality of work that will get done in the next few years. This is driven by the retirement of the last of the CSRSers. It's occurring at the same time as a budget crisis that prevents hiring replacements. That's too bad, because there are some good people in private industry who want to come in from the cold, but we aren't hiring. The slots that do open up (like mine) are being given to longtime employees who are being rewarded for their work, and their slots won't be filled. There's no new blood coming in. The old-timers have that infamous "institutional knowledge" (which is, I think, often overrated), and we often care about the agency and its mission, and of course contractors do not. I was talking to another long time employee yesterday and we both were surprised how well the agency is doing its job, but could see the strains and could identify the small number of key individuals who were keeping things humming. Well, no one is irreplaceable. What we do is too noticeable and too important to be allowed to deteriorate far. I think it will work out, but not without some embarrassment and struggles.