Blowing open the Civil Service

The Sunday Telegraph today makes mention of a blog revealing the complete mess that is Britain's civil service, linked here. Those wishing to read the blog may find it by clicking here - Civil Serf. It is all painfully obvious looking at the output from this government but here is a sample:

There are lots of meetings in any job, but especially in the land of serfdom. We are addicted to democratic decision making at all levels, reflecting the environment we report to, and in my opinion the paucity and confusion of leadership in the senior civil service.

No single person is empowered to do or say anything. I exist in a bubble of briefings, counter briefings, discussions and consultations - lest we offend anyone.

It's impossible to get a decision without first setting up a governance structure through which to channel the issue. Everything you do has to start with meetings to discuss the frequency and membership of future meetings. Once established the meetings have to diaried, which is a specialist task for Personal Assistants (two PAs for each Director) who have to balance the relative importance of the meetings. Nobbling the PAs is therefore key to your success as a serf.