IT article: "State spending has soared by 1/3rd since 2016 with little discernible benefit"

[AlbacoreA]

Wrong order, this is part of the reason why the issues persists.

We'll maybe the 50 days of committee deciding on it, and adding in layers of excessively complicated administrative procedure.

 

[BlackandBlue]

We'll maybe the 50 days of committee deciding on it, and adding in layers of excessively complicated administrative procedure

The committee element is part of the democratic process.

Big downside with living in a democracy is that every Muppet and it's mother has a say.

Mission creep is normal.

Suppose the relevant minister decided it would be desirable that we construct a new pets hospital.
That strangely is the easy part.

The fun starts when the interested parties get invited to make submissions.
When everyone is heard and accommodated the new pets hospital will have a surgical unit for woolly mammoths just incase Jurassic world turns out to be true.

 

[AlbacoreA]

No idea what mammoths have to do with it.

Look at the Arts council project. That's what this leads to. I wonder how many meetings they had on that one.

 

[BlackandBlue]

No idea what mammoths have to do with it.

Its an analogy, when people start adding "nice to have" (depending on point of view) items to a simple project.

Look at the Arts council project. That's what this leads to. I wonder how many meetings they had on that one.

Case in point
Good initial concept/idea.
Plan to make it all singing and dancing.........

 

[Purple]

Wrong order, this is part of the reason why the issues persists.

Correct order is standardize, streamline then automate if possible.

Not in my experience. I find it better to remove unnecessary processes and tasks before the rest is standardised. Then the processes which can be automated are identified but it's more of a gant chart than a linear process.

Biggest problem is bespoke systems.
Hideously expensive in the long run but loved by tech companies as they have you for ever with tech support and upgrades.

Absolutely; buy an off the shelf package, for HR, Wages, etc, and then adjust your practices and processes to work within that package. That's what organisations which are open to real competition do.

 

[joe sod]

Look at all the council buildings, mostly all architect designed the "Aras an chontae" buildings in county towns mostly built in last 20 years since celtic tiger, all stainless steel and glass with canteens probably serving loads of different cuisines. However alot of the staff not even there every day but working from home. From what I can gather slot of government buildings and offices are basically empty now on Fridays

 

[Purple]

Brendan Howlin is always entertaining even though he can be a bit left of centre for my taste.

Poor Brendan, I thought he was retired and minding his own business!

The obvious thing that you never hear lefties say is that people just need to stop getting sick.

It would be nice if the healthcare sector did actually concentrate more on healthcare instead of sick care; prevention rather than cure.

That said, good post. Health outcomes are getting better but I do think that the prevention side, reduced alcohol consumption, exercise, diet etc is a big part of that, as is the closure of small hospitals around the country and the establishment of centres of excellence.

 

[BIG-notorious]

..

 

[T McGibney]

With obvious massive overcapacity due to blended working that rent bill should be trending towards zero over the next 5-10 years

The ones I hear of are all on 35-year leases.

Cui bono?

 

[Purple]

It varies by Department and office in fairness but the one I'm working in accommodates people from 3 different departments and is rarely at even 50% capacity.

Wow.

The Civil Service alone spends well over €100 million on office rental every year (owned offices is about the same capacity). The rest of the public sector is probably st least as much. With obvious massive overcapacity due to blended working that rent bill should be trending towards zero over the next 5-10 years. But I'm not optimistic- too many political interests in artificially supporting the so-called private sector throughthese support payments disguised as rents to actually do this. Never mind the giant waste of cash and potential to free office space for conversion to desoerately needed housing . ..

That's shocking.
I hope there are break clauses in the leases but yes, political clientism is alive and well in this country. It would be great to see journalists highlight this rather than puff pieces about frivolous nonsense.

 

[T McGibney]

The house always wins.

And people say they want more and bigger government.

It baffles me.

 

[joe sod]

The rest of the public sector is probably st least as much. With obvious massive overcapacity due to blended working that rent bill should be trending towards zero over the next 5-10 years.

But if they were to get serious about reducing office space due to only 50% capacity then that means shared desks, there probably be a hissy fit about that , hygiene OTT and the rest , they probably want a deep clean after every work day, of course provided by a private sector contractor working unsociable hours to fulfill ?

 

[BlackandBlue]

I find it better to remove unnecessary processes and tasks before the rest is standardized

I would have to disagree here.

In a large organisation you will have "team norms".
This can be a problem for many reasons.

There is a concept called "work as imagined vs work as done."

Most managers are in the first category while many workers are in the latter.

You cannot fix/improve things if both parties have a totally different view point as to what is actually been done and how to actually do it in practice.

Often "imposed solutions" (top down) fail simply because the relevant authority (Government/Manager/Supervisor) hadn't a clue and was following the MBA playbook.

And people say they want more and bigger government.

Slight correction needed.
People want more and more services provided, while expecting the magic money tree to cover the cost.

Its the squaring of this circle that causes problems.

Unrealistic expectations when resources are finite.
Over promising by politicians who are trying to satisfy all "their" electorate while not pissing off too much the rest.

 

[T McGibney]

Slight correction needed.
People want more and more services provided

That reinforces what I said:

And people say they want more and bigger government.

The reality is that government is abysmally bad at delivering services.

 

[Purple]

I would have to disagree here.

In a large organisation you will have "team norms".
This can be a problem for many reasons.

There is a concept called "work as imagined vs work as done."

Most managers are in the first category while many workers are in the latter.

You cannot fix/improve things if both parties have a totally different view point as to what is actually been done and how to actually do it in practice.

Often "imposed solutions" (top down) fail simply because the relevant authority (Government/Manager/Supervisor) hadn't a clue and was following the MBA playbook.

A LEAN programme would never impose a top down solution. It asks simple questions, maps processes (real processes, what the theory states is irrelevant), removed unnecessary and non value added processes, reduces or reallocates headcount and then automates where desirable.

 

[Purple]

Slight correction needed.
People want more and more services provided, while expecting the magic money tree to cover the cost.

I don't. I want the State to do the least possible for me as I can do many things better and cheaper for myself.

 

[BlackandBlue]

I don't. I want the State to do the least possible for me as I can do many things better and cheaper for myself

Roads
An Garda
Hospitals
Schools
Etc
All are services provided by the state.

 

[Purple]

Roads
An Garda
Hospitals
Schools
Etc
All are services provided by the state.

Correct.
What's your point?


I don't want the State to take €200 a month from me in taxes and then give it back to me, less their administration charge, and call it Child Benefit.
I don't want the State to do the same thing for Crèche fees.
I don't want the State to do the same thing for GP fees for my children.
I want the State to tax me in order to provide services to people who can't afford to pay for them themselves. If they are taxing me to provide things that I can pay for myself then it is costing me more because the State is inefficient.

I want the State to provide security, education and infrastructure and otherwise be as small and unobtrusive as possible while still looking after those who cannot look after themselves.

I don't want the State to be my Mammy. I have one of those.

 

[T McGibney]

Roads
An Garda
Hospitals
Schools
Etc
All are services provided by the state.

Correct.
What's your point?

+1

In my experience, all those services work well when government (in the form of politicians and their henchmen) get out of the way and let the service providers do what they're paid to do, but more often than not, they pile in and damage every thing they touch.