In anthropologist David Graeber’s book on Bureaucracy, he says: “Bureaucratic procedures… have an uncanny ability to make even the smartest people act like idiots” To his mind, many people, because of the nature of their job (not because they are bad or not intelligent) end up ticking boxes, which takes away their will to be imaginative, playful and creative. In other words, bad government hurts not only the public, but the people working in it.
This creativity is what we need in our state government and agencies. We need people who think: that’s not working, how could we do that better, more efficiently, to serve the people we’re supposed to serve. In education right now, we’re seeing billions in relief funds either sit and not be used to address student learning loss, or being spent on things like floor scrubbers. When advocates have come forward to talk about immediate ways to provide high dosage tutoring, or ways to train teachers quickly to address reading, there’s always an excuse. The people we’re working with aren’t bad, but the systems isn’t serving them well either. People working for agencies should want more oversight and responsive leadership. No one wants a bullshit job (another Graeber idea) where they feel like what they do doesn’t really matter. But in order to do that, people need to be held accountable.
The legislature can play a role—but not if all they do is form more committees and write reports that only people like me read.
ODOT is another agency with no accountability. I remember years ago when they blew millions on a failed radio system and the project manager lied to the legislature, the $150 million plus debacle of the Newport highway where they hid the original engineer report that said they could not do what they wanted, or the Millions blown on the now abandoned LaPine highway interchange.
Good read. Doubt it will happen. Is this the honesty that results when someone breaks ranks with their party and is punished? I really hope Kotek is not our next guv or I’ll have lost all faith in Oregon’s heart.
Thank you Rep. Wilde.
In anthropologist David Graeber’s book on Bureaucracy, he says: “Bureaucratic procedures… have an uncanny ability to make even the smartest people act like idiots” To his mind, many people, because of the nature of their job (not because they are bad or not intelligent) end up ticking boxes, which takes away their will to be imaginative, playful and creative. In other words, bad government hurts not only the public, but the people working in it.
This creativity is what we need in our state government and agencies. We need people who think: that’s not working, how could we do that better, more efficiently, to serve the people we’re supposed to serve. In education right now, we’re seeing billions in relief funds either sit and not be used to address student learning loss, or being spent on things like floor scrubbers. When advocates have come forward to talk about immediate ways to provide high dosage tutoring, or ways to train teachers quickly to address reading, there’s always an excuse. The people we’re working with aren’t bad, but the systems isn’t serving them well either. People working for agencies should want more oversight and responsive leadership. No one wants a bullshit job (another Graeber idea) where they feel like what they do doesn’t really matter. But in order to do that, people need to be held accountable.
The legislature can play a role—but not if all they do is form more committees and write reports that only people like me read.
ODOT is another agency with no accountability. I remember years ago when they blew millions on a failed radio system and the project manager lied to the legislature, the $150 million plus debacle of the Newport highway where they hid the original engineer report that said they could not do what they wanted, or the Millions blown on the now abandoned LaPine highway interchange.
Good read. Doubt it will happen. Is this the honesty that results when someone breaks ranks with their party and is punished? I really hope Kotek is not our next guv or I’ll have lost all faith in Oregon’s heart.