« Movie Maybe Not So Good After All | Main | Icarus Improved »
December 21, 2006
Better, Faster, and Smarter
 |
| I've been working with a
client for quite some time on an electronic design destined for mass
production.
A late addition to the design has hung up its completion. What should
have been an embellishment has caught the eye
of technical support. The order came down to make it perfect or remove
it completely to avoid complaints. As of today I believe I was able to
acheive the former and avoid the latter. In the end it was a good catch
on their
part and
will likely save them from annoying complaints later. But the request
started me thinking (and that can't be good). When organizations become accustomed to servicing the "squeaky wheels" and not focusing on core services or products they can become dramatically inefficient. Through City Manager Greg Jones the City of Chico has adopted the Better, Faster, and Smarter "effort" to improve effiency (see bottom of this doc for description). A dramatic inefficiency in local government has been the millions of dollars spent oiling the "squeaky wheels". Half-a-million on a Bidwell Park Master Plan because of a threatened lawsuit by a member of the "Friends of Bidwell Park" to stop disc golf. $170,000 for a downtown charrette to service the "Friends of Downtown". Hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to defend a lawsuit that originated from trying to placate the "Friends of the Foothills". The cell-tower controversy is another example and features some of the same personalities and techniques used in previous examples. I hope the Better, Faster, and Smarter, marketing tagline also endeavors to differentiate between serving serial complainers and providing needed services to a mostly silent populace. If not we might rename it Harder, More Expensive, and Ridiculous. One way to avoid that is for the City to remember who the customer really is. |
Posted by Lon at December 21, 2006 09:00 AM
Comments
"ridiculae ad infinitum" could also be a good motto, and it would look cool on the credits at the end of every televised City Council meeting.
Posted by: Anthony Watts at December 21, 2006 01:28 PM
Indeed. I have begun referring to these various "Friends of" organizations generically as the "Basket of Puppies Foundation". They all have these innocuous names that mask their true agenda; profit prevention. Any time anyone has a chance at creating something so desirable that other people will voluntarily reach into their pockets to pay for it, the BOPF is offended, and begins passing petitions and filing meritless vexatious lawsuits. I think Jones is on the right track, and can only be thankful that the City Manager job is not an elected position.
Posted by: Alan Chamberlain at December 22, 2006 07:12 AM
Hey Guys,
I see the same people speaking against many of these issues, but the associated groups always carry different names. I think the various groups are sometimes formed to provide credibility and cover for the individuals involved.
In the case of this cell tower there's a combination of junk science and a mystical adherence to a pristine "open space" that doesn't exist. It's hard to believe that they actually said the extension of an existing light pole would ruin the view in Bidwell Park.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at December 22, 2006 10:07 AM
The Sons of Liberty were squeaky wheels. They didn't "go to court" - they trashed private property. And -- this is just a rumor -- they may have been under the influence of alcohol.
No offense Lon, but you sound like a Tory.
Posted by: juanita the serial complainer at December 23, 2006 07:17 AM
Furthermore, we are a bunch of wooses for not dumping tea in that stupid dancing trout thingee when they roundfiled the RDA committee.
Posted by: juanita at December 23, 2006 07:24 AM