The stupid it burns
My innovation plan for the NSW Govt.
SHUT.IT.DOWN.
FIRE.THEM.ALL - SELL.THEM.AND.THEIR.FAMILIES.INTO.SLAVERY
BURN.IT.DOWN - SALT.THE.EARTH.WHERE.IT.STOOD
The New South Wales (NSW) Public Service Association has hit the ceiling about the Australian state's decision to hire IT staff from overseas for the outsourcing of its ServiceFirst shared service operation. Last year, ServiceFirst was contracted out to Unisys and Infosys. The PSA says 32 overseas staff had been deployed in …
'Disruption' is all well and good. At it's best, the result is that old, stagnant institutions and, potentially, monopolies are broken by innovative new ideas and technologies that give more power to more people, rather than concentrating it.
Printing the Bible in English, for example, was rather disruptive to the church.
More often, however, it seems that 'disruption' is used to put a positive spin on what is really just an organisation making a profit by playing fast and loose with the rules.
In those situations, branding something a 'disruptive' is a way to remove themselves from criticism - the established players are just unhappy because their old ways are being disrupted, thus their criticisms of the new players should be discarded.
In the end, however, it seems to tend towards: 'meet the new boss . . . '
Does government need to be shaken from it's current practices and mindsets? Absolutely. My suspicion, however, is that this is not what's going to happen.
Taking a look at the ABS and the Census, the recent report (which confirms common-sense appraisals) shows that they need a 'disruption' to their culture of insular thinking and arrogance. The solution to that is much more transparency and consultation with academics and experts and senators and ministers and the public. It means that when you commission and independent report into how to proceed, you don't simple cherry pick the parts you already wanted and ignore the rest.
But that's not the kind of disruption we would get. No, instead we would get more out-sourcing so more of what broke the Census, not less.