Not Happy

"Bondi Beach may be the country`s most famous and still easy on the eye. Just don`t try to have any fun there. Legendary Aub Laidlaw still haunts Bondi’s sands. The beach inspector, who spent 39 years evicting women whose swimsuits his tape measure judged indecent, would scowl with bitter delight at the regulatory bondage that is today’s Bondi Beach.

As you cross the promenade and make for one of the concrete ramps leading down to the sand, you’re confronted with signs. For everyone’s enjoyment, they read:

“The following are prohibited on the beach: No dogs. No ball games. No frisbees. No kites. No glass. No littering.”

Then, slapped like a codicil across a will, there’s a sticker: No smoking."

Pete's Points

As a former "Bondi Boy" I have to say that I am outraged by this comment in "The Bulletin" of 26/01/2005.

It simply shows us yet again that the Packer Press has no idea about what Australian DO on the beaches.

Let's summarise:

SWIMMING
SURFING
SUN BAKING
FISHING
GAWKING

Since none of these activities are prevented or precluded I have no idea what their problem is.

Let's see:

1. No dogs - Er . . . Hello . . . they attract sharks. Not a popular idea with people who want to swim and surf.
2. No ball games - well DUH! Would you want sand kicked in your direction when you are trying to sun bake fully oiled?
3. No Frisbees - this actually brings in the dogs - leaping to get the frisbees, the sand kicking and flying objects that can land anywhere into the same picture. Not great when all you are trying to do is get a tan.
4. No Kites - except on designated days of course like the one day a year when the Festival of the Winds is held on the beach.
5. No Glass - There are CANS these days - right? At least they don't smash and end up as slivers in people's feet!
6. No Littering - Only someone from the Packer Press could think of littering as being a fun activity - after all they do it with all of their products on a daily basis
7. No Smoking - Well the rest of us had to stop smoking in our offices, on the footpaths, in restaurants so why not stop people who haven't yet given up from annoying the rest of us? Besides is there anyone that still believes that smoking is a FUN thing to do?

Their comment on poor Aubrey is based on the assumption that he was a prude.

Think about it - a healthy male beach inspector who spent his time examining the swimming apparel of female swimmers with a tape measure for 39 years.

Some would argue that that was the most desirable job in the country!

The epithet of a "perv" I could understand but . . .

Man hasn't slept in 50 years

Ananova - Man hasn't slept in 50 years

A 71-year-old Chinese man claims he hasn't slept properly for more than 50 years.

Song Shikuan, of Pinyu city in Henan province, says he hasn't had a night's sleep since he was 20, reports the Dahe Daily.

Before that, he used to sleep for an hour or two each night but says a few minutes' nap is all he now needs, reports Dahe Daily.

"I feel totally okay, except for the dryness of my eyes," he said.

He is being treated at his local people's hospital where he also works as a cleaner but doctors have been unable to cure his insomnia.

Hospital spokesman Zhang Xianqiu said it was possible that Song's short naps provided him with all of the energy he needed.

Pete's Points

Speaking about Project Management - this is the kind of worker that most managers dream about - especially in countries in which they do not have overtime or other penalty rates!

Project Management

I apologise for being off line for a few days - work and circumstances have conspired to leave me no time to get the things done that I really wanted to do.

Which brings me very neatly to the topic of the day - namely project management.

I thought that after some 30 odd years of managing things within a 50+ year life span I could safely say that I had some idea about project management. After all life is a giant series of projects that we all seem to manage to some degree or other, more or less usefully.

However in recent times I am afraid that I have to admit that such a lot has been written about the subject that I am actually starting from scratch catching up with the new verbiage.

For example:

Do people know about Portfolio Management? Program Management? A portfolio of projects? A Departmental Portfolio? Benefits realization? Value Chain Management? Gateway reviews?

I thought I was doing OK when I understood what was meant by a Gantt and PERT charts and has some notion of the project management life cycle that was a part of the PMBOK (Project Management Book of Knowledge) processes as well as an understanding of Earned Value Management, matrix management and formative and summative evaluations.

Just to prove me wrong, some interesting stuff has appeared on the OGC site in the UK. Have a look at the Office of Government Commerce where you two can read about PRINCE2 and sundry related terminology, including the aforementioned portfolio and programme management, gateway reviews, benefits realisation etc..

In addition I have located some really interesting places like the PMI web site and of course the Project Management forum

This site I can also recommend to people.

I would like to be able to discuss with people some of the stuff I am finding out about from these sites and would welcome an interchange of views with like minded people.

Have a look at the stuff that is available and then send me a comment as to whether this is something you would be interested in discussing on this forum.

Musings on Solipsism

Solipsism is "the belief that only I myself and my own experiences are real, while anything else—a physical object or another person—is nothing more than an object of my consciousness"

Well, just think about it!

Can you really KNOW the world at all except through your perceptory organs?

Can you really experience the present when all of the information about things comes through your perceptions and it takes TIME for the perception to be realised in the brain?

We KNOW that perception can be easily fooled with all sorts of tricks that we have been shown - so how do we know that we can rely on those perceptions.

It may well be that the people to whom we currently attribute psychiatric labels have a better grasp on reality than we do.

Let's take the case of certain prophets over time. Many of these folk would have ended up in an institution today and their prophecies called the ravings of lunatics. However because poeple listended to them in those days, they have come down to us today in our history as inspiring and righteous people.

Assuming for a moment that some of the people among us, those who believe that the end of the world is nigh and that we are living the last days, that the Saviour will return and cleanse the world taking with him to paradise only the righteous (ie those who share this belief system), are right.

Will we actually recognise this person or throw him/her into an institution and feed them drugs to help them function in the 'real world'?

Is this 'real world' the one that we have made up as a result of our perceptions?

Hmm . . .

Today is Australia Day!

For those of you who do NOT live on this (the best) continent, this note is to let you know that today is Australia Day!

Given that it is held on the 26th of January (the day when Captain Phillip took possession of the colony of NSW for the Crown) - Australia is obviously an Aquarian with all of the characteristics that are associated with being an Aquarian. Perhaps this explains Australia's particular generosity in response to the recent Tsunami.

Uncharacteristically however, Australia seems to be allowing the USA's foreign policy to lead it by the nose which is strange for an Aquarian.

Here is what is available on: http://www.astrology.com/allaboutyou/sunsigns/aquarius.html

"Aquarius is the eleventh Sign of the Zodiac, and Aquarians are the perfect representatives for the Age of Aquarius. Those born under this Sign have the social conscience needed to carry us into the new millennium. These folks are humanitarian, philanthropic and keenly interested in making the world a better place. Along those lines, they'd like to make the world work better, which is why they focus much of their energy on our social institutions and how they work (or don't work). Aquarians are visionaries, progressive souls who love to spend time thinking about how things can be better. They are also quick to engage others in this process, which is why they have so many friends and acquaintances. Making the world a better place is a collaborative effort for Aquarians.

The Sign of Aquarius is symbolized by the Water Bearer. In much the same way that the Water Bearer brings that precious liquid as a gift, Aquarians shower the world with their thoughts and new ideas. Luckily for Aquarians (and the rest of us), they are at a near-genius level, so their minds churn out some amazing things. Their thought process is also inventive and original. While Aquarians are happy to bestow these ideas as a gift with no strings attached, they are much happier when the rest of the world agrees with them. Naysayers will quickly find out that Aquarians can be impatient, even temperamental, with those who disagree. Yes, these folks can be quite fixed in their opinions, in keeping with the Fixed Quality assigned to this Sign. Even though Aquarians are happy to give, and they do, it's often on their terms and within their comfort level. Generally, that means ample space, since these folks are freedom-loving and individualistic and need to roam (and yes, they do enjoy travel). While Aquarians are generally sympathetic and compassionate, they like it when things go their own quirky way. Some might call their behavior eccentric (and they would be right), but when you consider that the Aquarian's heart is truly in the right place, a few oddities should be overlooked. In their own way, Aquarians treasure their many friends and acquaintances and want to give back as much as they can."

For those of us born under the sign of Aquarius, it is pleasing to read the lovely epithets that are expressed above. For those of you who were NOT born under the sign of Aquarius and who disagree with what we have to say - read the description again, so that you can understand WHY we are so difficult to get on with!

Happy Australia Day Everyone!

A response to ANNONYMOUS

Someone who chose to remain anonymous responded to my recent comments on high stress jobs in the following way:

pete,
i'm one of the same the british research refers to as working with stress. i see stress as self induced and as a social worker deal with the products on a daily basis. I find the lack of management support and the present lack of resources the most frustrating aspect of the work. This then, seems to support your 'achievement' theory. Social Workers here are in demand and short supply because of the lack of resources and, generally, people's expectations that 'social services will sort it out'

Whenever anyone suggests that there is lack of management support and lack of resources I am afraid that while I have to agree I have a different approach to the sigh of resignation which seems to accompany this comment.

It is true. In recent times, the managers that I know and love, seem to be faced with such a competitive environment that they spend most of their time in developing and implementing personal survival strategies. This generally seems to mean that they have a lot less time for their staff. Short sighted as this approach is, in my view, as they do not recognise the reality that a supportive and enthusiastic and hard working staff actually are the necessary preconditions for achievement and hence a built in buffer of success against any attempts by others to interfere in their quest for promotion, greater remuneration and a more public profile.

Were they to realise this the staff would in fact get the support that they need and merit.

Let us note that support does not have to be warm puppy love. It can sometimes be strict discipline and sometimes very difficult conversations which force a staff member to confront some personal realities of which they are unaware.

Throughout supervision there is a real need to continue to maintain what Carl Rodgers would have referred to as "unconditional positive regard" while at the same time being able to tell someone exactly what it is that in the opinion of the supervisor they are doing wrong or how they are coming across to others - whether in their team or to their clients.

However, all that aside. If your 'fearless leader' is not competent (for one reason or another) then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

There is nothing wrong with you as a worker creating the necessary conditions for appropriate supervision. There are peer reviews that are possible, there is the opportunity to seek supervision outside the agency that employs you, there is the opportunity to create a solid level of support among colleagues which can then present the need for supervision and support as a group to the management so that you can be more effective in trying to gain what you want.

Social workers have been trained to manipulate situations to obtain some results for their clients. On this occasion use those same skill sets to obtain what you want for yourself.

As for the lack of resources argument - it is also true. We have been "doing more with less" for years AND the work load increases annually. So get smart about it and once again DO SOMETHING!

If all else fails - read my article about an addition to the Management By . . . series which I call MBB or "Management by Begging" (it's in the archives somewhere or if you can't find it let me know and I will publish it again).

You will NEVER find this technique in a text book.

The reason is simple - anyone who is good at obtaining resources to which they have no legal right is not going to publish for all the world to see how they do it. Well, I have! So benefit from my largesse

I know that it is trite to end on this note, but . . .

If you really want to thrive in a competitive environment then turn every nightmare into an opportunity and suddenly you will find things a lot less stressful.

Once again if you want to know HOW I can help just ask me - but my rates for commercial services still stand.

NB:

My partner has insisted I add her comments to this note as she is OUTRAGED by my one eyed view on this subject that people can effect change within their organisation (even though this is desirable if it can be achieved).

She (who has written HER Master's Thesis on "Organisational Stress and Staff Attrition" says:

Social Workers, and others in Human Service organisations to name a few, are confronted with at least 3 types of stress on a daily basis. 1) personal (related to life events) 2) job related (pertaining to the nature of the work ) and 3) organisational stress (related to the relative levels of infrastructure, resources and management support).

The research for the thesis, which is now a bit dated but seems to still hold true, surveyed over 100 social workers who had left their jobs in an Area Health Service in New South Wales, Australia over a 3 year period. It showed that the social workers could cope with the ongoing job related stress and occasional personal stress IF there was a supportive organisation and adequate resources. However, the combination of high levels and ongoing job related stress and organisation stress (low resources such as inadequate staff levels and limited funds, lack of supervision and support etc) could not be sustained over time.

So while it is true that the sample did survey people who had moved on from their jobs and so it could be argued to be a somewhat "biased" sample, it was a useful guide for those in social work management to remember that most social workers in the study felt that they had to do something about the situation. However, the majority chose to leave their positions in search of a more supportive organisation, rather than continue to struggle with the organisation that had not proven to provide adequate support. This is a wake-up call for organisations, but unfortunately most either are constrained or do not have the understanding and so end up blaming the individual for not coping rather than seeing the bigger organisational issues and doing something about it.

A Grudging Note of Respect

In many of my comments I have been somewhat negative about American foreign policy as it is projected into the world arena through the operations of the Department of Defence in the USA. I have very little time for the politicians involved. However I have to say that the ability of the US Armed Forces to manage projects is something to be admired and learned from.

Almost all of the techniques which we currently apply in the world of professional project management has been pioneered in the DoD in the time frame from WWII to the present time.

I wonder whether this is necessarily a good thing?

On the one hand we have through all of the functional management of the armed forces one of the most hierarchical vertical control systems in the world. We also have a matrix managed organisation of all of the projects that they manage.

How well does that translate into a non military environment where the command control structure is not entrenched. There are serious consequences within the military for disobeying a command from someone who has a higher rank. This same expectation is transferred to the work environments of non military organisations and it is here that I suspect most people experience their first problem.

In a non military environment the culture is not conducive to staff obeying almost without question the orders coming from a 'superior officer'. Regardless of how much we try and write into people's roles functions and responsibilities a requirement of this kind, the culture normally does not support it and hence leaves open the question about how effective a process developed within a military environment can be within an environment that does NOT support the level of control and accountability (with consequences) that happen in the military.

I will be spending some time exploring this issue in this BLOG over the next weeks and months and would welcome input from my readers who have experience with this, preferably within the military and then in non military organisations.

Let's hear from you!

Could we live without computers?

Have you ever wondered how the the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Mongols, all managed to have very large empires that covered continents without the benefit of computers?

These days it seems, computer companies are trying to give everyone the message that without their wonderful hardware and software in YOUR home, you will find it difficult to get up in the morning, make your breakfast and get through your day.

The reality is that the power of advertising has so infiltrated our psyche that many people are actually believing this guff and becoming more and more helpless and dependent upon the technology.

Look at the increase in the number of people who use calculators and are simply unable to do sums in their head. Look at the people who "simply cannot do without" a PDA (a personal digital assistant). Look at people who have a university education and cannot string a sentence together without the benefit of a grammar and spell checker in their word processing programs.

When was the last time you were in a store and found someone on the staff who actually knew how to calculate a 15% discount when you asked for it?

When was the last time you actually saw a handwritten letter?

When was the last time you saw a senior executive in a company who made a decision without first consulting some management "guru" whether in person, through an agency that provides the services of such 'gurus' or by reading advice from a 'guru' in some magazine or other?

I am more convinced than ever that those who are pushing to get us back to a time in which people were required to think for themselves instead of relying on a computed solution are right.

A computer is an idiot savant. It can only provide you with 'answers' that are part of its programming and the data that has been input into the system. If you have a system that has been badly designed or has had inaccurate data entered into it then you have the 'garbage in - garbage out' phenomenon.

I am seeing around me more and more people who are unable to think for themselves, people who really believe in the depth of their hearts that working things out for yourself is the wrong way to do anything and that the right way is to buy a service or a product that will do the work for you.

As we head further and further into this kind of scenario, I am also seeing teachers who do not know their subject matter and thus are only able to impart to the children that they are 'teaching' what little they know. This results in graduates of their programs who are to all extents and purposes functionally illiterate.

There was a film in the early 1960's that I always thought of as a spoof on the future as developed by IBM. It showed a house in which virtually everything was controlled by computers right down to the doors of the house. People pushed buttons and things happened.

Then one day the electricity failed!

People died in their houses because they could not work out how to open doors when the button they pushed did not work. They could not cook because all of their computerised cooking equipment was on the fritz. Their sewerage backed up because the computerised waste management system did not work and so on.

We are not there yet - thank goodness.

I have terrible fear that we are heading in this direction and I wonder if we are able to stop ourselves from arriving!

Alleviating Stress in High-Stress Jobs

Teaching and social work are the most stressful jobs - Management-Issues

"Teaching and social work are the most stressful professions in Britain, academics have concluded.

Researchers from the University of Liverpool collected data on stress levels from 25,352 employees working in 24 different occupations and ranked their averages according to two measures.

Teaching and social work appeared in the top three for both poor psychological well-being and physical ill health caused by stress.

The researchers suggested that "emotional labour" involving face-to-face or telephone contact with clients, and sometimes the suppressing of emotions, was a central factor in what makes a job stressful.

Other professions also found to involve high levels of stress were ambulance service employees, call centre staff, prison officers, clerical and administrative staff and police officers."

Pete's Points

Hardly news to the people in these types of jobs but an interesting piece of information to the groups of functional managers who may well be in line management control of these people.

Some interesting research that I undertook some years ago as part of a Master's thesis concerned ways of reducing the stress for people involved in high stress professions.

There are two questions you can ask people:

"What did you do today?" - this will usually elicit a list of tasks which were undertaken and/or completed during a working day.

"What did you achieve today" usually either elicits the same list or a puzzled look on the face of the respondent.

What my research found was that if you could help people to answer the second question then they generally were able to reduce their stress levels by better than 70%.

It's a technique I commend to people for their consideration.

Happy to be consulted about individual applications, provided people are prepared to consider my fees for the provision of advice.

Corporations

The recent TV show which explores the power of the large corporations and the resistance that people around the world are demonstrating to their power has been one of the more fascinating shows on television recently.

The admissions from CEOs of some of the world's largest companies that they are not concerned with despoiling the earth they are more concerned with making profits was simply breathtaking.

The struggles of people to prevent the privatisation of water supplies by a provate company and the actions of the world bank to pay this company back for lost business opportunities were no less stunning. The actions of people around the world to prevent companies like Monsanto from gaining a monopoly on the seeds required by people to sow crops also sent messages that need to be heeded.

People who work for large companies like those in the aerospace industries and others that manufacture weapons need to understand that there is a connection between the work that they do and the weapons of mass destruction that threaten them, that kill their sons and daughters in the armed forces of various countries who are engaged in wars of one kind or another.

The most attractive aspect of the programs has been the simple exhortation to people that they need to think more broadly than their own lives and their own situations and expand their consciousness to include the broader human community and ask themselves whether they care or not and if they do what they are prepared to DO to hold companies accountable for the destruction that they are imposing on the world.

I seem to recall that in Genesis there was a portion of the text that in the instructions to Adam and Eve reads something like "go forth and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it."

I guess the only element we have not really obeyed in recent times has been the component that relates to replenishment. Perhaps if the people around the world who believe in Judaism, Christianity and Islam would like to consider these words, attributed to God in his expulsion of humanity from paradise they might be more inclined to head towards sustainable development rather than despoiling the world to which people were exiled when they were turfed out of paradise in the first place.

While many people talk of the "original sin" that lead to this expulsion there are few it seems that have learned the lesson. It seems we are still willing to despoil the environment in which we live for short term gain.

I cannot believe it! Can you?

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Religious aid groups try to convert victims

Pete's Points:

Check this link out!

I simply cannot believe that both Christian and Muslim groups are taking advantage of the people who have been literally impacted with the disastrous consequences of the Tsunami by bringing religion into the picture. Anyone who associates the provision of food, shelter, clothing with a spiel about what either Christianity or Islam can do for you if only you believe and follow the dictums does not, at least in my view deserve support.

People who are the victims of any really disruptive event are so vulnerable and so defenceless. It is these people who are then confronted with aid that has a ticket attached which almost screams out - you can have this aid provided you believe in what we want you to believe in.

I am outraged and would strongly urge anyone donating to any charity to ask them whether they intend to hand out religious advice with their aid and if so avoid them like the plague that they are!

Frightening!

Reality Based Nation - Progressive Journal for Political News, Analysis, and Commentary: Let's play 'Who Said That?!': "'These so-called ill-treatments and this torturing... were not, as assumed, inflicted methodically, but were excesses committed by individual leaders, subleaders, and men who laid violent hands on internees... It is obvious that there were elements among them who would ill-treat internees, but this ill-treatment was never tolerated.'"

Just click on the link to look this up - if you are not shocked and frightened too then please let me know WHY NOT?

"Helping" the Poor

Bush Plans Sharp Cuts in HUD Community Efforts (washingtonpost.com): "The plan was detailed in a December memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget to HUD.
"What we are trying to accomplish is to meet our obligation to people living in distressed communities, to hold communities accountable for helping those people and to become more efficient in the process," another official said."

Is this helping the poor?

Let's explore for a moment what is really going on here.

People pay their taxes in the expectation that the government to whom they pay their taxes will in fact create programs that will assist those citizens in the community who are unable to fend for themselves, ensure that there is a rule of law and generally keep people safe from each other, they expect that in the event of a disaster the funds which have been accumulating in the treasury will be used to assist them to recover and to rebuild.

Alas, these days the government in the USA seems hell bent on ignoring the needs of many of its citizens and more concerned with making the rich even richer. In addition they are bent on making the world a better place (read more like America - as if that is a useful goal) and getting their community into a debt that would stagger many other economies combined.

The notion that communities in which poor people live should take responsibility to the housing and other welfare needs of members of that community is in fact a wonderful attempt at misdirection.

On the one hand there is a generous attitude towards tax reductions across the board (favouring those who have large incomes of course) and then there is an unfair redistribution of taxation to hit those communities in which the poorest live to pay for their upkeep. The net effect of this is to ensure that instead of taxation being levied across the country where people in rich communities could be assisting those in poorer communities, what is now expected is that poor communities will be made even poorer by being held accountable for the welfare of those in their midst that can not survive without assistance while those in rich communities which have no need to spend on the poor in their communities - because there aren't any can keep their share of the tax dollars that have been returned in tax cuts and get richer still.

How Mr Bush and his cronies can manage to undertake this form of manipulation within their stated Christian ethics is certainly beyond my understanding it is also beyond my understanding how a country filled with supposedly intelligent people can believe the crap that is being handed to them and not only not vote the man and his colleagues out of office but actually return him to a second term.

Still that's politics in the USA.

Let's just hope that in the madness for all things American we do NOT adopt this idiocy!

Are E-Mails getting you down?

I have recently had the pleasure of meeting a very small number of people who have solved the problem that seems to have arisen from having too much email.

In discussions with them I have been able to formulate some really simple rules that can help everyone to unclutter their email boxes

There is only two cautions that I have to provide before revealing these secrets.

1. To benefit from what you are about to read you should make up your mind at the outset that you REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING about your email overload and clutter and want to be able to manage your work day better.
2. If you are NOT prepared to make some changes in the way you do your work then DO NOT read any further.

____________________________________________________________________

Since you are now here, I am presuming that you have a problem with your email volume and that you really want to DO something about it.

Well, here is what you have to DO

Of all of the emails in your "in tray" classify them into three categories:

1. those that are replies to emails you have sent to others asking them to DO something for you. For example: to read and comment on something, to undertake some task within a given time frame, to come and discuss something, to attend a meeting etc.
   
2. those that are requests sent by others asking you to do something for them; and
3. those that are simply information documents which you can choose to read or not - at your discretion i.e. for your information or FYI documents
   

Once you have undertaken this simple exercise, note how many emails remain.

Unless you are extremely unusual, you will in fact find very few if any emails that are not within the three categories described above.

If this is the case then ask yourself whether you are doing any good for the people you correspond with by sending them anything other than the FYI documents via email?

After all you are cluttering up their 'in trays' and they are cluttering up your in tray with work requests.

Ask yourself whether there is a facility within your organisation to send work requests or TO DO notes.

If your organisation is using Microsoft Outlook, or Lotus Notes or some similar package then this option is in fact available to you.

Using a TO DO functionality in your communication software has the following advantages:

1. it enables you to make a decision about exactly who you want to ask to do something for you (this prevents broadcast communications and targets the work);
2. it enables you to specify your view about how important the request is (i.e. it helps you to prioritise the work) ;
3. it enables you to specify exactly when you would like to have a response to your request or when you would like the action asked for to be completed (it enables you to have things done on time and it assists the people you are asking to do the work to place it appropriately within their work plans;
4. it enables you to track who you have asked to do what and by when so that you can then follow up on the allocated work and ensure that it is done;
5. it enables you to have an audit trail of your work (and report on it if and when asked);
   
6. it enables you to see on a daily basis what work you have to complete by what date, in other words it enables you to manage your work load;
   
7. it enables you to have evidentiary material you can use in performance management discussions with your boss or your staff;

Above all else it enables you to UNCLUTTER your "in tray"

One thing you may need to do as well as this is to educate the people around you about your new work practices. Tell them that if they want you to do something for them, then you would appreciate this being sent to you in the form of a TO DO. If a formal request for this is not effective then convert your email into a TO DO (also a function in most communication packages) and send the person sending the work request to you a copy of the TO DO you have created from their email.

This WILL have the effect of creating clutter in their in tray and will also send a message about your efficiency and their lack of it.

Try these suggestions and see your "in tray" clutter diminish.

For anyone with any comments, concerns or issues with these suggestions I am more than happy to discuss.

The Latest "Baby Boomer"

Zhang Yichi was born on Thursday and named as China's 1.3 billionth person by the government.

Pete's Points:

This is one person who has already had his 15 minutes of fame.

According to Reuters, his family has rejected multiple offers from companies seeking to use the child to advertise all sorts of products. However they did accept a proposal from an insurance company.

Given China's one child policy, I wonder if the parents were offered a form of insurance which will protect them against the misfortunes of old age? After all the old tradition where children look after their parents in their old age has become difficult to follow, when at best, there are only two children to look after four parents.

I guess that one of the benefits arising from China's major economic growth in recent times may be the ability to gain sufficient income to look after the hordes of people who are galloping into old age within that country.

If we think of the issues that arise in Australia from baby boomers going into retirement it pales into insignificance when compared with the difficulties that will be faced by the governments of China, India and other populous nations over the next few years.

I wonder what impacts this will have on a globalised world?

What do we have to look forward to in US politics?

heraldtribune.com: Southwest Florida's Information Leader: "Gov. Bush hires writer accused of plagiarism"

"The day after Gov. Jeb Bush fired a top official over sexual harassment allegations, Bush's office confirmed it had hired a former journalist who resigned in November following public allegations of plagiarism and sexual harassment.

Lloyd Brown, 65, resigned his position as editorial page editor of the Florida Times- Union in Jacksonville on Nov. 2 after a newspaper said its review found instances of plagiarism in some of the editorials Brown had written.

The plagiarism review was sparked after a former Times- Union editorial writer, Billee Bussard, wrote a lengthy article in Folio Weekly, a Jacksonville weekly newspaper.

In the article, titled "Porn, Hypocrisy, Plagiarism: The Dark Side of Jacksonville's Daily," Bussard wrote that Brown viewed Internet pornography in the paper's office, and she said he conducted sexual conversations on the telephone while viewing the pornography in the workplace.

Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre said Thursday that Brown was hired Dec. 20 at an annual salary of $80,000 as a staff writer. In the position, Brown writes speeches, letters to the editor and other material for Bush."

Pete's Points:

There is considerable concern in the USA that the high profile which is being accorded to Jeb Bush by his brother is an indicator that he is being 'groomed' to become the next in line within the Bush family to make a run for the oval office in a few years time.

To assist those who would like to see an end to the Bush 'era' in politics, this article is merely one in a series that demonstrates the level of political judgement that seems to have infected American politics.

There are also articles which abound in the alternative press that express concern about the relationship between the statements of Benito Mussolini outlining his views on Fascism in 1932 and the statements and decisions which are emanating from the White House right now.

I wonder if the old adage is true - something about evil being able to triumph simply because good men do nothing?

A view into the White House

Moral Clarity, Courage Needed, Bush Aide Says (washingtonpost.com): "

Karl Rove, President Bush's senior adviser, addresses graduates of Liberty University

"You either have values ingrained in your heart and soul that will not change with the wind, or you don't," he said.

Rove also reminded the 2,041 graduates to pay off their credit cards. He advised them that when they go to job interviews, "don't act like you're smarter than the person you're interviewing with. Even if you are."

Rove, who said he never earned a college degree, was presented an honorary doctorate of humanities by Falwell for his "commitment to conservative ideas."

Pete's Points

The quotation above, from Mr Rove's speech outlines nicely the level of sophistication and education to be expected from the Bush administration.

What wonderful homilies! What intellectually stimulating discourse! And to think that there is a university in existence with students who did not boo this man off the stage - simply amazing!

Mr Bush has, no doubt on Mr Rove's advice, reduced the world's issues to a simplistic level capable of being understood by every one - i.e. the US wears the white hat and every one who does not agree with US policy, by definition, wears a black hat and is automatically included among those described as "evil".

I find it difficult to understand a culture in which someone can be offered a university degree for a 'commitment to conservative ideas.' The again I find the spam that enters my mail box from America offering me any kind of university degree I want for a mere $500 equally bizarre.

If this is the sort of leadership that we have for the 'free world' then frankly, the sooner the new Pax Americana falls to the "barbarian" hordes the better.

Advice to senior managers - upset your staff if you want new furniture!

Tired of your moth eaten couch? Concerned about those old fashioned kitchen benches? Upset about the state of your built in cupboards? Want new furniture for old?

The time has come to harass your staff - they can be persuaded to assist you in your hour of need, by applying their tools in a more destructive way than usual it seems

"An angry Austrian lumberjack used his chainsaw to reduce his boss's furniture to matchsticks.

After the fight at work, the 37-year-old drove to his boss's flat in the town of St. Johann, reports Tiroler Krone.

After cutting a rectangle into the door with his chainsaw to get in, he then destroyed a table, armchair, corner seat, the complete kitchen furniture and the wardrobe.

Neighbours who heard the noise of the chainsaw called the police.

When they arrived, they found the man sitting peacefully amongst the remains of his boss's furniture.

Police say the man caused an estimated £3,500 of damage."

South Asia: Natural or Public Health Disaster

Foreign Policy In Focus | Global Affairs Commentary | South Asia: Natural or Public Health Disaster?

Pete's Points

This article in Foreign Policy in Focus is worth reading. If only half of what is being alleged is true then administrations in the relevant countries need to get their acts together rather rapidly and stop playing politics with the lives of their citizens.

Prenuptial Agreements May Suffer Setback for Men

Mensactivism.org

"The Boston Herald ran an article titled "Judge to hubby: Forget prenup, pay up" in their December 30, 2004 edition. The first sentence of the article sums it all up nicely: "In a possibly precedent-setting case, the state Appeals Court has ruled that an ex-wife is entitled to alimony even though she signed a prenuptial agreement waiving it."

Pete's Points

In Australia the Family Law Act has always considered prenuptial agreements as something that it 'may' consider in the making a judgement about property settlement. The laws pertaining to de facto relationships has (at least in the past) been different in that it honours the contractual arrangement between the parties and enforces prenuptial agreements.

"What is the world coming to when contracts are no longer enforceable?" you may ask. The reality I suspect is a little more complex. If a contract is entered into under duress then you would not want to have it enforced. If a contract was entered into and one of the parties lacked the ability to understand what was being entered into, then you would not want to have it enforced. If one of the parties was deliberately setting out to defraud the other party by means of the contract, you would not want it enforced.

So while on the face of it this news story would suggest a logical conclusion - namely "Men - don't get married, live in a de facto relationship." I suspect that a more useful consideration would be to ensure that the prenuptial agreement is fair to both sides. Then I suspect the courts would honour it as a valid contract.

An interesting insight into corporate ethics in the Pentagon

CorpWatch: Boeing scandal part of deeper problems at Pentagon

by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch January 5th, 2005

Darleen Druyun, former weapons buyer for the U.S. Air Force, checked into a special women’s prison about 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in the heart of Florida’s Panhandle region this week, for a nine month stay, after pleading guilty to giving Boeing special treatment on an $23.5 billion government contract.

Pete's Points

We all know it goes on. We all see corruption every day. What gets my goat is the sanctimonious speeches we get from senior people in the US administration when the corruption is found in the bureaucracies of other nations and the head ducking when it is found in their own backyard!

A marriage made in Taiwan

US seeks to buy ammunition from Taiwan as stocks run low after Iraq: report

Taiwan produces some 400 million such bullets annually, according to the paper. It added most rifle bullets were manufactured by an arsenal in southern Kaohsiung which has storage problems due to declining demand in the absence of any military conflict across the Taiwan Strait.

Citing Taiwanese military sources, the United Evening News said Washington had made the request to acquire some 300 million 5.56-millimetre bullets for rifles for an estimated two billion Taiwan dollars (62.5 million US).

Pete's Points

It's not bad enough that the US actually expends ammunition in killing people it now has to outsource its supply because it does not seem to be able to manufacture it fast enough. The Taiwanese are grinner's of course as they keep up their manufacturing, get US dollars with which to buy Hellfire air to ground missiles from Lockheed, get rid of all of their old ordnance to the Americans and free up their bunkers to load more bullets with which to protect their relative independence.

The Americans are OK because they get their ammunition, their money back and also get to help an ally.

Who does NOT benefit from this arrangement?

Why the taxpayer of course!

Watch out Australia

The McKinsey Quarterly: Innovation blowback: Disruptive management practices from Asia

Emerging markets such as China and India have become breeding grounds for new management processes and practices that help companies to maintain or even improve the quality of their products and services while simultaneously slashing prices. The disruptive impact is now confined to developing countries, but "blowback" from this surge of innovation could quickly be unleashed on the rest of the world. To meet the challenge, established businesses must learn new skills—not least important, an ability to orchestrate complex networks of specialized enterprises.

Pete's Points

It would be worthwhile for people in Australia to take note of this article. Unless we also learn to adopt a 'clean sheet' mentality about management we may face some competition that we will be unable to meet.

Risk management strategies should be adopted NOW to cope with this predicted change if our businesses wish to survive.

Let us not forget that China and India each have some one fifth of the total world population. With this numerical advantage it is highly likely that they will be able to dictate economic matters in just a few years time unless we learn to compete.

Now we know!

Study shows 'social responsibility' and 'social glue' is in the genes | Science Blog

The study also found that genes had a stronger influence on males than females (50% vs. 40%) and that home upbringing had a stronger influence on females (40% vs. 0%). This suggests parents may watch over the behavior of daughters more carefully than they do for their sons.

In previous research Rushton has shown that genes influence people's levels of altruism and aggression--including feelings of empathy like enjoying watching people open presents and acts of violence such as fighting with a weapon. Rushton has also demonstrated that the male sex hormone testosterone sets the levels of aggression and altruism.

When asked about his findings Prof. Rushton noted, "They join a host of recent research in showing that both genes and upbringing influence almost every human behavior. It is especially interesting to see that this applies to moral attitudes."

Pete's Points

Well what can we learn from this?

Let's see - would it be true to say that the current crop of politicians running the White House have high levels of testosterone? After all they are all unbelievably aggressive and only have great pretensions to altruism.

The study would also help to explain the behaviour of the Bush clan in Washington as well as in Florida - Like father like sons?

It would also be interesting to explore the family backgrounds of the Vice President, Defence Secretary and various associates.

I wonder if what they are doing in their policies and practices can be explained by "nature or nurture" explanations of human behaviour?

Are Evangelists Serious?

K.P. Yohannon of Gospel for Asia, which plants churches in those areas hardest hit by the disaster, says the tragedy should cause Christians around the world to re-evaluate their evangelistic efforts. "When I heard [about the tsunami disaster], the first thing that hit me so hard was that the Lord's coming is very near -- and we will hear of more things like this all over the world because the time is running out," Yohannon says. "Secondly ... we don't recognize half of the world never heard that Jesus ever came into the world to forgive sins." That, he says, constitutes "an incredible challenge, a desperate cry for us to not lose any more opportunities [to share the gospel], but to be unselfish in our praying and our giving to touch a world that never heard Jesus' name."

Pete's Points

I normally don't comment on religious matters because I am of the view that people should be able to believe and think what they want. I start to draw the line whenever I encounter people who would like to ram their beliefs down the throats of others.

As if the poor people in Asia did not have enough problems!

In the past when I saw an individual sitting on a set of steps with a sign stating: "The End of the World is Nigh!" I thought - what a nut job!

These days it seems that this sentiment is becoming the catch cry of a whole group of people on the Christian right who are proposing that the end of days is coming and that their followers will be the only ones who will float up to heaven and be resurrected while all those who do not believe in their version of reality will be consigned elsewhere.I know that from their perspective they are only doing their Christian duty in trying to assist everyone else to 'see the light' but in our society today I think this is a violation of people's rights.

If we have adopted laws against spammers because they violate our rights to privacy then I think we should also create some laws to prevent people from trying to sell their unwanted and unasked for religious views.

What do you think?

Charity Begins At Home!

I would like to state at the outset that I welcome the announcement of our Prime Minister that the Australian government pledges over 1 billion dollars in aid to Indonesia to assist the people affected by the recent tragedy.

I wonder whether he could also consider the old adage, "charity begins at home"?

Australia as a whole is a 'rich' country, by comparison with many others around the world. There are many of us in the fortunate position of having our basic needs for shelter, food and clothing met with some resources left over to enable us to enjoy a relatively good life style.

Unfortunately there are hundreds of thousands of our own citizens who do not share in this well being.

Every day we see some of them in the streets or parks because they are unable to afford a place to live.

We see some of them unable to get life saving operations because theses are considered 'elective' surgery and hence they have to wait until it is too late.

We see people being turned away from our hospitals because there are insufficient nurses and doctors.

We see people being unable to afford to purchase the medicines that they need to save their lives.

We see people unable to afford an education because of the high cost.

We see people who cannot earn enough to feed their families and are reliant on charities to supplement their hard work just to keep body and soul together.

We see people in the public service as well as in private enterprise working so hard that they simply fall over because their employer wants to have annual productivity dividends.

We have chronic crises in our own country that could benefit from the generosity that seems to be extended to those in other lands.

I have no problem with the media creating a competitive frenzy to help generate competitive levels of support from nations, companies and individuals in support for those in need overseas, and I have no problem with public figures such as Mr Smith chiding others to give more.

What I do have a problem with is, why this is only happening now? Thousands of our own citizens die each year because we do not care enough about them to provide them with the means to survive.

Have we been deaf dumb and blind to the expressions of those in our community who have needs? Do we care more for people who are our neighbours over thousands of miles away and less for those neighbours who live around the corner?

The taxpayers and the citizens of this country have as much right to expect the government of Australia, to be as generous to our own disadvantaged as it is to others.

The disadvantaged in Australia have as much right as others to expect that companies and rich citizens extend a helping hand to them as they are doing for others overseas.

Let me be really clear about this - people in this country should not suffer simply because of our generosity to others.

Let's also campaign to ensure that the spirit of giving and sharing that has been so markedly demonstrated in the last weeks will be extended to assist those in our own community who through no fault of their own are just as much in need as those in Aceh or Sri Lanka or Thailand.

Let us not suddenly forget how good it has made us feel to give to others in need when it comes to supporting those who live with us in our own communities.

The Great Liberation from Tyranny!

There's a Peter Cook-Dudley Moore routine, one of their wool-gathering dialogues, where Dud asks Pete, "So would you say you've learned from your mistakes?" and Pete replies: "Oh yes, I'm certain I could repeat them exactly."

This is somewhat reminiscent of what America appears to be doing in trying to win the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq.

In a recent operation near Baij 1000 troops supported by Apache helicopters targeted THREE houses (count them 3) searching for alleged terrorists. Finding no one but women and children in the houses the armed forces:

"... detained 70 men from districts identified by their informant as 'bad.' In near-freezing conditions, they sat hooded and bound in their pyjamas. They shivered uncontrollably. One wetted himself in fear. Most had been detained at random; several had been held because they had a Kalashnikov rifle, which is legal. The evidence against one man was some anti-American literature, a meat cleaver, and a tin whistle. American intelligence officers moved through the ranks of detainees, raising their hoods to take mugshots: 'One, two, three, jihad!' "

Well done US troops, this is certainly the way to ensure that you are seen as liberators from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein.

Did you Know?

Did you know that George Bush's initial response to the Tsunami relief fund of $35 million was actually less than what it cost for his inauguration ($40 million)?

So Much For An Occupation That Pays For Itself

"Insurgent attacks on Iraq's vital oil industry have cost the country nearly $US8 billion in lost export revenue since March 2003, Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban said on Sunday." reports AFP on the ABC News

Pete's Points

Since Osama Bin Laden called for the jihad to be extended to a denial of oil to the American 'invaders' as he calls them, the results have been obvious. Iraqis face petrol shortages in spite of sitting on the world's second largest oil reserves and only 1.8 million barrels a day are being exported from the southern fields via Basra (controlled by the British one could add).

In addition a defence spokesperson in Baghdad indicated that in his view there are over 200,000 insurgents in Iraq. If true, this is a greater force than all of the "allied" troops that are in the country.

What a way to fight a war against terrorism!

Tsunami Question - Is aid being misappropriated?

"The distribution system is not working," said Nassir Khan Abdurrahman, a Malaysian Red Crescent volunteer who has logged more than 30 years' experience responding to natural disasters in Asia. "They know where to send it, but they have their friends, they have their families." writes Edward Cody Monday, January 3, 2005; in the Washington Post Foreign Service.

"Disturbed by the way things were going, Abdurrahman said, he helped organize a protest Saturday by leaders of non-governmental aid groups to demand a change in the procedure. As a result, coordination of the aid flow out of the warehouse shifted -- at least in principle -- to a civilian logistics specialist from an Indonesian aid organization.

Aid officials from other countries, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were reluctant to be seen as criticizing the Indonesian military, also complained of the army's central role in distributing aid over the last week. For political reasons as well, they expressed eagerness to deal with Indonesia's civilian government rather than its military officers. The issue is particularly sensitive in Aceh province, where Indonesian troops have been fighting a separatist rebel movement with tough, sometimes brutal tactics."

Pete's Points

It appears that while the Indonesian military control the arrival and the distribution of aid there may well be some difficulties with the aid that is pouring into the country reaching all those in need.

What is the Australian government doing to ensure that the millions of dollars in aid that is being so generously donated by individuals and the taxpayers is not being misappropriated?

Research reveals harsh reality of life after college

Matthew Taylor, education correspondent Monday January 3, 2005 The Guardian

More than a third of students who start work when they finish their degree end up in non-graduate jobs, from stacking shelves to answering phones in call centres, according to figures obtained by the Guardian.

Pete's Points

I wonder what the figures are in Australia?

The government has been suggesting for some time now that it is in the interest of both parents and their children to get as much education as possible. The government has also changed the rules and instead of a the free education that many people received some 30 - 40 years ago there are now high fees and hence high levels of indebtedness for students under the HECS scheme. (I think the latest figures I have heard is something like 9 BILLION in debt being carried by the Australian taxpayers)

If there are indeed a third of students in this country who are unable to find graduate employment in their field, then there is something wrong with the way in which education courses are being planned. There is also something drastically wrong with the way in which governments (or their advisors) have estimated the future growth in employment opportunities for which graduates are being prepared. Alternately the advice that students are being given about what opportunities will exist for them is obviously wrong in at least 33% of cases.

We have seen the massive changes in the education area that have taken us from a system that produced people who could read and write and do their sums to one in which we have to have support and remedial programs to make up for the failures of education at the lower levels. We have seen the destruction of the apprenticeship system only to face a massive shortfall in tradesmen and the reintroduction of apprenticeships again.

If we are also seeing graduates being unable to find work in their chosen fields this has a downward effect on marginalising people with a lesser level of education as they are pushed out of jobs that would have been available to them were it not for the graduates taking up the job opportunities.

At the other end of the spectrum we are seeing people with MBA s not being valued in this country and having to find employment elsewhere in the world.

So let's get serious, the research that is being undertaken in departments like DEWR to assess and to estimate what likely growth or decline in employment opportunities there will be over the next 10-20 years, need to be really well done. These results then need to be made available to education authorities especially counsellors (if they still exist in the system) so that students can take advice about what is likely to be available to them in the work place by the time that they end their education and wish to enter the work force.

I do not wish to enter the old debate about education versus training. All I have to say is that we need to provide people with the choice about whether they want to be well educated, but impoverished through their life or whether they want to be educated and in sound employment.

If the world is changing in the way in which people are predicting and individuals will in all likelihood have to change their jobs many times during their working lives then we owe it to the current and the next generation to get the information about what the job market will be like to them in time for them to undertake appropriate risk management and further professional development that will make them marketable in time to take advantage of the opportunities ahead.

The other side of this coin concerns those new graduates that are silly enough to believe that world owes them a living and that all they want is an easy job with high pay and quick promotion. It is my view that people have to earn high salaries by demonstrating competence, professionalism and by dint of hard work.

People who want to cruise through life need to be reminded of a saying by a former Prime Minister, "Life wasn't meant to be easy."

30 Seconds of Fame

One of the worst programs on television, I watched this tribute to the bizarre and public opinion for the full thirty minutes to see if it had any redeeming features.

It did not.

Let me say that at least for me this program has had its 30 minutes of fame and will no longer be considered - even for thirty seconds!

Tsunami Disaster Commentary

It had to happen, the first story has emerged of surfer from the UK who unwittingly become the first person (probably in history) to surf a tsunami wave. Apparently he was out on his surfboard saw the wave and knew something was wrong but then got carried in to the shore line by the wave, past it and straight into his hotel's restaurant where he hopped off his board, collected his wife and child and fled to higher ground in the jungle behind his hotel just in time to miss the larger 30 foot wave that came ashore and destroyed most of the site he had just vacated.

An amazing escape.

Meanwhile the devastation which I am afraid I predicted with clogged infrastructure resulting in an inability to actually deliver the massive aid that is pouring into the devastated region has begun. Officials in affected countries are pleading with donor nations to tell them in advance what supplies are coming in on each plane so that they can try and organise the reception, removal and storage in preparation for any distribution that is possible.

UN officials on the scene are pleading for vessels with helicopters on board to be routed to the sites as the existing harbours and airports crumble under the onslaught of the amounts of aid and traffic.

Singapore, having escaped the tidal wave is storing goods in warehouses awaiting the opportunity to ship it into Indonesia and Malaysia so that it can be distributed.

I am afraid that this nightmare is only going to get worse in the short term and people will of course suffer. There will of course be the inevitable recriminations that often happen after a disaster, where one group will inevitably blame another for not being sufficiently prepared or not being able to do something.

What everyone fails to realise in their grief, is that this is exactly what happens in a disaster. Even if people had been planning for this particular type of disaster and had practised rigorously to ensure that their planning could be implemented with some trained people behind it there would still be problems - hopefully fewer than when a country or as in this case countries are unprepared both for the nature and the extent of the disaster.

People will learn from this experience and while this is cold comfort for those who are going through the pain and anguish on this occasion it is progress of sorts.

Let us hope that one of the lessons that is learned from this disaster is that it can happen to anyone at any time and that we all need to have emergency plans in place and agreements across countries in place to facilitate the organisation, management and administration that needs to take place.

Coaching or Mentoring

Many people spend a lot of their time asking for coaching or mentoring from their supervisors.

Unfortunately what seems to happen in many cases is well represented by the picture above.

Someone shouts orders and expects everyone else to obey and to row in harmony with everyone else

Drop "on time and within budget" from your management team key performance indicators (KPIs)

"IT managers often make on time and within budget prominent features in KPI templates. However, this target could become counter-productive. For leading organizations with high Capability Maturity Model ratings, on time and within budget should be a default performance criterion, not an objective. For the IT organization to evolve further, IT managers must state goals in enterprise-specific business terms.

In an era of fast-changing, dynamic business environments, projects must change frequently as the business evolves its solutions to respond to rapidly changing market circumstances. When the focus of the IT organization becomes agility, simple slavishness to the "on time, within budget" master becomes an impediment. Sometimes, taking more time and accepting late changes to requirements will be the correct approach. Sometimes, spending more than budgeted on a project (and less elsewhere) will be the correct approach. The issue is to ensure that IT managers know how to make such judgements correctly and are measured on business outcomes, not arbitrary deadlines. Try using "right approach, right outcome" terminology instead — and ensure that "right" refers to measurements that are internally agreed upon and specific to your business (that is, linked to values and policies)."

This advice from a Gartner paper entitled "CIOs' 'Must Do' Resolutions for 2005" by J. Mahoney, M. McDonald, M. Raskino offers some interesting advice for CIOs and for their staff.

In the recent past there has been a great emphasis on measuring outcomes and what this article emphasises is that the outcomes that may be best measured are on an enterprise or a program level rather than on an individual project basis.

This analysis fails to take into account government requirements of its departments and agencies. There is less flexibility with the management of financial resources, than appears to be the case within the private enterprise model. Within government money allocated for a given project must not be used for other purposes. This form of instruction effectively hamstrings managers who opt to work within a program or an enterprise wide view of the organisation and forces them to focus attention on the micro management impact - i.e.at the project level without necessarily being able to take into account the broader more program or enterprise view.

Perhaps some discussions with the Department of Finance are called for in this area of work to assist in the creation of some mechanisms which do not lead to the abuse of the generic financial guidelines but which do support the ability of government departments and agencies to become the agile organisations that government would like to see develop.

Sometimes it is really difficult to make an omelette without breaking some eggs and perhaps it is time to review some of the sacred cows of government finance management and bring these processes into the 21st century.

I am not suggesting that there should be open slather and that levels of fiscal accountability fall to the levels that enabled HIH or ENRON to take place. I am suggesting however that some flexibility and agility is also built into the financial processes such that government agencies that have provided costings in good faith using due care and diligence are then not penalised when unforeseen events happen. This should be managed in the risk management approach to governance that is advocated elsewhere rather than the more inflexible measures that appear to be in place at present.