Most encounters with government happen with “street-level bureaucrats.” One academic decided to figure out what it’s like to be one—and it gave him sympathy for the people so many love to hate.
I appreciate the variety of topics you write so thoughtfully about, so thank you. Regarding this article, I see a similarity in the way DMV employees are overworked and get compassion overload to how this occurs in many professions. Hospital workers, police officers, educators, restaurant workers, to name a few, all are overworked. Management doesn’t care, they just see data points and set impossible goals, while hiring as few people as they can get away with in order to make a profit. Of course this will burn people out but one has to eat, so they keep trying to do the job best they can with what energy they have that day. Admin/management has the upper hand at this point in time, hoping they realize people over profits makes the world a better, more satisfied place.
I came across a jaw-dropping interview a couple of days ago between Jon Stewart and Larry Summers. Summers is the perfect example of how and why the ones with Supreme Power made the choices that created this broken system. To them, it's just a matter of numbers with absolutely no thought for the people impacted. Summers has been part of financial decisions with Democratic administrations for a few decades. They have lost touch with humanity and they control the system. https://youtu.be/tU3rGFyN5uQ
Very interesting. Does his book talk about how systems might be changed to improve users' experiences of it? I just read a story this morning about how Ukraine, even under attack from Russia, has found a way to make its governance much more digital - as has Estonia, and some states in India before that. It seems though that in many cases, our digital infrastructure is rather old and creaky, and I remember that it had to be jerry-rigged in order to provide COVID support to people in Canada. Could you talk a bit more about how to change systems so that can serve from the bottom up rather than the top down?
Good article Brian, I enjoy it more than the “alt right” stuff. But in regards to this one, ppl still bear the responsibility to deal with issues themselves. Don’t rely on bureaucracy to solve their issues. This requires of course removing the bureaucracy that creates this reliance. Self reliance is a lost art, created by those who love to wield merciless power over others....the perpetual bureaucrats
I appreciate the variety of topics you write so thoughtfully about, so thank you. Regarding this article, I see a similarity in the way DMV employees are overworked and get compassion overload to how this occurs in many professions. Hospital workers, police officers, educators, restaurant workers, to name a few, all are overworked. Management doesn’t care, they just see data points and set impossible goals, while hiring as few people as they can get away with in order to make a profit. Of course this will burn people out but one has to eat, so they keep trying to do the job best they can with what energy they have that day. Admin/management has the upper hand at this point in time, hoping they realize people over profits makes the world a better, more satisfied place.
I came across a jaw-dropping interview a couple of days ago between Jon Stewart and Larry Summers. Summers is the perfect example of how and why the ones with Supreme Power made the choices that created this broken system. To them, it's just a matter of numbers with absolutely no thought for the people impacted. Summers has been part of financial decisions with Democratic administrations for a few decades. They have lost touch with humanity and they control the system. https://youtu.be/tU3rGFyN5uQ
Very interesting. Does his book talk about how systems might be changed to improve users' experiences of it? I just read a story this morning about how Ukraine, even under attack from Russia, has found a way to make its governance much more digital - as has Estonia, and some states in India before that. It seems though that in many cases, our digital infrastructure is rather old and creaky, and I remember that it had to be jerry-rigged in order to provide COVID support to people in Canada. Could you talk a bit more about how to change systems so that can serve from the bottom up rather than the top down?
Good article Brian, I enjoy it more than the “alt right” stuff. But in regards to this one, ppl still bear the responsibility to deal with issues themselves. Don’t rely on bureaucracy to solve their issues. This requires of course removing the bureaucracy that creates this reliance. Self reliance is a lost art, created by those who love to wield merciless power over others....the perpetual bureaucrats