Acronyms ulit?

Have you noticed why there is often CHAOS in the office? It's because the (Chief Has Arrived On Scene). Everyone PANICs because they are (Pressured and Not In Control).

They deal with people from Infrastructure Development and Information Operations Technology Systems (IDIOTS). Working with them is no PICNIC because the (Problem's In Chair, Not in Computer).

Those people are Database Utility Management Builders (DUMB), Application Software Systems, Hardware and Online Links Encoders (ASSHOLES), and They Have Insufficient Cerebral Knowledge (THICK).

Is it because of the Mean Assholes Needlessly Attracting Generally Everyone's Resentment (MANAGERs) who give them STRESS (Shit To Remember Every Single Second)? Or because of the software which causes Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious, Not Outstanding, This Expensive Software (LOTUS NOTES) and IT Blames Microsoft, While Expecting Breakdown, So Plead Help for Everyone to Reduce Errors (IBM WEBSPHERE).

But still people work as a TEAM because (Together Everyone Achieves More), and they have PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In Delivering Excellence) in themselves.

And people believe in YAHOO! (You Always Have Other Options) like GOOGLE (God’s Other Online Gateway Linking Electronically).

Work hard at working smart

A former boss, to whom I was not popular, often said (not to me) 'work smart, not hard'. Maybe it is just the only thing we agree about.

Many workers work hard, very hard. Not only work hard, but work hard for long hours. Never mind if mindless chatter intersperse the hours. Aside from chatter, many workers often work hard because they do not know exactly what they are doing, or the best way to do it, hence the inability to respond to the tasks accordingly. Some equate long hours with working hard. Of course, putting in long hours is hard work. Mahirap yun ha? However, if one has the option of working hard or smart, which would he rather do?

I've been working most of my life now. Majority of the working years were spent in government. One general problem in the bureaucracy is the tendency of management to equate long hours with working hard. In local labor lingo, the government bureaucracy works 'arawan', per day. Private business on the other hand, work 'pakyawan'. The irony there is whenever bureaucrats were to have something fixed in their house or car, for example, they invariably would want 'pakyaw' job orders.

Those coming from the private sector would find work in the layered bureaucracy sluggish, tedious and circuitous. The bureaucratic process trumps efficiency. Productivity is still unquestionably the desired outcome but efficiency is neglected. The bureaucracy will complete a job in 2 months if it can be completed in 2 weeks. That is the law of government planning. For example, the government projects an activity can be completed in X days, the government will then make plans and targets to complete the activity in X weeks, and then actually finish it in X months. Same X, longer unit. So, the next time you hear of a government output delivered in 3 months, more likely it was planned to be completed in 3 weeks, and could actually have been completed in 3 days.

A CEO blogs that the basic rule for success is responsiveness. This morning at the flag ceremony, our big boss talked of further improving our work. For starters, the government should start the crackdown on unresponsive units. It is time to get the bureaucracy out of its inertia.

Back to the grind

After the project that required me to report for a daily 8 to 5 grind ended, I had projects that allowed me to stay home and freely schedule my time. There were meetings, presentations, and occasional travels that brought me around region 7 and Batangas. But for the past years I caught the NBA AllStars, SuperBowl, the Grammys and Oscars, and some beauty pageants live on TV.

Now I'm back to a regular daily routine that makes me miss the usual live events on cable. I work with a group that shares common passions - foremost of which is working for an institution for more than 10 hours straight daily, 5 days a week; and still manage to come fresh as daisies the next day. This group routinely pours in long hours what other offices do on a seasonal basis.

This day marks the first full month of working with them. Statistically, my entry raises the group's average age. I hope I also upped the overall job knowledge and experience, if not the average looks (he-he-he, joke lang, officemates in case you're reading this).

The group also shares other passions. Eating is one. But that will be another subject.