tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post1915072218328194656..comments2024-02-10T12:12:06.028+00:00Comments on The Real Blog: How to tackle the disaster of too much measurementDavid Boylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11410159311875228620noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post-39467856046981558742014-02-07T19:18:05.731+00:002014-02-07T19:18:05.731+00:00I absolutely agree. It's no coincidence that ...I absolutely agree. It's no coincidence that the Babylonian empire created the numbers we use today...David Boylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11410159311875228620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post-75418274939603285622014-02-07T17:27:20.180+00:002014-02-07T17:27:20.180+00:00I hadn't thought of our over-reliance on numbe...I hadn't thought of our over-reliance on numbers this way before or joined up the dots but it's clearly an important point.<br /><br />Of course if your basic idea of governance is tight central control, Thatcher or Blair style, then you MUST have numbers to tell you what is going on in every outpost of the empire you purport to rule and you MUST believe that they tell you all you need to know even though you must also know they are routinely gamed.<br /><br />So I agree with Lorenzo that we have to find an entirely new approach to governance, one where power really is devolved and where public sector managers are expected, required even, to make and defend judgement calls based on local and multi-dimensional knowledge of each situation rather than blindly hit targets of dubious relevance.<br /><br />It's a big task to rethink all this but pretty well everyone I talk to is sick to death of ever-tighter formal interventions by unaccountable bureaucrats (and it's not just government; bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountant are at it as well) so there may be a surprising number of allies. Is this what people are really tilting at when they complain of 'red tape'? I think it may be.Gordonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09261797893125328161noreply@blogger.com