The problem is that "blowing it up" is very easy and "fixing it" is very hard. The other thing is that, unlike the private sector, there isn't really a competitor to step in if you've blown yourself up.
The last point in particular seems like one a lot of people obsessed with reform and waste forget - there isn't an alternative supplier for most government services, and the impact of them collapsing/ running out of stuff is life altering (or ending sometimes).
& even if they CAN, there's the perennial disruptor cycle:
- clever person diagnoses problem
- surrounds themselves with clever people to try & fix problem
- clever person's definition of "clever people' is "people who think like me"
- homogeneity of thought, becomes orthodoxy
- new disruptor needed
Cummings (a total idiot) fundamentally misunderstood risk tolerance in the public sector.
If a startup takes private investments, tries something, fails completely, it's not important.
If you do the same with public money its a scandal. Public risks need to be managed very differently.
Comments
- clever person diagnoses problem
- surrounds themselves with clever people to try & fix problem
- clever person's definition of "clever people' is "people who think like me"
- homogeneity of thought, becomes orthodoxy
- new disruptor needed
If a startup takes private investments, tries something, fails completely, it's not important.
If you do the same with public money its a scandal. Public risks need to be managed very differently.