Catching up

Haven't blogged in a bit.. There's really not much new in politics, etc.

I did get my new assignment at work. It seems to be a long term project, and the people seem nice. I just need to learn a completely new system and so on. It'll probably be okay..

The project that I was working on.. that was cancelled.. the VA spent about a half billion tax-payer dollars. That's billion.. with a capital B. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this hits the MSM and there's a serious stink in Congress. They are very very serious about money like that.

Now, I'm just a grunt. I do what they tell me to do and I like it that way. That said, I'll offer my opinion of what the problem is and why the VA keeps failing with large, complex projects. The problem is the culture, as is often the case when a large group undertakes a big project.

I've written this before, but one of the odd things I noticed about the VA when I joined it, is that the pecking order is flipped backwards. The engineers are generally low-man on the totem pole. As I've said, I don't have a huge ego and so it doesn't bother me personally. However, when top management solicits advice they ask "analysts" and that's a huge mistake. Analysts are incredibly over rated, and they don't understand the complex nuts-and-bolts issues. I can't tell you how many times changes came down from on high and it was a total surprise to me.

The only way a very expensive project can succeed is if the project manager is a former engineer and not simply an MBA type with no hands-on experience, and that project manager has to rely first and foremost on advice from the top engineers. The problem is that quite frequently, the engineers have no desire to go into management. The difference in money is minimal, but the stress is vastly different. There is no point.

It's the same culture that causes Space Shuttle disasters for NASA - where engineers advice went unheeded and shuttles destroyed. It's the same for the VA.

The most important person that builds a house is the carpenter. The most important people that create logic systems are the engineers.