Bureaucracy isn't dead... It on Bob's desk to look into.

All over the news you see report after report about how companies are streamlining their processes in order to have a lean work force and be more profitable. Obviously, the people who report to the reports have a Bob of their own.

It is my opinion that as long as people have an ass to cover, there always be a Bob. I can't do my job because Bob isn't done with his. We are waiting on Bob. Bob was supposed to look into that.

Frankly, it disgusts me. Strong words?? Yes, but no less accurate though.

Somehow, it became easier, and more acceptable, to pawn the onus off on someone else than to take care of it yourself. This practice particularly pisses me off because the department I manage is at the bottom at the hill that shit rolls down.

Again, I must affirm my desire to at some point be a the owner of a sole-proprietary. I look around me and we have people that have no real value to the company yet somehow have been deemed invaluable. People that have interjected themselves or been interjected into processes of which they make cumbersome and unproductive. You want to save some money, cleanout the cupboard. Make my life and the life of those who actually are productive an easier one.

So, the next time you go to do something and have to pass through three levels of pointless approvals to finally get to the person who makes the decision walk up to that person and introduce yourself... Hi, I'm Bob.