Delaying the Inevitable

The Working Group

A public-sector working group is a magical place where urgency goes to nap and confusion thrives like a well-watered houseplant. These groups are perfectly calibrated: too many people to make a clear decision, yet somehow not enough people to reach one quickly. Their mission, though never stated explicitly, is to thoroughly blur the distinction between progress and activity. They gather valiantly, month after month, armed with color-coded slides and the shared understanding that the answer they’ll eventually present was already written in a three-sentence email long before the group existed.

By design, these teams operate on an 18-month cycle, which is just the right amount of time to ensure every participant forgets what the original problem was. Their discussions orbit endlessly around “alignment,” “next steps,” and “stakeholder engagement,” all revered rituals in the ancient art of getting nowhere slowly. All of this is achieved at a high cost to us the tax payers as they are usually run by one of the Big 5 consultancies whose mantra is why do the work with one person when they could supply three.

When the final report does arrive, it is celebrated not for its insight, but for its sheer survival. An artifact proving that a dozen professionals successfully met 47 times without accidentally concluding anything too quickly.

Thank you,

Kyle

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