Friday, January 18, 2008

hold me now

The organization is doing a terrible job of capacity planning. We're in the midst of a mission shift and something of a functional reorganization. People who have been here for 900 years don't seem to be too concerned with the fact that projects are getting backed up, staff are stressed, and critical work is performed in a vacuum. I keep thinking about Nowhere Man in the Yellow Submarines cartoon, sitting in the middle of continually shrinking concentric circles until he's the only object left in a vast white space, spinning aimlessly in a sea of nothing.

For the past few years I've strove to create an intimate relationship between Information Systems and the functional units of the college. We've done a good job of managing projects against tangible metrics and degrees of accountability -- not something easily done in higher education. Maybe it's just been a stressful week and I'm needing to vent. Maybe I miss the demands, deadlines, challenges, and successes of good 'ol capitalistic private sector exploitation. Maybe just once I'd like to see some accountability for inadequate executive planning. Maybe I need to wait until the kids finish college before I start barking about the blind eye continually turned from the business of higher education.

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