Life in Nam: Week 3.0 "Work"

Numbers. Excel spreadsheets will make one think (and dream) a lot about numbers. I’m learning that regardless of the size of the budget, declining resources inevitably force tough decisions...and hopefully prioritization. Whether it's a $5 billion nuclear nonproliferation budget or a health budget in the millions, in the face of austerity, the questions and issues are similar no matter where you sit: how to do more with less, how to plan with uncertainty, and how to manage risk as resources are shifted.

I’m finding that more important than the actual budget numbers, however, is our behavior. How we interact with each other, how we use the processes in place, how we communicate, decide, kick cans down roads, discard processes, lay blame, give up... Our behavior directly affects our investment decisions. Sound processes and rational behavior should lead to smart allocation of resources. So why do declining resources force such dysfunction? And what’s the remedy?

Leadership. Guidance to steer the process and give direction.

(It occurs to me that I could just as easily have been writing about Congress as anywhere else on the globe right now)