Management & Managing Government Quotes

There is a great tendency in politics and government operations to get extremely precise numbers because political opponents will always attack all numbers that do not support their positions. The result is that typically, so much time and money goes into trying to get precision, that by the time the numbers are good enough the opportunity to make the right policy decision will have passed. Much information that bears on an issue is never used because it is not precise enough while the precise information is not particularly relevant. See {619763} for a similar related quote.

About 200 years after Voltaire made this statement, Robert F Kennedy was quoted with a similar notion. See {624825}. However, both of these echo an old Russian proverb. See {615261}.

In governmental programs typically administrators, evaluators and often the media measure what is easiest to measure and use that to assess the benefit of the program or initiative. See {63458}.

The general principle applies to politicians consulting various experts in different ways.

Ironically the far right wing Fascists and the far left wing Communists agreed on this point: nationalization.

3rd Earl Russell of Kingston

When politicians and appointees deviate from this principle, they end up with a much more difficult management problem. One of the complaints of elected politicians often is that the executive is not exercising accountability, but if it is exercised publicly, the morale effect is devastating.

This is true fir government even more so than business. Politicians tend to focus on policy making and having vision, but most policy visions fail for lack of execution.

This quotation as such has not been found in Jefferson's writings, but it is entirely consistent with Jefferson's philosophy and practice

This humorous quotation has been used in all fields to emphasize the importance of getting agreements in writing.