Thanks, I’ll read through that speech when I have the time. The example you quote doesn’t seem to be an instance of the law, though. The Office of the Surgeon General and the Dept. of Agriculture aren’t run by the same people, so the fact that they support conflicting policies isn’t really evidence that the people running them aren’t working for the goals for their respective organizations. The organizations might just have conflicting goals. It’s also unclear to me how the two examples on Pournelle’s blog (especially the second) are good evidence for the law. Pournelle seems to be interpreting the law to mean something like “Bureaucracies do wasteful and counterproductive things”, but that’s not what the law says.
More broadly though, Pournelle’s law seems to assume that working to further the goals of the organization and working for the organization itself are always incompatible. That’s plausible in the example he gave, involving education, but I don’t think it’s generally true. Often a very effective way to further the goals of a bureaucratic organization is to bolster the political clout and prestige of the organization itself.
The Office of the Surgeon General and the Dept. of Agriculture aren’t run by the same people,
Depending on how far up the chain you go. Also FiftyTwo was trying to argue that the people providing health services will include future tax revenue in the set of things they seek to maximize.
Often a very effective way to further the goals of a bureaucratic organization is to bolster the political clout and prestige of the organization itself.
True, assuming you ever actually get around to furthering your goals. Unfortunately, if you optimize your organization too much for obtaining political clout and prestige it will be hard to shift to accomplishing your goals.
Thanks, I’ll read through that speech when I have the time. The example you quote doesn’t seem to be an instance of the law, though. The Office of the Surgeon General and the Dept. of Agriculture aren’t run by the same people, so the fact that they support conflicting policies isn’t really evidence that the people running them aren’t working for the goals for their respective organizations. The organizations might just have conflicting goals. It’s also unclear to me how the two examples on Pournelle’s blog (especially the second) are good evidence for the law. Pournelle seems to be interpreting the law to mean something like “Bureaucracies do wasteful and counterproductive things”, but that’s not what the law says.
More broadly though, Pournelle’s law seems to assume that working to further the goals of the organization and working for the organization itself are always incompatible. That’s plausible in the example he gave, involving education, but I don’t think it’s generally true. Often a very effective way to further the goals of a bureaucratic organization is to bolster the political clout and prestige of the organization itself.
Depending on how far up the chain you go. Also FiftyTwo was trying to argue that the people providing health services will include future tax revenue in the set of things they seek to maximize.
True, assuming you ever actually get around to furthering your goals. Unfortunately, if you optimize your organization too much for obtaining political clout and prestige it will be hard to shift to accomplishing your goals.