The Kissinger Politics Stakes Law

My neighbor informed me of today's quote of the day:

University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.
- Henry Kissinger

I had heard a version of this quote long ago and immediately fell for it! Years later I was working on a multi-million project at a multi-billion company and noticed that the politics seemed to fairly tamed based on my own experience. Once the project went live I noticed that slowly little stupid things crept up. I turned to my colleague who had been there many years and asked "What' going on? So and so seems to be treating me differently than before..did I do something wrong?" His reply stuck with me "It's not you it's BAU!"

I have long be a fan of organizational laws. Conway's Law is my favorite. I propose a new one:

The Kissinger Politics Stakes Law

As the stakes of an endeavour increase the politics will decline. As the stakes decrease the politics will increase.

If you think about it, it explains so many odd behaviors. Why during WWII did the US Government function so well and during the 90's boom do so poorly? Why do PTA elections seem to be more ferocious than US Presidential ones? It's the hidden law we have all been witness to!

I can't be the first to see this...Google provided the answer Sayre's Law. So it seems Kissinger gets credit where credit is not deserved....how Sayre-ian :-)

There is Something Wrong at UPS

This story beings on a happy note. For Christmas, my lovely wife gave me VA Wine of the Month. It's great. Every month I get a red and a white from a different Virginia winery with an article on the winery and detailed description of each wine with matching recipes! This month's wine first came to my door on Tuesday. I get home to see the ugly UPS sticker. I had to get my son to baseball so I placed on the counter to deal with later. We won the game and came home tired around 8pm. My wife asks about the package. I read the fine print and after a bit I see the phone number and the fact that you have to call before 7pm to effect delivery. I hope that on the second attempt the delivery person comes at a time when we are home. Also this is just the first attempt ( a little foreshadowing :-)

Wednesday I get home to yet another ugly sticker. That's two straight days before 5pm...hmmm I think I should call them. My wife had to run an errand and the kids needed dinner so low and behold it is after 7pm before I remember to call. I see on the "helpfull" sticker that you can also do this from ups.com! Great! I go through the broken process of trying to find out how to change my delivery and enter in Friday with a note that I will be at home after 1pm. All is going well until Thursday. I get home to....you guessed it..another bloody sticker. The delivery times were all between 2 and 3pm on three consecutive days. I call customer service because now I am a little upset and I need to find out how to get my package. The lady of phone was nice enough and told be that the 7pm deadline applied to online as well (what's the point of having it then?) She politely gave me the address of the location to pick it up. It was 28 miles from my house and 12 miles, in the opposite direction, from where I work!

I was leaving early on Friday so I figure I'll just "swing" by and get home about an hour later than planned. A hassle, but the wine is worth it :-) I show up and there are two employees and one customer in the customer service area of the massive shipping facility (with two guards at the entrance no less). One employee tells me the other one will be with me shortly as she quickly departs the area. The customer leaves and the employee takes my slip (the one from the FINAL shipment notice) and quickly walks out of sight. Two more customers come in. One with a pakcage and another in my line to pick something up. 

I engage in conversation to learn she called just before 7pm to change shipment to today, but when she asked to speak with a person to verify she would be home, the person told her it was after seven, so they couldn't change delivery! She was told to call at 7am on Friday to verify the package would be at the shipment facility before she picked it up between 10am and 6pm. She called at the required time and was told they couldn't find her package in the system and it would be best if she called the facility when it opened at 10am. She called at 10 and after escalating she got someone to say they would find her package and have it waiting for her by noon. She asked them to call her when they found it, but no call came. She called at noon and they had it. At this point I am thinking "at least I have it better than her."

Another employee entered and took care of the other customer and then she takes the slip from the lady I was talking to. She comes back in seconds with her package...my first hint there a problem. I ask the employee if everything was OK with mine as I hadn't seen the person who took my slip for a while and I hoped it wasn't being delivered to my home right now. The employee that took slip walks in and asks me if anyone will be home around 3pm. I say yes, then she tells me it is on the truck!?!

I drive the 28 miles home trying to forget this whole ordeal. My mom arrives and we go to the bus stop to get the kids just after 2pm. As we are waiting a UPS truck drives by. My wife tells me to hurry home. I walk as fast as possible to catch the guy waiting for me with my wine! A happy ending after all.

I know I only have two data points, but I gotta believe the shipping market is ripe for the picking with customer service as bad as this! 

I have been assimliated!

I moved my blog last year because I had two Google accounts and I was two lazy to figure out how that impacted me editing my blog. In the mean time I have become fed up with Hotmail and Bloglines. Thus I have become a googlite. Gmail, reader, blogspot, docs, calendar are all now my tools of choice. Therefore I am back from mwpolen.wordpress.com.

Moving to WordPress?

I have started an account at WordPress:
http://mwpolen.wordpress.com/

The editor here and the fact that when I logged into my google docs with a different email than I use for my blog I lost my saves made me mad :-)

I might come back, but for now look there for any new posts and here for old posts.

Jon Stewart on Crossfire

I just read Stewart Caught in the Crossfire on Slate. I missed this live, but with the internet, do you really miss anything. I have never seen a more honest person on a political talk show. I wish Jon Stewart did a show that was serious. I don't think many people would watch it, but I would. For those like me (with a short attention span) the transcript offers some of what really happened (although I think you have to see it!)

STEWART: See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations. an we're left out there to mow our lawns.

BEGALA: By beating up on them? You just said we're too rough on them when they make mistakes.

STEWART: No, no, no, you're not too rough on them. You're part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks.
...
STEWART: ... is that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity.
...
STEWART: I would love to see a debate show.

BEGALA: We're 30 minutes in a 24-hour day where we have each side on, as best we can get them, and have them fight it out.

STEWART: No, no, no, no, that would be great. To do a debate would be great. But that's like saying pro wrestling is a show about athletic competition.

STEWART: But the thing is that this -- you're doing theater, when you should be doing debate, which would be great.

BEGALA: We do, do...

STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.

STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.

STEWART: You need to go to one.

Enough is enough. I could have quoted the whole thing! Sorry for the length. Watch it or read it for yourself.

A true maverick

I came across this review of Maverick by Ricardo Semler and although I have not read the book, I found this review fascinating. I bet Mr. Semler is an interesting fellow.

Waste

I came across Two Great Wastes in Organizations earlier this week. Although I have long believed most waste comes from people not talking to each other, this paper lays out the case in a convincing manner.

Tax Stats

I was reading Lay Off Massachusetts and came across Fiscal Facts. This page has the ratio of federal funds paid versus how much federal revenue is generated per state for 1992 and 2002. The most interesting thing is that the state with the highest ratio (gets more than it gives) for 2002 is North Dakota and the lowest is New Jersey. I would have guess my state (VA) would be bad (11th, 1.47) given its proximity to DC, but I would not have figured the top five (SD, NM, MS, AK, WV). Goes to show that you don't always know what you think you know.

First Post

After thinking about doing this for a number of months, I have finally done it! Who knows if I will actually keep posting, but a journey begins with a first step. I have to give credit to the Google Bar. I was looking at the options and they had a BlogThis! option. When I turned it on, I wound up starting a blog. Funny thing this internet is.