Meta thought on the meta of objective meta
I am preparing something to be presented in some government related agency and initiated a discussion with a senior colleague who has worked with government agency for some years. While I was thinking methodologies to get things done more efficiently and correctly, he suggest me turning direction to "people issue".
I worked as project manager (of products) in electronic industry for some years. Our goals are generally clear. We have to make profits out of our projects considering time to market, cost and quality requirement. Very often I needed to have many conversations with different departments of the company, of the customers and sometimes of vendors several times just in one day. I used to think it's a complicated job requiring good personal skills to be able to move things around among many stakeholders, when their personal interests are not inline with cooperate interests. When I was promoted to a higher level, my boss put a line on my annual performance review card that I need to improve my personal skill. I was confused what personal skills she might really mean. I'd managed well, I thought.
Later on I realize there are some differences. The first thing is when you are at different hierarchical position, personal skills have different meanings. On the surface level, it's all about satisfaction of personal needs such as to be alive, to have achievements, to feel safe and so on. However when you move to a higher ladder, the tools and linking networks become complicated. In order to drive people, you'd need to understand the more complicated network people live within and tools they exercise. I realize later that it's still rather simple inside a cooperation. In the end of day, cooperate objective is to profit. Everything evolves within that framework.
It gets incredible complex when I left industry to work on some government related project. Suddenly I felt myself like a junior high (or even at elementary school level). The incentive systems in government agencies are complicated. There are multi-layers of hidden agendas. It's a complicated web of interest groups, political parties, governmental agencies and personal interests. The rewards are not only in one or two simple forms such as monetary or position power but in various forms.
The system becomes so complicated that it almost can't be described or taught in a systematic and explicit way. It has formed an intangible entry barrier. Those who have survived in the systems have developed huge implicit system knowledge, bureaucracy's know how. This implicit system knowledge has become their biggest and unbreakable valuable asset that prevents competition.
The thoughts organized in different way in this world. I thank God that I might not stay in this world forever. (or maybe I'd developed my personal implicit knowledge and create entry barrier for other people, wouldn't I?)
