This lil blurb in the Daily Report cocked my eyebrow this morning:
Let That Be a Lesson To You: Members of 13th Air Force's analyses, assessments, and lessons learned directorate at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, are the Air Force's Lessons Learned Outstanding Team of the Year for 2009. The group was recognized at an awards ceremony in late October in San Antonio for its work to improve Air Force operations at all levels by incorporating the experiences of individual airmen engaged in organizational changes in the Pacific theater. "Regardless of how successful a mission is, there is always something to be learned and captured for future missions," said John Trifonovitch, who heads the winning directorate. He said the lessons learned also impact the joint community to help ensure that "we thrive as a team." (Hickam Nov. 24 report by TSgt. Kerry Jackson)OK, all you MBAs and management types who live by the guidance and wisdom contained in the Harvard Business Review will probably kick my ass for being incensed over this, but... WTF? The Air Force has entire directorates devoted to "lessons learned?" And there is a formal awards and recognition dinner for these directorates... for which people fly from Hawaii (not to mention other places, one assumes) to frickin' Texas to accept said rewards? I'm gonna flog this dead horse some more, if only to ask what happened to IG inspections? What about ORIs? Are there not "lessons learned" in those activities? Lessons that, if NOT learned, result in leadership turnover or termination of careers for non-performance or failure to meet mission criteria? Doesn't the IG... at ALL levels, USAF, MAJCOM, and Operating Agencies... publish and circulate their findings any longer? Or has that gone by the boards (heh) in favor of "Lessons Learned Directorates?"
OK, rant off. We have the finest Air Force the world has ever seen when all is said and done. But stoopid shit like "Lessons Learned Directorates" really irritates me. There's simply no need for organizations like this and the money could be better spent elsewhere... like O&M funds or maybe even buying new tankers. The Air Force ain't a corporate entity, nor is it an academic institution. We used to exist "to fly and to fight." Now it appears we fly, fight, analyze, evaluate, and publish. Damn.
―:☺:―
Sounds a little bit like -- we don't keep score in the kids' soccer games, because we're ALL winners and we ALL get a trophy.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Not really, really sure why there is an award. Oh, duh, because that way everybody somehow can get an "award". As in -- letter to your file or a cash award or days off award or . . . . what happened to come to work and do your freakin' job and get paid?
I don't mind giving/getting recognition for a job well done, but not for every blessed thing and beyond.
And then people whining about why didn't I get one? "I should get one, too!!!" What you should get is down the hall to your desk and do some work.
(My job doesn't count, it's too weird and I'm working right now while I'm doing this.)
Hope the day is picking up for you!
ReplyDeleteWe reward you for doing your job - help us all!
Who the freak keeps a spare carafe!?!
ReplyDeleteThat's just wrong Buck.
Kath and Cynthia: My angst is less about the award than the fact these people... and their function... even EXIST.
ReplyDeleteSmall-Tee: I came by the spare carafe honestly. I replaced my coffee maker last year and the new one uses the same size carafe as the old. There wasn't anything wrong with the old carafe, so I continued using it after I threw the old coffee maker out and put the new carafe in the cabinet. Does that work for ya?
Buck, I'm with you 100% on this. WTF indeed! I still remember the idiocy involved with QAF in the 90's... I still think it's just another example of feel good BS implemented for someone's OPR.
ReplyDeleteIt's things like this that keep the ole AF at the forefront of inter service jokes.
Cracked coffee carafe! Your day was worse than mine and mine was not good.
ReplyDeleteRude: I'm glad I'm not alone here. Sometimes the boys make me feel like I'm one of those ol' codgers who walked five miles, barefoot, uphill, through the snow to school... both ways.
ReplyDeleteLou: My day did NOT get off to a smooth start, that's for sure. But it got better, later.
The lessons learned directorate just further proves a point I was making in an email to one of my uncles...that the U.S. military could CANEX 50% of flag officers, 25% of O-6s, and 85%(+) of the staffs without any appreciable decrease in results. Performance would probably actually go up.
ReplyDeleteRest assured, findings are circulated...to provide amusement about people who are really f**king stupid, if for nothing else. Of course, if you're laughing about someone else's stupidity, chances are you've got another thing coming. Although seriously...some of the findings just make you laugh (aka - Security Forces playing games on his cell phone when he's supposed to be guarding a WSA).
If you want to feel better about a legitimate award, the 3MXG was just recognized with a Daedalian Award for being the best MXG in PACAF.
We are just following the Army's lead...I believe they started it!
ReplyDeleteWe still do ORIs, NSIs, MSATs, and the like. We still crosstell those reports and I've always read the "silly" things that have happened at other locations. There is no better intel on the IG team's focus than the last 5 reports!
The interesting thing to me is the apparent belief by some that we should become more like the Army...
A recent "discussion" point here has been the availability of amenities at Kandahar. Some feel it's too easy on us. Now easy is a VERY relative thing! Last year at Balad, Iraq, life was easy! This year...whole different story! But the Army's Command Sergeant Major wants to take away all the MWR stuff!
That's why I joined the USAF!!!
SN1
"The interesting thing to me is the apparent belief by some that we should become more like the Army..."
ReplyDeleteUh, PT test anyone? I'm all for not having fat people in the military, but the direction we're going is getting a little ridiculous...maybe I'm a bit skewed because I'm in PACAF, but don't get me started...
I have to agree on the PT issue. During my last few years it seemed that every fly by night new leading edge fitness assessment was hastily and shabbily implemented.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is wrong with doing it the way the Army does? Good ole daily PT. Forget the bike, forget the waist measurements, forget changing the fitness evaluation systems every 12-24 months. Pick a program and stick with it!
Geez... SOrry for the mini rant Buck, but the whole AF fitness fiasco gets me going, even after all these years~!
Mike & Buck: I'm glad to hear the IG briefs are still making the rounds. They were required reading back in my day and anyone who got dinged for something that was on a brief was in deep kimchee...
ReplyDeleteThe PT testing thing both amuses and amazes me. I won't bore ya with war stories, but the PT test for most of us was a "once a year run around the track" kinda thing. Unless you (a) couldn't pass the run or (b) were a fat-boy. Then you were fed into the Grinder of Ridiculousness.
Buck: That Army SGM wants to get rid of all MWR stuff? What an asshat...
Rude1: Believe it or don't... I've seen the clinic guys running en mass out at Cannon Airplane Patch, and this was back BEFORE AFSOC took over the base. Being the curious sort, I asked one of the medics about it and got an "Oh, yeah. The hospital commander leads us in runs three times a week." Pretty danged military, ain't it? ;-)
I drove past Cannon on Sunday coming home from a turkey fest in Texas. Sure looks different than the old F-111 days!
ReplyDeleteDid I skim over this too quickly? I can't believe it's not yet been pointed out...you don't believe in lessons-learned, and you cracked your coffee pot. Heheh. Well, glad you had a spare. I, like you, take the bean juice oh so seriously. Perhaps I take it too seriously. I felt your pain there.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the silliness of LL. I can only talk about contractors, not about the AF. It's all in how the program is run. In theory, the process does have its place...and practice does occasionally bear this out. But there's always lots of wasted money/energy. My own uneducated opinion is that these things are perhaps most effective when they're kept in the dark. Like mushrooms. Once they become political circuses, it's all over. And an awards ceremony? That should be considered contrary to the mission.
Like I said, though. My knowledge of things is not encyclopedic. I'm commenting on gut-level reactions, and from your comments I'm gathering your own are not too far distant.
I can't believe it's not yet been pointed out...you don't believe in lessons-learned, and you cracked your coffee pot. Heheh.
ReplyDeleteHunh? I must be missing something!
I DO believe in lessons-learned and used to do project post-mortems in my civilian career regularly. But I was on about the stupidity of management functionality duplication in the Air Force. We have IG teams and other assorted QA functions that routinely provide us (USAF) with lessons-learned, sorta like management audits in the civilian world.