I'm deboubling my effort to write in my blog every day. It's just like exercising regularly, or going on a diet. It just takes quite a bit to get started, but once I get in the groove, everything falls into place automatically. I like writing but spend way too much time thinking than putting thoughts on paper (or its electronic cousin.)
So yesterday I gave my administrative assistant her annual review. As usual, it is glowing. She is organized, professional, responsive, discreet, deals well with internal and external customers, what more can you ask for. Well, you can. She herself wants to move away from supporting others to building an expertise of her own. Last fall, in large part due to my encouragement, she started evening classes towards completing an undergraduate degree in business. It will take her another 2 to 2.5 years to finish at this point. Unfortunately she'll have to take a leave of absence in the fall semester due to surgery, but I encourage her to go back in January.
Once her undergrad is completed, she wants to pursue a career in training and development. So we discussed different career paths and preparations. It's fun to play academic adviser again. When I used to do it as a full-time job, it was exciting to see all the possibilities in front of 18 and 19 year olds. Now it's great to see all the possibilities in front of a 45 year old. Life is ever changing and ever growing. Each of us needs to grow with our lives.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
My great aunt
My great aunt passed away a couple of days ago following a stroke. It was a good peaceful way to pass away. She was spending time with her children and grandchildren at a vacation home on the ocean front when she had her stroke. She had always said that she desire to just pass away in her sleep. This is very close, since she never regained consciousness from the stroke, and died within a few days.
I won't be able to make it to the west coast for the funeral. But I am grieving quietly from afar, not only grieving for the passing of a woman with an interesting life, but grieving for the passing of yet another person in her generation. I think she is the last person in her generation I have known enough to get part of her story. Everyone else has passed on.
There are some remarkable stories, mostly of strong-willed women, in my family. I keep saying I want to write these stories. Now is not too late to start.
I won't be able to make it to the west coast for the funeral. But I am grieving quietly from afar, not only grieving for the passing of a woman with an interesting life, but grieving for the passing of yet another person in her generation. I think she is the last person in her generation I have known enough to get part of her story. Everyone else has passed on.
There are some remarkable stories, mostly of strong-willed women, in my family. I keep saying I want to write these stories. Now is not too late to start.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
The Disappearing Govbot
I read in today's Hong Kong news about how the Examination Authority mis-graded the English Part B paper of the Hong Kong School Certificate Exam. No, they didn't mis-grade one or two papers. There were a total of 670 wrong grades! The Examination Authority announced this a few days after the school cert results were out, never mind that this test literally affects the life and future of millions of students. Most of the grades were adjusted upwards, yielding a total of 23 students who were previously denied spots in Form 6 because of failed English grades who now qualify for a Form 6 spot.
The aggravating thing is that the Education Department urged schools to be "generous" in opening one or two extra spots for the students, but wouldn't give the schools more funding if they do. Also aggravating is the fact that news of the wrong grades came out on Friday and no officials were available to talk to reporters for half the day on Friday because they were "in meetings". Then on Saturday, instead of putting in emergency increased hours to answer questions from students, parents, and schools, the relevant departments only opened their usual half-day Saturday hours.
Watching this from across the Pacific, I just can't help but compare HK government to US government. Okay, we don't ever open on Saturdays, so HK is one up on us. But the disappearing civil service bureaucracy is a reality here as well as in other countries. Thirty forty years ago, HK government was a fine place for a bright young man (okay, they only took care of bright young men then because there was nothing for bright young women other than teaching and nursing). People used to say that going into banking is getting a gold rice bowl and going into government is getting an iron rice bowl--not as glamorous or expensive as a gold rice bowl, but it wouldn't break! Now, bright young people don't go into public service and civil service positions are being eliminated left and right in the name of budget management. Top level civil service positions are being replaced by political appointments, in HK, as in the US.
So what we find are holes everywhere. People who are not as qualified or not as bright working in civil service jobs who make mistakes grading papers, among other things. To top it off, the systems are old too. I bet you HK government is using the same crumbling old mainframes installed in the late 70's and early 80's we are using in federal, state, and municipal government agencies in the US. I am of course most familiar with my own Agency, but a friend who works for the school district says they can't even figure out who's on their payroll easily out of their system. Welcome to 2005, using a completely outdated model of human and technological infrastructure.
I'm not saying that the old civil service bureaucracy was perfect. By no means. But it was predictable. Change happened slowly, but usually in a carefully planned way. By eliminating positions willy-nilly in an effort to cut costs, by placing inexperienced, ego-puffed political hecks in powerful decision-making positions, and by not having good strategic processes to replace old physical and technological infrastructure, government as an industry is heading towards a crisis everywhere. And who would have the vision, the knowledge, and the courage to fix it?
The aggravating thing is that the Education Department urged schools to be "generous" in opening one or two extra spots for the students, but wouldn't give the schools more funding if they do. Also aggravating is the fact that news of the wrong grades came out on Friday and no officials were available to talk to reporters for half the day on Friday because they were "in meetings". Then on Saturday, instead of putting in emergency increased hours to answer questions from students, parents, and schools, the relevant departments only opened their usual half-day Saturday hours.
Watching this from across the Pacific, I just can't help but compare HK government to US government. Okay, we don't ever open on Saturdays, so HK is one up on us. But the disappearing civil service bureaucracy is a reality here as well as in other countries. Thirty forty years ago, HK government was a fine place for a bright young man (okay, they only took care of bright young men then because there was nothing for bright young women other than teaching and nursing). People used to say that going into banking is getting a gold rice bowl and going into government is getting an iron rice bowl--not as glamorous or expensive as a gold rice bowl, but it wouldn't break! Now, bright young people don't go into public service and civil service positions are being eliminated left and right in the name of budget management. Top level civil service positions are being replaced by political appointments, in HK, as in the US.
So what we find are holes everywhere. People who are not as qualified or not as bright working in civil service jobs who make mistakes grading papers, among other things. To top it off, the systems are old too. I bet you HK government is using the same crumbling old mainframes installed in the late 70's and early 80's we are using in federal, state, and municipal government agencies in the US. I am of course most familiar with my own Agency, but a friend who works for the school district says they can't even figure out who's on their payroll easily out of their system. Welcome to 2005, using a completely outdated model of human and technological infrastructure.
I'm not saying that the old civil service bureaucracy was perfect. By no means. But it was predictable. Change happened slowly, but usually in a carefully planned way. By eliminating positions willy-nilly in an effort to cut costs, by placing inexperienced, ego-puffed political hecks in powerful decision-making positions, and by not having good strategic processes to replace old physical and technological infrastructure, government as an industry is heading towards a crisis everywhere. And who would have the vision, the knowledge, and the courage to fix it?
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