Streamlining

Years ago I got a computing magazine, and on each issue's last page they ran a short column on some amusing anecdote. One was a repairman's observation: a computer at the point of sale got shaken up each time the cash door slammed shut, so he helpfully moved it--and the computer started hanging. Apparently the disk's bearings were starting to go, and the little shake it got helped it unstick. Anecdotes like that.

One column was a story of an intern at BigExpensiveComputer Company, which had million-dollar support contracts on mainframes and software. As our hero learned the ropes of his small piece of a large project, he shared an office with a fellow who didn't do anything but read the sports sections and fiddle with things on his desk. Hero speculated on how the officemate kept his job with such a lousy work ethic. Hero came in one morning to find the officemate on the phone -- all day long -- stepping a customer with a crashed database through picking up all the scattered bits and putting the software back together.

Turned out said officemate was the only one left who understood a ancient computer/software combination that BEC Co had sold, and still earned seven figures on the maintenance of. BEC Co was happy to pay the man big bucks to sit around and figure betting odds on horses, just so he'd be there on that one day every few years when something really bad happened. Insurance.

How many places in government are like that, where most years you don't need an expert on shield volcanos, but this month something started steaming in Lake Erie and people want answers now?

The military is one role where efficiency isn't top priority, of course -- coverage and robustness compete with it.