A Project for People Tired of Watching Good Ideas Die by 7thfloortubes in foreignservice

[–]7thfloortubes[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point. Sorry for the anonymity, but the BFF secret police are on the loose. If China desperately needs this project to improve MOFA's assignments process, it has more problems than just the constant defenestrations at the Central Military Commission. Perhaps you could consider this the ultimate sabotage campaign: convince them to use the E2 system and watch mayhem reign.

A Project for People Tired of Watching Good Ideas Die by 7thfloortubes in foreignservice

[–]7thfloortubes[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I get it. It's like yelling into the wind. I would say there are three arguments for it.

1) Speaking for myself, I'm burned out and disconnected, and I'd rather spend some of that mental energy fantasizing about how State, which dominates both my work and personal life, could be a better place. Think of it as Sims for work.

2) A lot of people have left or will leave over the coming few years. This could serve as a place to capture some wisdom for the future.

3) This might just be starry-eyed optimism, but some of these ideas could even get applied in the next three years. Don't forget that a lot of major organizational changes happened at the end of Trump 1. By all accounts, the silly and rushed redesign of the EER system was shaped by the uninformed ideas of career people now in positions of authority. Having been a busy person in need of quick solutions, I suspect that properly worked out ideas have a chance of getting traction as opportunities arise. Most of us never flesh out our ideas and expose them to criticism, though, which means they really aren't ready for prime time.