when does being aware of something mean not knowing?

[sha7jpm]

would value your input on this..

just spoke to a government official who is administering a data collection that all councils are submitting at present.

Upon us discovering an error with a file we get from schools we were told that the software supplier was aware of this issue along with the government during last years collection.

This year it has appeared again, BUT according to the official this does not mean that there was a known issue but merely they were aware of an issue which they flagged up with the software supplier who could not fix it and they did not chase the software supplier for the last 12 months about it.

When I challenged this he replied that they did not know about it or on purpose sweep it under the carpet.

Therefore they were aware of a problem that was not resolved nor did they chase it up, BUT they did not know of the problem or deliberately ignore it.

there you go, how to be aware of something but not know about it!

this has so many possibilities in life, could become the quote of the century! (maybe...!)

Sounds like Sir Humphrey speak to me!

what do you all think?

J

[Pauldohert]

I can't say too much, but I am writing a sitcom - which is a mix of The Office and Yes Minister,

its largely to do with governments stats, outputs, targets which are always met - the reality is a comedy of massive incompetence and lies ( ie literally there are cases 1% achived that get recorded as 100% successful, for paycheck of millions), usually attached to a wholely undeserved pay check and even more scandalously bonus.

All counted as Labour as extra money spent and things achieved - 99% of it is bollocks, being wasted by the same dullrds over and over again on new initiative that are badly conceived and baldy delivered.


Thats my experience anyhow.

[emcf]

good old-fashioned public sector inefficiency. the end result of un-motivated workers engaging with a cumbersome and inflexible process. IT and government never seem to mix that well, usually ends up being an expensive waste of time, money and effort.

rant over! (we need a soapbox icon )

[Newman]

As a freelance programmer, I received many contracts from governements, many of which I never had the chance to complete because of changes of the chiefs of the departements I was working with.

Someone ask me to do something... I say that it will take three months and will cost 10 000$... He agree and I start the project.
Two months latter, he gets a new job somewhere else and someone else gets his... He doesn't like the idea of the program I am working on... He pays for what has been done and ask me to do something else instead. (Note that what has been done is still unusable.)
I start the new project and a new chief comes in and I have to leave the project again.
After all these years, a handfull of projects have been sent to waste, even before completion. The governement still pays me for the part that were done even if it is worth nothing.
I shouldn't mind since I get paid anyway, but that money that they spend is the same money I send to the governement when I pay my taxes. And I must admit that it is frustrating to see that my work often has no impact in this world.

[The_Doc_Man]

"Be aware of something" but "not know about it." Govspeak if ever there was such a thing.

The worst part is that I can add one word and it would make perfect sense. I can even EXPLAIN how it can happen. I'll explain, but I'm not saying that this next monolog is the actual situation.

I happen to work for the U.S. Depart of Defense. (No, I don't do weapons research. Strictly personnel databases.) But there are packages we have built where we can be aware of a complaint but not OFFICIALLY know about it. See, according to contractual setup, we are not allowed to do anything about program bugs unless someone files an official complaint so that we can track the work. In the government, this is sometimes called a "vehicle" - a fancy way of saying, if it gets reported through an official channel, we have a way to charge money for the fix.

So if someone says, "You know, I've heard that there is a problem with the XYZ button" - all we can do is say, "that's nice." But the moment someone calls in and files a trouble ticket, we have a tracking number for the work and can "officially" acknowledge it. And fix it.

Whether this applies to the person who made the statement that started this topic, who knows. But it IS possible to be aware of something without officially knowing about it. If you leave off the "officially" then I don't know what that statement means.

[Newman]

I've been there to. But when someone says "You know, I've heard that there is a problem with the XYZ button", I take a fast look at it and give a call to the person who usualy files the ticket, explain the results of my research and ask for a ticket.

It is true that it falls in the 13th drawer if I don't get the ticket and I loose the time spent on my research, but at least I made sure that they know about the trouble that it may get them into if they don't give the ticket. More often than other wise, they acknowledge my research and thanks me for my professionalism.

It may not always apply, but in my case it often does.

[statsman]

Originally Posted by Pauldohert

its largely to do with governments stats, outputs, targets which are always met - the reality is a comedy of massive incompetence and lies ( ie literally there are cases 1% achived that get recorded as 100% successful, for paycheck of millions), usually attached to a wholely undeserved pay check and even more scandalously bonus.

Sounds like the old Soviet Union Five Year Plans.

[sha7jpm]

I think doc_man you are being too kind giving the person who said the statement too much credit! but, I like your officially not knowing about something, that I can agree with..

mine is more typical incompetence rather than a case of an official only being able to action something if it is officially flagged.
I think he is trying to cover his back in case we put in an official complaint which considering it has taken 2 days to repair our xml schema and process then we may well do!