Book Reflection - Hack Your Bureaucracy

Hack Your Bureaucracy - Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai

I added this book to my to-read list after hearing Marina do an interview about it on the You are Not So Smart podcast.  I could hear in Marina’s voice that she is passionate about her work and getting things done, and she had a few stories of where she creatively solved problems.  One of those people who seems like a good professional influence.  

The authors both worked in federal US government tech, but they clarify at the beginning that “bureaucracy’ doesn’t necessarily mean something that’s intended to be bulky or onerous, or even something that is as large as a government bureaucracy.  It can be any process of documentation or approvals.  And not all bureaucracies need to be hacked. 

The book is put together as a series of tactics to consider as you think about how things get done in your organization  Major themes include: 

Seek to Understand and Don’t Be a Know it All - The first set is basically about understanding why things are the way they are.  Ask questions in a curious and non-judgmental way.  If you walk into an organization and things just seem messy, don’t assume your new coworkers are idiots.  Don’t ask why don’t you “just” simplify things?  (“Just” has been one of my long standing pet peeves).  Don’t assume every process is stupid - sometimes they have been set up for legitimate reasons we don’t know yet. 

Act in Good Faith - If you decide that your organization is unnecessarily resistant to implementing a good idea, be careful how to proceed.  It’s not about winning, it’s about gaining support and buy-in for a future.  Show the journey, demonstrate the benefits. Once the vision is there, you may have sponsors help you navigate that you didn’t have before.   

Initiative Goes a Long Way - When crises like a global pandemic arise, old rules may clearly not apply any longer.  The risk equations may be different, or other assumptions may no longer be valid.  In these cases, you can use your creativity and expertise to suggest new optimized processes or introduce new tools.  Once it sounds like “oh, we’re going to need a policy for this” - offer to write the first draft yourself to raise the bar for adding unnecessary clauses 

 I felt really validated by this book. I’m a geek about processes, both setting them up and continually evaluating their usefulness.  I get passionate about ideas I’d like to try implementing and I get intensely frustrated at times when I can’t make them happen immediately.  This passion is not a character flaw and I’m not alone in having it.  But I do have a choice in the battles I fight and how to channel this energy to maximize the likelihood of success.