Is the Bullpen Bullshit?
Today's Washington Post detailed the inner workings of Mayor Adrian Fenty's "bullpen" office, where transparency is the priority and paper is a quaint notion. As the Post reported, there's nothing on Fenty's desk---not a sheet of paper or even a pencil---because he leaves the paper-pushing to his aides or lackeys or interns or whomever, and can't be bothered to deal with the stuff himself.
But I don't know. Why rely on silly things like human memories when you can rely on more tangible (and dare I say, more accurate) things like memorandums? Why depend so heavily on your chief of staff when you can look into your inbox and find your chief of staff's paper trail?
What do you think? Is this bullpen thing just a gimmick? Do you really see this improving staff efficiency?
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5:08 pm
1. a lot of the major players actually have offices elsewhere in the building;
2. this bullpen thing may be great for getting info from your coworkers, but what about when you actually have to focus in on a job (i.e., writing a complex policy brief or absorbing a lot of data);
3. what happens if one of the relief pitchers (or whatever the mayor wants to call the folks at these desks) has to hold a private conversation, for example on a sensitive political or legal issue.
5:27 pm
What's really bullshit is the utter suck-up job of a news feature the Post has done here. A bunch of desks in a room--big fucking deal! The "now-famous bullpen"--excuse me, famous? Would you be referring to the fame that comes from your own articles? Enough Fenty-fluffing already.
7:43 pm
It just means Fenty is FOIA proof. So don't expect to find any e-mails from the mayor about his outfits during the next snow storm or crime emergency.
8:10 pm
I don't see paper notes as being current currency. Email's the way things are done today. So why would there be a load of graphite covered paper on anyone's desk? Except for people who doodle, of course. Electronic records are FOIAable, btw.
The Bullpen idea seems like an interesting management technique. Everyone in it is in constant view of everyone else. Absences and distractions would stand a high(er) chance of being noticed. Of course there are private conference rooms. There need to be.