atw: Military projects, training, and all that...
- From: James Hunt <jameshunt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 20:13:19 +1000
Bill Hall's contributions to this list are always a pleasure to read,
and stimulate thought as well. I suspect that not all of Defence is as
well-organized as Tenix.
In years past, I did two defence-related contracts in Brisbane - both
for local offshoots of multinationals. On the basis of this experience,
I fear for the safety of the country.
The first company was staffed by ex-RAAF personnel (the Public Service
in Blue), who were all very nice to each other. The project template,
in use for years, was a Microsoft Word .dot thing, and there were
terrible problems with numbering (lists that wouldn't restart, etc -
you know the score), and the documents were very hard to read. When I
suggested using SEQ fields for numbering, I was told that fields could
not be used in a document, because secret information could be
concealed in fields, and documents could fall into the Wrong Hands. The
people who told me this were all sober at the time, so maybe paranoia
is indeed its own reward.
The project is now three years behind schedule. I am not surprised.
The other place was filled with ex-Army folks, who were all ratbags,
and I learned there that "swears like a trooper" is not a simile, but a
precise technical description. The beer came out at 4:30 every
afternoon too - not a bad place to work. That project also used a .dot
template, supplied directly from Somewhere in Canberra for the project.
It too had awful problems with numbering, style instabilities, and all
the usual stuff.
It's easy to laugh, but this sort of thing is common in the private
sector as well.
To more serious topics.
> My impression is that the defence industry is already having problems
> finding qualified people, and without some targeted action I think the
> situation is likely to get worse. For example, there is certain to be a
> rising demand for defence technical writers over the next few years as
> contracts are signed for several multibillion dollar projects currently
> recently started or in the pipeline (e.g., AWACS fleet, jet tankers,
> air
> warfare destroyers, fast attack transports, joint strike fighters,
> etc.).
Economic commentators have pointed out that the casualization (strange
word) of much of the work force in Australia has shifted
time-management risks from management to workers. It is the business of
management to keep workers busy, and the cost of, say, half a day's
idleness by a permanent employee is a charge on the company. Not so if
the employee is casual - if there's no work, just ring him/her and say
"Don't turn up".
There is a corollary: the costs and risks of our training have been
devolved directly to us. Many of us are casual workers: if you think
you have a six-month contract, read the fine print. Your employer may
be able to terminate the contract on one hour's notice.
Australian employers, including government departments and enterprises,
are often oddly passive about training. These organizations refuse
permanent employment to specialists, refuse to train their employees,
refuse to offer good salaries, and then complain that they can't find
good employees with the right skills!
The answer to that looming shortage is simple and old-fashioned: employ
people on a permanent basis, train them, and pay them, bootstrapping as
necessary. For the right conditions and money, people will queue at the
door. Yes, I know this conflicts with a lot of modern managerial
thinking about cost-cutting and just-in-time methods, but what do
you/we really want?
James Hunt
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