Seeing the Vogons and their triplicate authorization forms in the Hitchhiker’s Guide last week has me keenly aware of the bureaucracy within my own company. Just got this e-mail…

> We have found an opportunity for improvement! Our Change > Management process states you should not modify a Change > Request (“CR”) after it has been approved. There are cases > where CRs have been modified after they have been approved, > and the result has been unsuccessful changes. This is > problematic for our customers, our employees, and [company name]. > > Please be aware that if you modify a CR after it is > approved, you invalidate your CR approval because your > modifications are not necessarily read. If you modify a CR > after it is approved (other than to update the worklog with > status during/post change), you must reset it for approval. > There are no exceptions to this requirement.

“Opportunity for improvement”? Gag. This must be the person who suggested that all employees put “Capitalize on our opportunities” as part of their e-mail signatures. (Which I refuse to do.)

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I need to participate in some bare minimum of all this (change request documents, release management documents) to be able to get my job done. What I have to watch myself for, though, is to ensure that the need to cover my ass doesn’t turn me into a bureaucrat myself.