So the author’s spent 30 years at the Five-Sided Puzzle Palace and he’s gonna tell everyone how to clean up the mess? Take each of these for what they’re worth – and some apply to business as well as government.
Rule 1: Nobody gets to start with a clean sheet of paper.
Rule 2: If it sounds easy, it has already been tried.
Rule 3: Never overlook what is working.
Rule 4: There are no “perfect solutions,” only competing priorities.
Rule 5: One-size-fits-all approaches rarely work.
Rule 6: The best-designed reforms take a well-defined subset of problems, identify root causes, and develop focused solutions.
Rule 7: Legislation alone doesn’t solve anything.
Rule 8: Don’t try to take on too much.
Rule 9: Nobody in the Pentagon follows orders.
Rule 10: The most effective reform initiatives build broad support, address organizational alignment and individual incentives, and are driven by continuous engagement of senior officials.
The details for each of this is @ Ten Rules for Defense Management Reform
