One small step

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landings I want to share a vivid personal memory of that time...bear with me.

As an 11 year old, excited by space adventure and, having followed the Apollo missions from the start (bedroom full of Airfix Rockets and a Lunar Lander to prove it) I eagerly awaited the launch of Apollo 11.  As the moon landing date neared I realised that it would take place on my 12th birthday - July 20th 1969.  I further realised that the whole adventure would be shown live on TV - albeit in Black and White.

We watched the early evening landing of the Lunar Module (about 8pm GMT).

Could I dare to hope that I would be allowed to stay up for the first moon walk scheduled for around 3.a.m?

Well, I could hope - and pray that this would be a birthday to remember.

But the parental answer was "NO".

Now, I was brought up to do what my parents said and so I missed it, the single most iconic event in my life to that point, and I missed it.  Watching highlights on the news the next day did not replace the loss, much like knowing the scores before watching Match of the Day.

The moral of this story dear reader:

Don't hurt for 50 years, the only one it damages is yourself - especially as my Mum does not remember the incident at all.

Centralise, Centralise, let not one task evade your eyes...

Naval historian, C. Northcote Parkinson coined the phrase:

 "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion".

This is known as Parkinson's law.  Parkinson was a University man and so may well have been thinking about the increasing managerialism and centralisation in modern Higher Education (doubtful, as he died in 1993, but bear with me...)

picture from: kisspng-trinidad-blackhole

Over thirty years in Higher Education have certainly taught me that Parkinson was partially correct.  The work certainly expands but not always because we want to "look busy" as "the boss is coming".

The work expands as:

• Centrally positioned administrators find "efficiencies" in faculty based administrators and academics taking on more administrative tasks.
• The multiplication of meetings, sometimes to discuss other meetings, soaks up time better spent on the "real work".
• IT systems multiply as new uses of technology are embraced.  The investment in getting each to talk to existing or separate systems never quite materialises.
• Marketing, Human Resources, Finance and Academic Registry procedures are codified, translated into forms to be completed by staff and then embedded deep in intranet sites, clearly to challenge the intellectual capacity of users.
• The concept of "end user" control is applauded and enthusiastically applied to everything from booking travel, claiming expenses, getting permission to travel, submitting, refereeing, announcing and recording research outputs, classroom booking, equipment requests, photocopying, VLE completion....the list goes on.

A pity that time does not expand so as to ensure that the work assigned can be completed.

Reading level stage 1: REF, TEF and KEF go to University

"Come on TEF and KEF" calls REF, as they climb the hill.

"We are nearly at the top."

REF, TEF, and KEF have been sent to find out exactly what

is happening at the top of University Hill.

Illustration by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

"What will we do when we get there?" asks KEF? who knows

that REF and TEF have been there before.

"Will the people at the top of the hill be nice to us?"
 asks TEF nervously, as his last visit had not worked out too well.

"Buggered if I know," says REF.