Reflections Sunday 16th August

What I’ve noticed.

I mentioned last week that I thought some of the changes we're seeing to the ways we work are becoming embedded. This week suggests further evidence that the neat systems we had in place just won't cope with the complex unintended consequences of the actions we're taking.

The clear one today of a hapless education governance flailing around to make sure that somehow their already flawed system for categorising students retains some sort of authority. The irony of the statement by the Education minister that "we've got to make sure people don't get into jobs they are not qualifed for" was not lost on me. Education department, heal thyself.

That said, we have to have some sympathy. Organisation charts and bureaucracies don't do complex. And neither do simplistic algorithms put together in a hurry by a system under pressure, and you can't blame the algorithm. Trying to define human beings, and their potential by exam results has always been tricky, with those annoying out…