The state of Texas requires a report on all the reports produced by its own agencies – all 1,600 of them – not forgetting the one by the chief inspector of tomatoes.
It’s quite a magnificent report, and I particularly love the last line:
The Required Reports Prepared by State Agencies and Institutions of Higher Education is not itself listed in the Required Reports Prepared by State Agencies and Institutions of Higher Education.
Bureaucracy at its most revealing. I can just imagine the conversation between the head boffin and his minion boffin.
Head Boffin: Minion, have you prepared your report on why our bureaucracy is such a lumbering, ancient beast?
Minion Boffin: Yes, Mr Head. It seems that we waste too many resources into producing unnecessary reports.
Head Boffin: Hmm. There is only way to sort this out. Do a report on the reports.
Minion Boffin: Yes, sir. And if that doesn’t solve the problem?
Head Boffin: Well, then we’ll just have to do a report on that.
Such it goes.
(Link via email from Udhay.)