When politics meets process, what’s a conscientious public servant to do? This “Imagine if…” episode puts Alison and Danielle in the shoes of a project manager caught between legality, leadership and media heat — and explores what good judgment looks like when everyone’s waiting to be told what’s important.

The first in an “Imagine if…” series as requested by listeners — exploring the messy, real-world dilemmas of public administration.

We cover:

·      Managing up and whether to buy into your boss’ crazy

·      The hurry up and wait of briefing on options 

·      Verbal directions and when to turn them into written confirmation 

·      When to seek advice on legality 

·      Documentation! And the safeguard of personal file noting

·      The fallacy of ‘not my job’ when every problem for government is a problem for everyone in government

·      Having multiple comms plans and when not to pick up the phone

·      The impacts of external pressure on internal process. 

·      Trap for the young players: informal intel travels very quickly 

·      Who gets to make the decision?

·      Building in agility to allow for changing priorities

Shout out to the  Normal Gossip podcast for inspiring this episode: https://open.spotify.com/show/0KVZ16mLZ1bbNlnKemYTzm 

This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.

Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!