# The Distraction of Pointless Work By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-06-27 Not too long ago, I had someone ask me a pointless question. They didn't know it was pointless because no one told them the reality of the situation. Furthermore, I was told not to "rock the boat" by telling people what I knew about the situation. Simultaneously, I was told to use this knowledge to prioritize my work better while continuing to support the pointless questions. The contradiction and spineless hedging by those in higher positions are obvious. Please make no mistake; there is no way to win this game without working extra hours. Hence, we see so much wrong with organizations and management today. Organizations are exceedingly wasteful while claiming to do everything in the name of efficiency. In this example, the best thing to do by the organization's assessment is to end the pointless activity. Yet, the organization and management let it continue and waste time and resources. This situation also shows the failure of management as currently constructed. Management did not want to make the decision to end the pointlessness because of the discomfort of saying one's work is pointless. Saying that the work is pointless when management has advocated that it is critical for success to boost performance represents so much cognitive dissonance that it is best to ignore it. Management says they care but not so much as to prevent workers from falling down a cliff of the manager's and organization's making. Overall, the issue is a lack of accountability and power asymmetries. These problems will continue until workers take the freedom obscured from their vision. #### Related Items [[Management]] [[Work]] [[Freedom]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Efficiency]] [[Obscure]] [[Paradox]]