writingbrussels

The train journey to Brussels that morning was particularly fruitful. None of George’s occasional, more garrulous, travel companions had joined him in the secluded first-class section. The quiet moment allowed George the chance to mull over his previous night’s trauma.

But how could he square his daytime confidence that AI was just a load of souped-up spinning jennies, with his dreamed perception that the very same machines were about do all the work of the ERA themselves?

George dropped his brief case on his desk and turned round immediately to look for some colleagues to invite to coffee. George was delighted to see Lucija was at her workstation. He was even more pleased that she was ready to take him up on her offer of coffee.

“Sure thing!” she replied gayfully. “I’ll just finish this email, if I may. Meet you downstairs.”

On his way down the corridor, George picked up Konrad, who was unusually early in the office that day. The queue for coffee passed quickly with its customary small talk and they were soon at a table with Lucija’s cappuccino waiting for her.

“There was a sequel to our AI discoveries of yesterday,” George announced, as his main conversation opener.

“Oh, really,” answered Konrad. “Had some further thoughts?” he asked, playing to George’s natural inclination to supply an answer to a question.

“Not so much thoughts, as impressions,” continued George.

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George gave his customary ‘Bonjour’ greeting to the security guard, headed to the lift and pressed the 9^th floor button. Sitting down at his desk, he effortlessly switched on his computer and watched the 12 golden stars of the ERA appear before him.

“Things seem to be gliding along this morning,” was his first half-thought, as the results of the AI enquiry, provided by ‘Hercules © – The perfect AI tool for all your Policy Knowledge Needs’, which he had requested the previous evening, popped up on the screen.

“Piece of cake, this AI stuff,” he half-thought, again.

George needed the AI input for a briefing he was preparing for the Commissioner’s participation in a panel at the High-Level Meeting of next month’s World Economic Organisation, whose theme this time round was ‘Sustainable Economic Governance for All in a Changing World’.

Before he knew it, Hercules © had completed the briefing.

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“Are you saying everything is better for the functionary with computers?” asked Konrad with a frown. “In what way?”

In his political administration course, Konrad’s prof had told the students never to use the words ‘better’ or ‘worse’ without a qualifier.

“Oh, in lots of ways,” said George, trying hard to keep an air of calm in face of a bold question.

“Computers have made a civil servant’s life better, in three main areas.”

“Primo, quality and variety of outputs. Secundo, the range of background analysis. And, now here’s one aspect that might not meet the eye, tertio, enhanced internal control systems.”

Konrad deepened his grimace.

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Feeling more than a little intrigued by where George’s circumlocutions were leading, Konrad decided to stick with the conversation.

“George, this is very interesting. But where did all this stuff about the efficiency of functionaries and computers come from?” asked the intern.

“Oh, it’s come to me over the years,” replied George, eager to press on and provide the answer. “Though, certainly, something rubbed off from Parkinson himself!”

Konrad smiled respectfully in order to make way for George to continue.

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“OK George! We got the picture!” jibed André, in response to George’s graphic description of the state-of-the-art of administration 30 years before. “But remember! Despite the old tech, you did manage to make the policy coup of introducing the Euro! And at least you didn’t have to do it all with quill pens and parchment!”

Without realizing it, George’s colleagues had been rash to underestimate how much George had reflected over the years on Parkinson’s law and his scientific approach to administration. George had even devised his own calculation method for such matters. He always found a mathematical expression helped discipline his thinking. To avoid the conversation going in all directions, George was now starting to think that it would be a good idea to use the equation to guide his argumentation.

“Ha! Ha!” George came back, chuckling in two breaths to show the others he was keen to share more. “Precisely. Quill pens and parchment. Let’s have a closer look at what I like to call the ‘computer effect’ in the ERA over the last 30 years.”

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