h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Our management tell us that we must break out of our silos. To me, a silo is a grain store and the idea of breaking out suggests at least one of those demolition vehicles with a ball on a chain. What they mean is that government departments are basically big, messy organisations made up of people in little teams which don't talk to each other.

They reckon they can solve this problem by reorganising us. They say that this will exploit the synergies between this aspect of the Department's work and that. Poppycock! There are a hundred and one ways you can organise a big government department.

What actually happens is that there is a period of chaos while everyone moves around and nobody knows who's doing what or who's sitting in what desk. Only God and Gordon Brown know what all this costs. Then, everything settles down again.

And the silos grow back, because silos are created by people who find it easier to communicate with people they know than people they don't. That's the trouble with designing organisations. They are difficult things because they are made up of people.