The Council Machine

​Auckland City Council is a complex machine made up of tens of thousands of parts.

It would take too long to list each individual part but generically speaking they are made up of people, software, equipment, and assets.

​The machine itself has been a progressive build - done by many. Initially designed to perform simple core functions, it has as expected been added too and modified over time as the needs of the public changed and grew. So the machine has been steadily increasing in size, getting larger and larger while becoming more and more complex.

Now each particular part of this machine has a job to do that should provide an end purpose. Those purposes are varied, some are just cogs and levers to help other parts but they all combine for an end result. You could compare it to the inner mechanics of a watch or an engine or even a submarine - the principles are the same.

The controlling section of the machine is done with a lot of people - upper and middle management - of which we could relate them to a computer’s Central Processing Unit (CPU) or a machine’s Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Over time they have also had additions, modifications and upgrades (although one may argue sometimes downgrades…).

Then with all of the parts enabled, they need the most important segment which is the fuel.

The machine is quite simply fueled by money. The fuel is provided by you, and divvied up to each part of the machine by the various CPUs.

The machine also has multiple inputs, sensors, and feedback units which are mostly made up of the general public, and those inputs are meant to guide the machine as to how it should work. But the machine has problems as it doesn’t listen to all the inputs and that’s where things seem to go wrong.

You see, the machine is now so big and so complex - we no longer have any idea of what every individual part, or each CPU does, whether they are actually necessary, how much fuel is required for them to operate, and if they are operating effectively and efficiently.

We also have the problem that the CPUs have seemingly become independent of each other and are making decisions that they were not programmed to do. Keeping the theme here, you could say they have become self-aware, a form of Ai, and look out because next step is Skynet...

Then, more often than not, the CPUs engage external feedback units called consultants (often unnecessarily) which suck up a gigantic amount of fuel for very little return.

So what does all this mean?

It means we need to do a full analysis of the machine - something I’m happy to roll up my sleeves and do for you on your behalf. I'll go through it bit by bit - advising you on what I have found every step of the way.

We find out why the CPUs don't listen properly to the feedback units (you), and we cull as many external feedback units as possible (the fuel sucking consultants).

There will be a lot of parts in the machine that won't be happy to be uncovered - they might try spewing out some hot fluids and gasses, and a few of the external feedback units will beep and splutter - but I can deal with that.

Then from all the analysis, if any parts are found that are obsolete - i.e. doesn’t serve the purpose that they were originally intended to do, or they are inefficient and perform badly in regards to their fuel consumption ratio for their respective output - then we sort that by modifying them for purpose, moving them, or removing them completely.

I really hope this makes sense.