A Simple Formality

• - Would you be so kind and empty the trash bin? 
• - No problem, you’ll just need to submit an RFA.
• - Submit a what?
• - An RFA. Request for action. I’ve decided to bring more structure into our household, and I’d like you to fill in and submit this simple form before I proceed to executing your request.
• - But my dear, what’s the point? It’s just a simple thing, to empty the trash bin. It will take longer to fill in the form, than to do what it requests.
• - In the present case, it might be the case. Nevertheless, for a start I opted for an RFA in case any action is required, be it re-painting the whole house, preparing breakfast or emptying the trash bin. An action is, after all, an action, and if you want to measure the efficiency and the workload, you need to record everything. That is why ...
• ... your form contains questions about “estimated duration of the action/event”, “level of skills required for performing the action”, “expected added value for the household” and  approval of the next higher manager? - asked the wife, by now pale with stupefaction. 
• - Yes, indeed. I will need these to prepare my monthly KPI report. 
• - KPI? Pan sobie chyba kpi!
• - No idea what you’re saying. Key Performance Indicator. I’m planning to make a few of them on a monthly basis, they’ll be useful for you, too. “Number of Actions Requested to Husband”, “Number of Actions Requested to Wife”, “Response Time of Husband” (time elapsed between RFA submission and the execution of the task), “Response Time of Wife”, “Task Difficulty Level v.s. Speed of Delivery” - you name it. We’ll meet regularly to discuss our findings, and take the required actions to optimise our household. As a result, we’ll have more time to do the things we like.
• - But at the same time we’ll need more time to fill in all the forms. I don’t know about you, but if there’s one thing I find a total waste of time, it’s form-filling.
• - No problem, I can fill it in for you. But first...
• ... I’ll need to fill in an RFA  to request you to fill in an RFA for emptying the trash bin.
• - You learn quick.
• - You know what, I’ll just do it myself.
• - No, you can’t do that, as you’re not in charge. According to the division of tasks in our household, I’m the one who is responsible for the trash bin, while your domain is, among others, the groceries. For a full list...
• ... you’ll need an RFA?
• - No, for a full list, please see the inside of the kitchen cupboard, third one in the upper row on the left of the sink.
• - Ok, just pass me the form, please. - said the wife, resigned. - I guess I have no choice, but just fill it in for this time. 

Fifteen minutes later the form was ready for submission. 
She handed it in to her husband.

• - Where’s the approval of the next higher manager?
• - Who’s the next higher manager? Can’t I just sign it by myself?
• - No, the form needs to be approved by someone other than you. And in case or our household, it has to be me. There’s nobody else here.
• - You mean, you’re my next higher manager?! You must be kidding!
• - Well, technically, we’re partners. But I’m taller, so in a way, I’m higher.
• - And who’s going to approve the forms you submit?
• - Someone else than me. It will have to be you then.
• - Ok, if that's the case, that’s fair. 
• - You see, I knew I’d convince you. It just takes a little getting used to... In the long run, you’ll see how much it helped us structure and organize our lives, so that we have more time for ...

But she didn’t listen anymore, resigned, studying the full list of tasks and their repartition between the two of them, glued neatly on the inside of the kitchen cupboard, third one in the upper row on the left of the sink. You could see a little smile when she discovered that the nasty task of filling out the tax-refund form was assigned to her husband, and she got the much less unpleasant one of watering the flowers.

There they went, occupying their time by filling in the forms and performing the requested tasks in order to save time for something else. They got so good in it, so efficient, that they even started to take pleasure in the form-filling, reporting, comparing the results with the previous months and taking necessary actions to amend the detected irregularities, such as the contents of the trash bin rotting away while Husband was on a business trip for the whole week, and Wife becoming totally useless in the meantime, missing the RFAs from her next higher manager.  They didn’t care about that something else they were saving time for.

This isn’t my story, obviously. It’s my acquaintances’, Mr. and Mrs. Corp. But I stopped seeing them some two months into their new procedure. They had no time to meet, their schedules packed with efficiency.