rgw@icdattcwsm:~/Blog$ cat 2024-12-03-BSAUs.md

A concerning early sign of the onset of a 'bureaucratic culture' in a start-up is the use of the acronym BAU (Business-as-usual) in daily discourse.

The malaise with BAU is so profound that it is worth re-abbreviating to (pardon my French) - BSAU.

BSAUs give employees 'BS reasons' not to meaningfully answer the question - What are you getting DONE this week?

"This week, I have too many BAUs," "My BAUs take up too much bandwidth," "My BAUs require a daily 3-4 hour commitment ... and prevent me from getting to X, Y , and Z", bla bla bla bla bla.

Seemingly innocuous, BAUs breed procrastination.

The bureaucracy grows because when people get "bored" of BAUs, they take up new BAUs so that they can hire others to do their existing BAUs. Procrastinators beget procrastinators.

One effective way to kill BAU culture is to set up a BIG NON-AESTHETIC LOUD sign (in an area visible to all, and in Helvetica) screaming - WHAT ARE YOU GETTING DONE THIS WEEK? Perhaps, with a graphic of the drill seargent of Full Metal Jacket.

rgw@icdattcwsm:~/Blog$ cd ..