John Raine: Ministerial Spring Cleaning and the Parable of the Rowing Eight

Matthew Hooton’s recommendation that Nicola Willis cut the cost of the Public Service by 25% (NZ Herald 22^nd December) reminded me of a story.

Years ago, the engineering community was getting fired up about new Japanese business and manufacturing efficiency methods, and “kaizen” (continuous improvement) and “just in time” were being bandied about.