The real consequences of poor records and why compliance should come last

We always like to talk about the catastrophes that occur, but what happens when recordkeeping is poor is far more subtle and far more consequential.

We look at royal commissions and say - here's evidence of what happens when recordkeeping and management is poor.

What that viewpoint ignores, is that what actually lets most catastrophes happen in government, is lack of resources.

I think that if we got records right in organisations, we could improve performance of most processes by 50%.

Think about that for a moment, a 50% reduction in the amount of resources required to execute a piece of work. Half.

That means twice as much work could get done.

Even if it was 10% - 10% more work could get done.

What organisation wouldn't like to be able to do 10% more work?

How many royal commissions would we have had if there were 10% more resources to tackle the problem?

How would aged care improve with 10% more resources?

Mental Health Care?

And here's where we get to compliance.

What's more important?

Having a standards compliant recordkeeping and management operation,

Or getting people the right information at the right time in the right place at the right level of quality?

If you had to choose, which one would you choose?

Do you think we can stop the next royal commission by having compliant records, or the right ones with the right people?