The Nightwatchman

Once upon a time, the government had a huge scrap pile of in the middle of the desert. Congress decided that "someone may steal from it in the middle of the night". So they created a nightwatchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress asked, "How does the nightwatchman do his job without instruction?"

So they created a planning department and hired two people: one person to write the instructions and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress wondered, "How will we know the nightwatchman is doing the tasks correctly?"

So they created a quality control department and hired two people: one to do the studies and one to write the report.

Then Congress asked, "How are these people going to be paid?"

So they hired two more people: a timekeeper and a payroll officer.

Congress the inquired, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"

So they created an administrative section and hired three people: an administrative officer, an administrative assistant, and a legal secretary.

Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget. We must cut back overall cost."

So they laid off the nightwatchman...