What has happened to the practice of having a vision, determining goals and objectives, defining a need, establishing benefits then making good decisions.

Recently an email sent by the Australian Prime Minister indicated that expenditure on education in Australia would be increased by 75% for the next 10 years. The email  neither indicated how the funds would be spent nor what was expected to be achieved when expended.

The email did not acknowledge that over a 10 year period, on the basis of current trends, that the school population could be 13% larger than it is now and that the cost of living could be 23% higher. It also did not recognise, what many believe, that current expenditure is deficient. Without a defined goal it did not suggest how much money is actually needed.

Spending money just for the sake of spending it and without having an expected and measurable outcome is not wise. Announcing decisions that do nothing than superficially say “look at how good we are” or “we are spending so we must be doing something worthwhile” is not good policy.

This is marketing not strategy.

A government or a business needs to make strategic decisions that progress defined goals and objectives. Modelling potential outcomes in order to establish what benefits can be realised should be undertaken. The expected benefits justifying the expenditure should be explicitly defined, measurable and measured so that future decisions can be influenced by lessons learned.

To do otherwise is wasting time and scarce resources that could be better deployed. Worse still is the potential loss of real and long lasting opportunity.