State agency spends $100,000 to install high-speed Internet connections so local governments can file reports with the agency electronically, reports a pilot fish in the mix. "Finally, they send out an e-mail with an attached form," fish says. "It reads: 'From this point forward, reports will be submitted via the Internet. Print and fill out the attached Word document and fax it back to us.' "

Ch-ch-changes

Consultant pilot fish spends a month modeling a client's shift to a new change-management system. Then comes the big day to switch things over. "I flew 1,500 miles to baby-sit it," says fish. "But a systems tech -- who also was a big fan of the old system - refused to allow the cutover to proceed. 'There is no change order in the system authorizing this,' he insisted. Of course, he was right. Nobody, including me, had thought to enter a change to change the change system."

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