Choo choo

Oh, dear. If Keep It Short and Simple is the watchword, then the BBC knows how to extrude the process of getting there. The newly-online-to-all-the-world in-house magazine, Ariel has a letter from a member of staff in Manchester. A short notice journey to London was required, and, with the vagaries of Virgin, a 1st class seat was £70 less than standard, but could not be booked because of BBC expenses rules. Why not, she asks, tell staff to book the cheapest deal ?

Yes, I hear you cry. Not quite, responds Pat Younge, Vision's Chief Creative Officer.  Here's his answer in full.

This train ticket affair is absolutely at the heart of what we're trying to achieve through Delivering Quality First. Not the 20% cuts part but, as importantly, how we make the remaining 80% a simple and straightforward BBC to work for and do business with.


We all know that in almost every case a standard class ticket is cheaper than first class, and one way of simplifying an organisation is to standardise this into a policy across the business, as we've done.
The downside of that approach is how do you deal with exceptions and variations? My personal view would be to leave that to line management to resolve locally, but in reality that's simply passing the buck.


This issue is actually symbolic of a much bigger and more important debate about the balance of empowerment versus control in BBC culture.


So, rather than trying to resolve this in the pages of Ariel we're referring it to the Simplicity workstream and invite you all to engage in the conversation with them.


Has anyone worked out the cost-per-hour of the 20-strong Simplicity workstream ? Will it exceed the savings that could be made by changing the rules to buying the cheapest available means of transport at the time of booking ?  Might it be better to spend time on a deal with Virgin for a special BBC rate for all those pretending they're working in Salford, but actually living in the Home Counties ?  How many journeys does the BBC estimate it'll be making a week between London and Manchester by 2012 ? Is there no travel plan ?