The Cost of Secrecy

I've been keeping a secret for a few months now, but it's not a secret any more. All very banal -- just the sale of a division that needed a separation of of computer systems before the announcement day.

That day has come, and suddenly:

• I can talk to the technical staff instead of asking their bosses to guess
• I don't have to figure out compromises between approval policies and the need to keep the authorised approver in the dark.
• The helpdesk don't think I've gone mad.
• I don't find myself as the only person with the rights, skill and clearance to carry out a whole bunch of mundane tasks.

I know that there are sometimes good reasons for secrecy. And despite there being fifty-odd people on the list at the end, it didn't get into the press, so it was a success. But it was not cheap.

I'm guessing now, but I think that the human budget for a task that has to be carried out in an organisation that can't know what's going on needs something like a 50% uplift to cover confusion, error and unskilled staff. Try justifying that.