Cutting Unnecessary "Hassle": This Brigade Establishes Rules and Regulations to Give Officers and Soldiers Enough "Buffer Time"

A Brigade of the 71st Group Army Establishes Rules and Regulations to Give Officers and Soldiers Enough "Buffer Time"——

"Fall in by 0610" Changed to "Move Out Punctually at 0610"

■ Yu Yunzhi, Liu Renhao; PLA Daily Correspondents Song Shijie; Illustrated by Xie Yan

In the early morning hours, the long reveille call rang out across the garrison. Director Dong of the Political Work Department, the duty officer of a certain brigade of the 71st Group Army, arrived at the training ground to wait for officers and soldiers to fall in. Before long, several formations arrived in step. Director Dong checked his watch—0605, five minutes ahead of the scheduled time.

In the past, units of the brigade would generally sound reveille at 0600, and officers and soldiers would fall in and begin morning physical training. A month earlier, when the headquarters organized an on-site investigation (蹲点调研), many grassroots officers and soldiers reported that the moment reveille sounded they had to fall in and form up—there was no time to wash up, and even time to use the toilet was extremely tight. Considering that regulations did not specify this clearly, the brigade decided to leave a 10-minute "buffer time" after reveille, requiring only that officers and soldiers be assembled by 0610.

The measure was immediately welcomed at the grassroots level. However, after more than half a month had passed, the assembly times of each company grew earlier and earlier, creeping back toward the original 0600.

"You were the ones saying there wasn't enough time, and you're the ones assembling early—what is going on here?" After training ended that day, Director Dong sought out officers and soldiers to find out what was happening. Instructor Zhang of the Engineer Company was candid: "At first, everyone really did assemble on time. But there was always a difference in who arrived at the training ground first. Some people felt that arriving early showed high motivation and strict discipline, so they started blowing the whistle early to assemble. And so it went—one unit moved up by two minutes, another by three, and the assembly time kept getting earlier."

"Even though the brigade made clear that assembling by 0610 was fine, if everyone else was already there early and we arrived on time, it looked like we were 'late.'" Sergeant Squad Leader Zhang Chunhui felt somewhat helpless. "Everyone is 'competing' (卷). Anyone who doesn't compete looks like they're 'lying flat' (躺平)."

This steadily shrinking 10 minutes sparked a discussion at the brigade's handover meeting: the "buffer time" left for officers and soldiers had been competed away by the grassroots themselves—where was the problem?

The brigade's leadership analyzed that the crux of the problem lay in some grassroots cadres and backbone personnel handling issues through habitual thinking, falling into the trap of equating "self-imposed escalation" (自我加码) with "strict standards."

The topic expanded beyond the "10 minutes." Everyone quickly discovered that similar problems were not limited to this one case: interior management standards were clear, yet individual squads and platoons raised requirements on their own initiative, blindly pursuing uniformity, making it inconvenient to retrieve combat readiness materiel; some comrades insisted on keeping records for non-essential work tasks, leaving a paper trail (留痕) "just in case"… Such instances of layer-upon-layer escalation (层层加码) occurred from time to time, consuming officers' and soldiers' energy and disrupting normal order.

"Work is not something 'done for leaders to see or reported for superiors to hear'—we must reduce empty formalism and hollow activity, and lighten the burden on the grassroots!" To this end, the brigade launched a "Three Reductions" (三减) campaign under the theme of "reducing pressure, reducing burdens, and reducing hassle" (减压、减负、减折腾). Through questionnaires and other methods, 127 items of opinions and suggestions were collected from the grassroots. A precise "burden-reduction list" (减负清单) was then drawn up, and corresponding measures were explicitly written into daily norms:

Changing the ambiguous "fall in by 0610" to the more precise "move out punctually at 0610," using institutional rules to preserve "flexible space" (弹性空间); emphasizing that interior management arrangements must facilitate combat readiness, so that officers and soldiers need not expend energy on unnecessary minor details; making clear that headquarters organs may not require grassroots units to retroactively fill in education notebooks or registration statistics for the purpose of passing inspections or examinations, and may not simply use "leaving a paper trail" (留痕) as the criterion for evaluating work…

Beyond the list, the brigade kept close watch on the "flexible space" in the implementation of regulations and rules, and in combination with grassroots realities, clarified policy boundaries and implementation standards. Headquarters organs were required to state requirements clearly when issuing notices, without vague language, to avoid misunderstanding at the grassroots level. At the same time, in conjunction with study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievement (政绩观), they guided headquarters and grassroots cadres to rectify their thinking and conduct, correctly understand the building concepts of higher authorities, and foster a clean and upright atmosphere for getting things done.

Today, after reveille sounds in the early morning, the sound of footsteps in the corridors remains brisk, but with somewhat less panic—officers and soldiers move out punctually at 0610. On the parade ground, the call-and-response chants are louder than before. Staff Sergeant Pei Lida of a certain company remarked with feeling: "Before, we were afraid of being slower than others. Now, assembling on time, we feel much more at ease."

"What has been reduced is the burden; what has been elevated is genuine combat effectiveness." The brigade's leadership introduced that the "burden-reduction list" has not only cut unnecessary "hassle," but has also cut the anxiety in officers' and soldiers' hearts. Without the weight of mental burdens, everyone is better able to concentrate on training for war and preparing for combat.

Short Commentary

First, credit is due to this brigade of the 71st Group Army—for the sake of officers' and soldiers' squeezed "10 minutes," they conducted dedicated investigation and research, established rules and regulations, changed the vague language of "fall in by 0610" to the precise requirement of "move out punctually at 0610," and returned the squeezed "10 minutes" to officers and soldiers.

Beyond giving credit, should we not also consider: to solve grassroots problems similar to "meaningless internal competition" (无意义的内卷) and "harmful enthusiasm" (有害的积极性), are there other, better, more straightforward approaches besides establishing rules and regulations? Specifically on the issue of "assembling early"—if the on-site commander's response had been not tacit approval or even praise, but criticism, or even just a reminder, would results not have been seen the very next day? Compared to investing energy in investigation and research and establishing rules and regulations, would that approach not have a higher "cost-effectiveness ratio"?

It must therefore be pointed out that many minor problems and non-fundamental problems perhaps do not require the establishment of rules and regulations to resolve—or rather, establishing rules and regulations is not necessarily the "optimal choice" for resolving such problems.

(Xu Wen)