Former contract worker, US State Government - 100% similar stuff happens. But it can be a much finer line. Example: Approved effort for call center expansion

Former contract worker, US State Government - 100% similar stuff happens. But it can be a much finer line. Example: Approved effort for call center expansion to meet the growing demand of the public. Includes improvements to the backend business software to improve cycle time for the call center to meet goal of addressing public demand. Those backend software improvements - which were real, and did help the call center cycle time - just happened to be the same improvements requested by mobile field workers for 5+ years, which were never approved. Did a leader see the opportunity to make the 5+ year requests happen and pull it into the budget ask? Absolutely. Were the changes necessary to accomplish the call center project with the resource / staffing levels in the budget proposal? Yep. I view the prior example as the same. Sexy projects don't work unless the foundation is operational; allocating funds under Sexy project to shore up foundations is surprisingly common. The real learning for me is the vicious circle. New upstairs leader sees everyone say don't need to spend on sustain, so doesn't spend on sustain, but nods to higher-than-actual costs for New Cool Thing, and the layers below upstairs work the game to get key sustain tied into New Cool Thing projects... which then supports upstairs view that don't need higher sustain costs. Tough to break this.