"Fit for purpose"

Ever since Dr Reid used the phrase (here), everyone seems to have got the wrong end of the stick. The whole point about being "fit for purpose" is that you do the absolute minimum necessary to achieve the objective. No Rolls-Royce to go down to the shops. No gold-plating. You do just enough to get by - because in that way you minimise the costs and free up resources to target more important tasks.

I was never convinced that the phrase could usefully be applied to government business, even although the management consultants of the 1990s were extremely fond of the phrase. When I was a public servant, I believed that I should seek to do as well as I could whatever job I was tasked with. For me, it was never enough just to do it adequately.

But I suppose that all this is irrelevant to the current travails of the Home Office. Adequacy seems way beyond their capabilities. But an arguably useful management concept seems to have become lost along the way.