A few aphorisms

Don’t just do something, stand there
Acting when inaction would be the better option. Inappropriate activity is a common problem among those who want to leave a paper trail of having been busy. Commonly seen in regulatory impact statements which forget to include the do nothing option.

Decision-based policy
The practice of developing policy to justify decisions which have been made.*

[* With thanks to a paper by Banks G, 2009, “Evidence-based policy making: What is it? How do we get it?” ANZOG/ANU Public Lecture Series, Canberra.]