The art of justifying

We'll attack Iraq to get rid of the evil tyrant, Saddam Hussein to save the poor Iraqis. We must also uncover the weapon of mass destructions to save the world! Our soldiers may die, but its a small sacriface that we must make to make the world a better place to live in. The taxpayers money will be put to good use in the war.

Zzzzz...

In my job capacity, I receive tons of requests from "the people above". In their eyes, asking us for assistance is their natural right. But if I ask "the people above" to justify the importance, and I tend to get some lame reasons.

One minute from the client to communicate the request.
Plenty of time from the analyst to handle the request.

Before this post sound whiney, I must state upfront that I have nothing against requests that are truly beneficial to the organisation. It could be due to the hierachial nature of the organisation, alot of people are requesting for data/analysis because
(1) their boss are asking for it.
(2) they need to be pre-empt their boss's question.

Most of them will not admit it. Some will give lame reasons to support the need. And in some cases, they say the request is urgent when its clearly not the case.

Are they helping the company, or are they helping themselves?

During primary school days, I acted in a little play about 2 people in a desert, fighting over a bottle of mineral water. I died, and my rival got hold of the bottle. He proudly uncapped the bottle, poured the water over his hair - to comb it.

Great justification?

Yes, getting "lame" requests is part and parcel of the Rat's Race.
Its also a great justification why we have to get out of it.