"insisting he would henceforth sign all approvals. He was swamped within hours, "
Just the same in private industry I'm afraid - a new FD was horrified when the Chief Accountant showed him round and asked me to show him my " Two files" - these were the backup documentation for the companies major project at the the time - one was 10 pages, the other over 200.
The CEO would send down an avalanche asking "what idiot thinks I can sign off hundreds of millions with only a 10 page attachment FFS?" - after which he always got the 200 pager...
after about 4 months I'd get the "YOU may have all the time in the world to read this c*** but I'm a busy man and need a precis" so put the 200 pager back in the file and take out the ten pager... then in 4 months......... "
It was remarkably effective and saved soooo much hassle