ad. 1:
There's an 8 chapter document "Intrukcja HEAD" (HEAD instruction) about transporting the most important officials of the country. It was established 1 year before the crash, and was partially ignored.*
- the flight was meant to be organized by the chancellery of prime minister, but wasn't. The PM vs the president and the ruling party were political enemies. Instead, the flight was organized by people of the now dead president.
- although the request with HEAD status was sent to the chancellery of PM, it was also sent (violating the instruction) to BOR (government bodyguards) and 36th Special Regimen of Air Transport (36. Specjalny Pułk Lotnictwa Transportowego).
- the content of the request sent to the chancellery of PM was also violating the instruction (no mention of number of people, unspecified type(s) of the airplane(s), unspecified planned time of departure and arrival, unspecified dispatcher, unspecified cargo).

There's also some stuff that I don't know how to neatly translate, but suffice to say it wasn't an isolated case. When Donald Tusk, the PM at the time, earlier flew to Smoleńsk, the HEAD instruction was also partially ignored.

The reason the chancellery of PM abstained from its duties was an earlier (2008) conflict between Donald Tusk (PM) and Lech Kaczyński (the dead president), when the PM denied the request of the president, when the latter wished to fly to Brussels.

Source, in Polish:
https://oko.press/ignorowanie-instrukcji-head-kancelarie-org...

There were also other problems, like insufficient training (ignoring the messages PULL UP, TERRAIN AHEAD), and recorded presence of superiors in the cockpit, pressuring the pilots to land (likely gen. Błasik's voice, but no 100% certainty).

And last, but not least, don't put all your eggs in one basket. The number and status of officials who ended up on that single plane is mind-boggling. And why so much pomp?

ad. 2:
Most likely people would enjoy your productivity tips and not credit you for them. If you tried to contribute to others' priorities? There's an informal term "spychologia", from pushing down worn onto someone else. Ask someone to help you by doing unglamorous work, while you do something more spectacular. Works better if you have tits and your coworker doesn't.

I was recently applying for a job in a German company. The interviewer mentioned they have an "all hands on the deck" approach to when someone is not going to make it with a deadline: instead of making one person triple his efforts, several people do 1 hour of (voluntary) overtime. Sounds good. It was the first time I've heard about something like that, and it took me 3 years to find a job (I signed the contract today, with another company). Other than the subject of their work, it sounded like a very interesting and laid back workplace.

* Note ignoring some rules is a common theme in Polish culture. Poland is a bit anarchistic, and many laws exist mostly on paper. Like policemen not fining drivers who park cars taking over 1/3 of sidewalk. Problems are sometimes "solved" with new laws which are impractical. I'm not sure how it came to be, but I have two ideas:
- the time when Poland was partitioned didn't help. All laws were occupants' laws.
- earlier, in XVI century, when feudalism was at its height, Poland had two distinct classes: peasants, at least 80% of population, and noblemen. Past kings had granted noblemen numerous privileges in exchange for support of various political initiatives. In time, it resulted in a weak state, and decision paralysis. There was a famous law, "Liberum Veto", which allowed a single member of parliament (nobleman) to cancel the session. I mean it was legal, although sometimes it made others mad and the person had to run for his life.
This anarchism of sorts sometimes makes life easier (mutually beneficial informal agreements), but at other times complicates it. It can also enable coteries and cartels.