[CLUE-Talk] Pointy-Haired Boss (WAS: The Microsoftpenaltythat isn't - Tech News - CNET.com)

[Kevin Cullis]

Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> > I have read O'Reilly as well, good thoughts. For those that are
> > interested, I learned a while back that everyone should be on a reading
> > program of about a book a month or two. Why? Keeps your mind active and
> > watching for new ideas.
> 
> Makes sense. It's also nice to change things up a bit, too, because I find
> reading only one subject can get very, very boring. On O'Reilly, I really
> like the show, thought the book could have been better...but I'm pretty
> picky about writing style. Being a life-long bookworm can make that happen.
> I agree with him maybe 70% of the time, but even when I don't, he is always
> interesting and provocative to watch. You have to hand it to him for
> questioning the powerful, and asking the questions that few dare to ask. The
> very fact that he keeps harping on Jesse Jackson shows that he (and Fox)
> seem to have cajones the size of Texas...Jesse makes most corporations
> tremble like so much Jell-O. The very fact that some people from both the
> Left and Right seem to hate him shows me that he must be doing something
> right. Anyway, his book didn't have that same provocative style...and it
> seemed a little bit preachy at times. I'm still going to eventually read The
> No Spin Zone, though. :)

I agree 100%!!  What I concentrate on is much like O'Reilly: look for
the truth, but don't take sides until you've heard the whole story on a
case by case basis.  Both liberal and conservative (PHBs and geeks,
etc.) take sides and the truth is somewhere in between, but depends on
the issue at hand.

> Have you ever read the Programmers' Stone, or the Reciprocality Project? If
> not, here's a link:

I'm reading it now, thanks a bunch.

> 
> http://www.reciprocality.org/Reciprocality/index.html
> 
> There seems to be a lot of overlap with things like Peopleware, and, I
> think, Deming. Some of it veers off into some rather weird and
> unconventional things, but that seems to be the point..."conventional" is
> "bad"...although I think the argument breaks down when they connect ADHD
> with mapping. Since I was never diagnosed with ADHD, I don't really know for
> sure, even though I was a hyper little tyke. I'm not even sure if I would
> consider myself a "mapper", even though I often find myself incredibly
> frustrated on the job because almost all the job situations I've had have
> been the Software Factory kind...no one trusts you to work from home, people
> REALLY "thinking outside of the box" are not looked upon favorably, etc...

They are both sides of the same coin, but they don't realize it. The
current state of a situation remains until action is created to change
it and it happens basically like this.  

1. Discovery phase: Recognition that a change/improvement is needed
(much like an alcoholic realizing he has to quit drinking)
2. Define phase: defining a "new" state of future state, i.e what do you
want things to look like (I want to get sober)
3. Design phase:  planning to move from current state to future state
(check myself into a detox facility)

This goes along with this comment.  Do you know what the definition of
insanity is?  Doing the same thing over and over expecting different
results.  That's a pre-discovery phase ;-)  Read "Who moved my cheese"
about this issue, it'll take 20 minutes to read.

On the other hand, sometimes true satisfaction does not require change
at all. Some people are still happy with Windows 95, or even 3.11.  As
Anthony Robbins states, when the pain to remain (in the current state)
is greater than the pain to change, then will people actually consider
changing.

> 
> Actually, they explicitly talk about Deming here, in the discussion of
> "mappers" vs. "packers":
> http://www.reciprocality.org/Reciprocality/r0/Day1.html

The reason Dilbert has come along is that packers manage mappers!! 
Right?

> 
> I think this is also where the "specialization is for insects!" comment
> (made on this thread) came from.  I *really* wish this guy or group would
> publish something in the form of dead trees - online reading can be hard on
> the ol' glazzies...

Great site, I've bookmarked it for future reference.

Thanks for a great discussion.

Kevin


-- 

"Success is never final, failure is never fatal" - Kevin Cullis
---
Kevin Cullis
kcullis at coloradoexcellence.org
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720-489-9283 Direct
Colorado Performance Excellence, Inc
http://www.coloradoexcellence.org