Software Exorcism 314
Mark Burroughs writes "Leave it to a SubGenius preacher to take normally mundane subjects, like software maintenance, and expose the unholy conspiracy behind them. I think the following quote from the introduction sums up the tone of the book nicely: 'Rather than shield your eyes from the sordid realities of the software industry, I am going to dust off my old 8mm films and let you take a good look at the uncensored truth for yourself. You may want to keep a paper bag handy in case you get sick.'" You know you want to read on for the rest of Burrough's review.
| Software Exorcism | |
| author | Right Reverend Bill Blunden |
| pages | 351 |
| publisher | Apress |
| rating | two thumbs up |
| reviewer | Mark Burroughs |
| ISBN | 1590592344 |
| summary | Tactics for Maintaining Legacy Code |
Reverend Blunden's sermons focus on things that the college professors, in their tweedy jackets, will never talk about. As such, this book should be required reading by computer science majors, who often have a number of misconceptions concerning the industry that they are about to enter.
I doubt very highly that your instructors will tell you how to handle all the nasty little things that can occur when humans work in groups: backstabbing, stonewalling, sabotage, etc. The sad truth is that the people who do actually learn about these tactics (under the guise of "organizational behavior") are MBAs, the people who end up being managers. Folks, the deck has been stacked: The MBAs have been given whips, and the CS majors have all been given saddles. It's called animal husbandry; ... now go look up the word "cull."
Glancing at the back cover of the book, Reverend Blunden looks like the type of subversive individual that the ATF would like to have a chat with. As such, he is not one to let the reader leave without a few useful weapons (some of which may be questionable from a legal standpoint ... but hey, business is war). For example, the book tells you construct a paper trail so that even the shiftiest weasel cannot switch sides if it's suddenly convenient. Reverend Blunden even goes so far to refer the reader to a vault purveyor in New York so that evidence can be stored securely at home (hint: it's sure as hell not safe at the office). Don't kid yourself; a solid paper trail can save you during a witch-hunt.
The book also looks at how to deal with legacy code in situations where internal competition has encouraged people to hoard information, or to escape responsibility via promotion (i.e. VPs have been known to develop amnesia about the code they worked on). It explains the forces that cause these shenanigans to occur and then describes how to flush the guilty party out into the open, where their slimy tactics won't work. As before, generating a trail of evidence and possessing a degree of intellectual humility go a long way.
Then there is privacy, an issue that employers will definitely try to skirt. Management types tend to be keen on metrics to measure productivity. In addition, software engineers typically have access to code, or algorithms, that may be considered proprietary secrets. This has led many companies to monitor their engineers in some way or another (i.e. key loggers, remote desktops, sniffers, TEMPEST, etc.). Reverend Blunden provides a couple of easy, but extremely effective, counter tactics that the reader can use to foil this kind of Big Brother antics.
At the end of the day, Reverend Blunden tells it like it is. He hasn't been bought off and he doesn't have an agenda. His only goal is to warn new hires about the various landmines that exist, buried under the polite exterior of the corporate landscape. You may not like what he has to say, but no one ever said that software engineering was a pretty job. If they did, they were telling you a lie. Praise Bob.
You can purchase Software Exorcism from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
How to handle all the nasty little things (Score:5, Funny)
Self-employment worked for me. The boss is still a jerk, but he's my kind of jerk.
Re:HA HA Well said! (Score:2, Funny)
The man (Score:5, Insightful)
Ahhh, yes. Another treatise on how The Man is tapdancing on our heads.
Alternatively, we could read books on how to help create environments that are mutually advantageous, supportive positive experiences rather than focusing on heading off to another dreary color washed existence where we hate our bosses and hate our jobs.
Re:The man (Score:2, Funny)
So what are some good books about positive habits we need to have as programmers, first, and then how to be a successful programmer without signing
Re:The man (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The man (Score:2, Insightful)
Now I realize that in order for "mutually advantageous" environments to work, it has to be mutually supported. The guy above me in the food chain doesn't want to play that way -- so now I'm his worst enemy.
Bingo! (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to work for a place that had a very dysfunctional corporate environment. (Basically, their various locations around the country were structured in such a way where it promoted competition between them. This meant that if one plant figured out a more efficient and money-saving process - they'd keep it to themselves and activel
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The man (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't know about that. The only 'boogie man' I saw put up here is a MBA. And after dealing with two or three I happen to agree. If you are trying to "create environments that are mutually advantageous, supportive positive experiences "
You can't worry about getting a blade between the shoulder blades first. And office politics being what they are. And the general clueless ness of most geeks it is a really good idea to generate a good solid paper trail. That alone would make the book a good idea.
Re:The man (Score:2)
What if the geeks you are forced to work with don't take notes, don't read e-mail, and reply to e-mail they do read using a telephone?
Re:The man (Score:2)
Anyone who would reply to an e-mail with a telephone call sure isn't a geek anyway - geeks generally prefer things in black and white.
Re:The man (Score:3, Insightful)
Then rely on caller ID or your office phone system. If you see them call, let it go to voicemail and save the voicemail. Alternately, tell them that you communicate mostly via e-mail and that they should try to get ahold of you that way. In addition to this, you may be able to talk your manager into making them reply via e-mail. Explain that conducting a conversation i
Re:The man (Score:2)
Or, after a phone conversation, write a quick email to the person 'summing up' what you just discussed, and makeing sure that everything was 'understood.'
Alternatively, try the plain truth (Score:2)
Re:Alternatively, try the plain truth (Score:2)
Re:The man (Score:3, Insightful)
Few, unfortunately, have the desire, let alone the fortitude, to simply take of themselves, let alone others.
KFG
Suuuuuuuure. Meanwhile, in the REAL world.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The man (Score:2)
The best response I heard to this statement, came when a manager was saying approximately that sentiment to a sub-ordinate who was pissed off for exactly the reasons described by the reviewer. The response is:
"Oh blow me!"
He can get away with that res
Re:The man (Score:2)
I'm confused. If that statement is sarcasm, I really don't get how you can make fun of utopia colored glasses if you seem to be attacking perceived leftist viewpoints wrt to the modern workplace. If it's not sarcasm, then you are attacking an expository
Re:The man (Score:2)
Re:The man (Score:2)
Sorry dude. I actually enjoy my job, and it has nothing to do with boardroom bullshit. Get this.....I get paid to learn. Not bad eh? I get paid to learn new things and discover other things nobody knew before. I think its pretty darned cool.
Re:The man (Score:2)
Re:The man (Score:2)
Sorry.....ah, spronk. I spent my time outside of academia, started a company doing molecular structure activity relationships, had fun, sold it off, ran a sleep lab for a while and then went back to graduate school. I know what life is like outside of academia, I just choose to continue to learn rather than let my brains rot out of my skull. The cool thing about it is tha
I don't get it ... (Score:2, Informative)
Hell, just have them read
Re:I don't get it ... (Score:2, Funny)
You need a paper trail
Re:I don't get it ... (Score:4, Funny)
Because with the book, you arent accidentally going to see the goatse guy.
I am forever scarred.
Seriously, why? (Score:4, Insightful)
I thought the owner was insane, so I just ignored it. It would never surprise me now if I learned that she had spied on me. Of course, maybe that was brought on by the paranoia of reading something that, like this book, promotes paranoia.
Software Exorcism (Score:5, Funny)
The power of Christ compels you...to compile!
Re:Software Exorcism (Score:2)
Re:Software Exorcism (Score:2)
That's actually not too bad of an idea, from a teaching / apprenticeship viewpoint. Many older programmers know the ins and outs of code and languages, and are also familiar with the work environment and its hazards. The young ones typically come in four flavors, all ignorant of the environment:
Usually, it's the third one on the list that gets promoted to the PHB position, the fourth one will be let go.
Anyway
Be excellent to eachother (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Tell the truth. 2. Stay out of other people's business. 3. Do the right thing.
Yes, there are some things that can't be avoided. If you are under attack by someone trying to get ahead or find a scapegoat, you have to defend yourself. But, even in these situations, there are choices.
Re:Be excellent to eachother (Score:5, Insightful)
I, for example, worked for years at a large telecom company (i'll not name them, but will tell you they are as infamous as enron and are now in chpt 11 bankruptcy). During my stint there as a programmer, I tried very hard to work by a set of rules very similar to what kneecarrot described above. The reality of the situation, however, was that despite my good intentions, my senior manager was a scheming political beast who, when the situation was politically advantageous, would point me like a gun and pull the trigger, thus releasing my "truthful and honest intentions" on his target.
Because of that environment, I left the company as soon as I found a suitable replacement job. I'm not recommending the book under review, however
Re:Be excellent to eachother (Score:3, Insightful)
1. Tell the truth. 2. Stay out of other people's business. 3. Do the right thing.
In an environment with backstabbing and power struggles, the above recipie leads to burnout and delusion. It really is better to quit and find a better work environment.
Re:Be excellent to eachother (Score:3, Insightful)
1. Tell the truth. 2. Stay out of other people's business. 3. Do the right thing.
4. Keep your resume tight, because in many "business" settings there are two types: victims and victimizers. Guess which one you're setting up to be.
At some point uncompromizing integrity will be completely incompatible with your management/leadership/PHB, and at that point you'll be invidually surplus and right-sized out the door with a craptacular "recommendation" and a
Re:Be excellent to eachother (Score:2)
Re:Be excellent to eachother (Score:2)
Good principles and we should strive to meet them.
Be warned, though, that your life will still not be stress-free utopian bliss.
There are inherent conflicts between 1 and 2.
Boss: "What's your opinion of Joe Weasel in Marketing?"
You: (after you attend yet another Joe Weasel presentation where he inflates himself and deftly scrapes the gum off the bottom of his shoe onto a defenseless adversary) "He certainly gives flashy present
Re:Be excellent to eachother (Score:2)
The only problem I see with that (and I agree with every point) is telling the truth to a clueless manager doesn't always help. You have to be able to back up any claims with hard documentation and numbers. To the MBA, it's all about pennies, and every conversation you have with them has to end with "and this will save the company money" or it will go in one ear and out the other.
That's optimistic (Score:2)
I think you're right on all 3 points, but I also think you have to find the right environment to practice those 3 points in. I'll outline the result of what I think the worst cases are below;
1. If you always tell the truth in an environment where people make you an enemy just because that's all they know how to do, you'll end up in an inquisition sooner rather than l
Re:Be excellent to eachother (Score:2)
Software Exorcism? (Score:4, Funny)
Do we need this? Preaching to the choir? (Score:3, Interesting)
Cmon, TEMPEST shielding is like putting up a grounded copper cage around my cube. I don't necessarily trust my management to make sound IS/IT decisions, but some common sense will go a long way in covering your ass. No, I'm not new here, but I must have missed the memo that said Tues/Thurs is Feed The Trolls day ( TIFTD ?)
-B
Re:Do we need this? Preaching to the choir? (Score:2)
This review makes it sound like "Tin Foil Hats for Dummies". Yes, I am a conspiracy theorist. Yes, HR has to reply to me via email, perticularly how they can justify working salaried employees past 40 hours a week while paying them less than $27/hour in direct violation of the FSLA. Yes I move all of my personal/HR emails offsite. Yes, I encrypt when necessary... but TEMPEST?
Don't you get it? this is SubGenius prose, so of course it's going to be a bit purple. It's just fun and games.
Re:Do we need this? Preaching to the choir? (Score:2)
Of course all the pinkboys don't get it. I wonder what smidgen of a percent of Slashdot readers understand the book and where it's coming from.
My SO and I were going through Revelation X the other day, and we were talking about how textbooks and papers (she's doing chem grad work), would benefit from the SubGenius vantage point. As in serious works with overblown language and points. There's
Re:Do we need this? Preaching to the choir? (Score:2)
Re:Do we need this? Preaching to the choir? (Score:2)
Is this book really neccessary?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this really the "corporate landscape" for many software engineers? A job so bad where you feel compelled to check for keyloggers, keep paper trails locked in a home safe, etc.?
Granted, I've not been out of school that long, but every job I've had was in a friendly, cooperative environment w/ good people who wanted to write good software. We don't assign blame, we don't sabotage people's code -- we fix problems we find and give each other help when its needed. But then, I've always worked in scientific computing, so maybe I'm not in the "corporate landscape" as such.
So am I wearing rose-colored glasses and blinding myself to the cut-throat world of commercial software development, or is the author of this book simply over-reacting?
Also, if I were to find myself in a job where I felt a need to take the precautions suggested in this book, I'd be looking for a new job. I can't believe that any company could maintain such a draconian work environment and keep employees.
I now sit back and await all the posts telling me how naive I am. :-)
Re:Is this book really neccessary?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Always cover your butt. Document everything. Save emails. This applies to any job, not just programming.
Oh, and HR is NOT there to help you. They work for the company, and their job is to protect the comp
Maybe just lucky (Score:4, Interesting)
We produced meeting logs and design review documentation that was signed by the backstabbing PE, etc. It didn't help much, as the PE was the CEO's butt-boy.
Folks used to think we were overly paranoid because we made the managers physically sign all of our documentation. After "Black Thursday," folks had a different attitide.
I'm sure there are places to work where the office politics are pretty benign. Unfortunately, there are a lot of weasels out there, and they thrive on "improving" situations that already run well. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Re:Is this book really neccessary?? (Score:2)
Re:Is this book really neccessary?? (Score:2, Insightful)
Call it both, or a little of each. I've often felt that people will find conspiricies where they look for them. I've worked with people in the past that seemed to have issues with all sorts of co-workers - sometimes the same ones that I cam work just fine with. In a few of those cases, they were the ones making everyone else edgy, so it
Re:Is this book really neccessary?? (Score:3, Insightful)
I have been out of school a long time, and I can tell you that this does not happen in large software development organizations at any level likely to affect a new-hire. When there's a billion dollar contract on the line, the customers look for organizational maturity and established processes which protect the mission.
I haven't read the book or worked in small organizations, but perha
Re:Is this book really neccessary?? (Score:2, Insightful)
I would guess that your experiences depend somewhat on the type of person YOU are.
Probably not naive... (Score:3, Insightful)
* Document your work and accomplishments and keep hard copies.
* Act so you need not fear your chickens coming home to roost (great
Yes, it is necessary. So sad to say... (Score:4, Informative)
Example 1: A bank. Phone conversations were recorded (but it was denied if you asked). Email and web access was monitored. If you were overheard talking about leaving your job, you were escorted to the door. If you browsed monster.com, you were escorted to the door. I was hired to make web pages with Visual Interdev, but that was not on the approved software list. So when it was time to renew my contract, I was dismissed because a software audit showed that I had unapproved software on my computer: Visual Studio.
Example 2: A software development company in the health care industry. There was a rather complicated workflow process and one of the managers did not like doing one step because it was inconvenient. During a very nasty meeting (the sort you walk into knowing that someone is getting fired), I demonstrated on the blackboard how the data moved thru the system and where it stopped. I was able to show via the data and paper trails where the data went and who dropped the ball. Until that point, all the eyes were on me and my department was about to get tossed out the door. When I showed the part she dropped the ball on, and several other samples of the same failure, those eyes shifted to her. Because of her relationship with the CEO (not that kind you dirty pervert, they were long time close friends), she was unfireable. When the CEO was later booted by the board of directors, she was given 2 weeks pay instead of notice and walked out the door. Because of her (illegal) immigration status, anyone with an axe to grind could have called up INS and gotten her deported.
Example 3: a small business. Because the person running the business was the vindictive sort (some ex-employees were seached by the police theft of property), as I started to look for alternate employment, I built up a "cya" file at home of things that would get the owner arrested for some serious federal time if they fell into the police's hands (they would only find it if they busted into my house, although a second copy of the file was kept in my parent's garage). I kept that file for about 2 years afterwards, then discarded it.
Example 4: a large corporation. It was known that several hundred people were getting laid off towards the end of the year (about 10% reduction in staff). Some not-so-competant people who were afraid of losing their positions yielded to temptation to sabotage other's software. Your project is constantly buggy, late and over budget? Pack your things. When the sabotage was uncovered, they were laid off too, but the victims were not rehired.
You see, part of the problem is that in the USA we are brought up to believe that we live in a meritocracy. That the better mouse trap will get the market share. That if that mousetrap fails to survive in the market, it was the fault of the makers, not the fault of the others' producers who buy off congress to make the better one illegal. That the better person will get the job. And when we don't get that job, and the person who did get it was not qualified, then we must have done something wrong. Not until we start realizing that the other person got the job because of reasons that had nothing to do with how smart or qualified or better looking or educated, that you will understand that the publically stated things are not the real things. What is said has very little to do with what is going on. Instead, it has become a place where luck is more important than skill, and watching your back and covering your butt is how you make your own luck. Blaming the victim is our national pasttime.
Your naivite is a result of luck and innocence. There will come a day when you are burned badly, and if you are honest with yourself, will dig into and analyse the root causes of that incident. Honestly, I hope you can live your whole life in innocence. The job market is tight enought that people can get away with treating skilled, technical wor
But we like our innocence... (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe not, but having taken a couple of grad courses in Comp-Sci, I can say that the day we all switch from PCs to 5-tuple one-tape Turing Machines I will so be set.
Joking asside, Universities aren't about practical education (barring Medicine and Law...and to some extent Engineering). You don't go to university to learn how to be Bill Gates (god forbid). You go there to learn how things really ought to be. Then again, despite how ideal Universities try to be, research ends up having its fair share of backstabbing and intellectual thievery.
Re:But we like our innocence... (Score:2)
Hehehe. This is the understatement of the year. University Politics are, in my experience, _worse_ than the corporate version - Corporate politics are least tempered to some degree by the fact that the corporation needs to make a profit, while Universities generally have no such restrictions. Add the demands of various funding agencies into research projects and you g
Book Prices (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Book Prices (Score:2, Funny)
Agreed (Score:5, Informative)
The concept of politics is something that changes the meaning of the work you do at a company. In college, you are given an assignment to do. You do it, you are graded on it and you move on. At a company, you are asked what the customer wants in their software, and are not given specs. You are supposed to guess what they want. You are also never given a realistic timetable in which to do the project.
Some of those hindrences to doing a project are caused by outside forces, but most are caused by inside forces. Someone is trying to impress someone else in the company by promising something before it can be done. Or they may have their team develop a project and then release it to upper management only to find its not wanted.
Politics plays a huge role in what happens to the programmers at the bottom as well. Utimately everything that occurs to the programmer can be a result of politics. If someone cancels a project, it may be that they simply didn't like the person doing it.
At my company, we are in limbo over whether we will continue to develop a program to do something that we currently license software to do. To replace the functionality of the software will take a couple months and is nothing more than a couple of webpages and a database. We pay $250,000/yr for the outside software and can save all of that by doing it in house. The reason we are having trouble is politics. Certain people dont want the software inhouse.
Is it in the best interest of the company? No. But it's in the best interest of someone at the company. Thats a danger inside such large corporations, but it is how business gets done.
Re:Agreed (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you are confusing "college" with "undergraduate work". In the above paragraph, s/customer/adviso
Melrose Place (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Melrose Place (Score:3, Funny)
I thought this quote from an interview with the author Max Barry [maxbarry.com] (about his book Syrup) was fitting:
Proper instructions (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the problem right there. Every student getting a degree in computers should take a mandatory class covering office politics, hiring legals, and how to deal with various peers, managers and devil^H^H^H^H^Hmarketing people.
Sure, we can read
Re:Proper instructions (Score:2)
You forgot the BOFH [theregister.co.uk]
Re:Proper instructions (Score:3, Interesting)
Never stop learning, but start doing it outside the classroom as soon as possible. We have become a "course" oriented society, much to its detriment. School can only teach knowledge, not wisdom, and it isn't even very good at teaching knowledge. Get outside, find a mentor if you can and learn by experience and transmission, even if the process isn't always pleasant or financially rewarding in the long run.
Hey, even if you get screwed
At the end of the day ... (Score:4, Insightful)
If you can do your technical stuff well and be a nice person (even better a popular preson), a company will value you and you can rise above office political bullshit.
The books author sounds embittered by the fact that joining the software industry at the height of the tech boom didn't make them as rich as (Kill) Bill. Get over it and get along with people.
The real question is (Score:3, Funny)
So far my best reaction is to begin shrieking like a schoolgirl and I don't think that's going to work out long-term.
Defense (Score:3, Insightful)
Just because this information is laid out as it is, doesn't mean you should use it just because and cause such a malicious environment.
Remember, it takes everyone to create that happy environment.. but just one person to create that malicious environment. This is for that time when that one guy (or guys if you are really unlucky) is on you and you need to protect yourself.
Tempted... (Score:2)
In reality though, a book like this seems to deal with real situations around the cube farm... If you are new to the CS world and don't wanna be taken for a ride or sent to the goatse guy, this seems like a good read
I believe you have my stapler. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I believe you have my stapler. (Score:2)
Re:I believe you have my stapler. (Score:2)
Sounds entertaining... but (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you know the difference between a cost center and a profit center?
A cost center's something the business needs to do but doesn't make any money. Think accounting, or maintaining print servers -- the goal is to make its function as cheap as possible. One attractive way is to offshore it, provided things work out as cheaply as possible.
A profit center makes the business money. Like software development, or whatever it is that the business does: doing a good job will make the company money.
It's always better to work for the profit center.
Re:Sounds entertaining... but (Score:3, Insightful)
If you find yourself an expert in something that is doomed to be a cost center (e.g., sysadmin), try to be a self-employed contractor/consultant. Companies will treat your role like one anyway in terms of penny pinching, but you have much more leverage (and tax breaks) if you are your own boss.
Re:Sounds entertaining... but (Score:2)
True, but you can redefine anything to be a profit center if you are creative enough. I worked for one place with a corporate travel office, which basicly was a travel agent. They maximized profits for themselves, and made themselves look great. Travel agents are paid by the airlines (and others) based on a kickback type arrangement, which depends on the price of the ticket. So if you went someplace they would normally put you on the most expensive ticket they could, which maximized their profits. That
in the profit center--good (Score:2)
Re:Sounds entertaining... but (Score:2)
Oh, grasshopper, you mistake a point -- {software,product} development is a cost center, it does not make money, and is a cost center make cheaper.
Sales make money. This explains a lot, when you look around at places that do development.
-dB
Entertaining... (Score:4, Interesting)
why work there (Score:2)
But other than that-- if I have to work with someone who wants to screw me that bad I will move on.
Learn to NEGOTIATE! (Score:5, Informative)
This book is all about one thing: negotiating. It's a skill that is seldom taught formally, and yet is used every day of your life. Even when you were a wee babe trying to figure out how to get a cookie from mommy, you were learning to negotiate.
Unfortunately techs are usually poorly equipped to negotiate skillfully, a fact I learned personally when my scum-of-a-boss-who-I-thought-was-a-friend ripped me off for thousands because I didn't know how to negotiate properly. For years I was bitter, until I started checking out books and audio tapes on how to negotiate effectively. Bottom line: it was my fault I got ripped off.
You've only got three resources: time, energy and money. When you work for an employer, it's a give and take of how much of those three resources you're willing to exchange. The best teacher of negotiating I've heard so far is a guy named Roger Dawson (I won't post the link, just Google his name or go to your local library).
So now you MBA's out there who know what I'm talking about can mod me down now.
Re:Learn to NEGOTIATE! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Learn to NEGOTIATE! (Score:3, Informative)
BUT
Negotiation is actually not the first step. Often it just takes having an awareness of the other guy's agenda to make all the difference. I mean,
my only experience with this kind of environment.. (Score:2)
Either I'm exceedingly lucky, or these types of hostile environs aren't nearly as widespread as this guy would have you believe.
Or maybe i'm so inept that I can't see the game being played around me... where's that foil carton?
Re:my only experience with this kind of environmen (Score:2)
Either I'm exceedingly lucky, or those types of poor environs aren't as widespread as the guy in the commercial would have you believe.
Or maybe I'm so inept that I think that my personal experiences can be generalized to a world of tens - nay, hundreds of millions of people.
Re:my only experience with this kind of environmen (Score:2)
something altogether different than how you seem to have interpreted it, given your fairly extreme analogy.
suffice to say i don't believe my personal experience is indicative of world-wide norms.
by the same token though, i don't take frantic arm-waving reporting for social norms either.
i don't believe -m
Sweeping Generalization (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a little bit on the extremist side. I took a few org behavior classes on my way to dropping out of an MBA program. The classes I took were exactly 180 out from how the above characterizes them. As future company members (employees) we were encouraged to think about how to listen to your teammates, to think about how the heirarchical models of employee, manager, and worker were not optimal for good business, rather teams where job title have nothing to do with role could vastly improve the nature of the working environment and the bottom line. This is regarded as "hooey" by the status quo, but embraced by techies everywhere (sorry for the sweeping generalization of my own). I agree that the software industry needs to change, but B-Schools (at least some of them) also recognize this about many industries, and are actively teaching MBAs to be less egotistical and heirarchy minded, and better listeners and facilitators (which all of my good bosses were).
Techies need to be trained in this as well, so that everyone coming in to the working environment understands what collaboration and teamwork mean, and how to contribute effectively in that environment.
Please ignore any grammar and spelling errors, and let me know what you think.
Who's kidding who? (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't kid yourself; a solid paper trail can save you during a witch-hunt.
How cute. The naivete boggles the mind. Now, grow up and realize that there is nothing that can save you during a witch hunt. Even if you document your way out of the frontal attack, you will be noted as a troublemaker (for defending yourself) and be eliminated on the next pretext that they come up with.
When faces with a purge, the best course is to resign yourself to your fate, and take as many others down with you as you can manage.
Re:Who's kidding who? (Score:4, Insightful)
You are absolutely right. A witch hunt doesn't have too much to do with who is really the witch, but more to do with who can be pinned as one.
That said, it is a good habit to always keep track of things involving other people. This applies to all sorts of things aside from your job - Your finances, your other assets, your email correspondence, and even your relatives. When something does come up or somebody is raising hell or a pitchfork, at least you have records. I wouldn't always recommend arguing with the mob of pitchforks, but the mob doesn't last forever and sooner or later, it comes in handy to have good documentation.
"take as many others down with you as you can manage."
I think that is where this whole concept goes off the deep end. Play the game by some good rules that a few others can probably respect and break the rules every now and then so they don't get you in bigger trouble.
But remember that the world is not all a pit of mean dogs and some people may actually support you and help you. Still, those special individuals will only do so if they see you as more human than mean dog.
forttune -a mods (Score:2)
Bismarck said it best: (Score:2)
(Okay, I added the part about software.)
Disciplined Minds (Score:3, Interesting)
When I step back and think about it, I'm amazed that we put up with it. For example, annual appraisals are the norm. Some people will tell you that these are a necessary part of any modern business, and that they benefit the appraised as well as the company. Fine, but never forget who's in the driving seat and has all the power at these things. Who appraises who, and why should the world be like that? We should look at these power structures and challenge them for their legitimacy: what exactly is it that gives *your manager* - who is, after all, another flawed human being, not unlike yourself or anyone else you might meet - the right to actually pass judgement on you and give you a rating? Why do we as a society let this happen? It's not the way normal 'more voluntary', natural human relationships work.
What gives managers that power right now, is their ability to climb the greasy pole quicker than you. And it goes right up the chain, to the top few (in relative terms, absolutely minute) people at the very top of the chain - the people with all the wealth/capital (== power).
The nature of corporations as "systems" is to maximise profit, market share, and so on. That's what they do. If they don't, they cease to exist, because some other bigger corporations either wipes them out or gobbles them up. But this motivation to maximise profit in these huge, powerful corporations does not always, in fact many would argue, does not typically sit well with what we should do as a human society. So we eat up the planet's oil resources and worry about tomorrow tomorrow, we ignore global warming, and occasionally (as was recently shown), we go to war and kill people.
Corporations, the biggest of which are now larger than many countries, and which hold huge political sway in supposedly democratic countries, are 'tyrannical' in nature. Internally they are extremely hierarchichal, with the power flowing from the top downwards. We wax lyrical about how great democracy is and so on, but the vast majority of people spend a huge amount of their lives in a workplace with zero democracy (ever been asked to vote for your manager?). They're pretty much told what to do, and they do it to get on. Or they're weeded out.
Anyway, I've kind of strayed from my main point, which is that the modern world requires "professionals" to behave a certain way - in fact when people say 'be professional' they mean control your natural reactions and behave in a way that the surrounding entity dictates. Anyone who doesn't conform to this either (1) doesn't get on, or (2) is weeded out of the system.
Please excuse the excess verbiage.
Re:$3.50 cheaper (Score:2)
Will the Editors wise up and BAN AFFILIATE LINKS?
Re:$3.50 cheaper (Score:3, Troll)
And soon, Amazon will have a patent on "$3.50 less" too.
Re:$3.50 cheaper (Score:2)
Re:Sounds like a plan... (Score:2)
Do you mean that you need to counter her keyloggers and develop a paper trail?
Re:Sounds like a plan... (Score:2)
Re:Tweedy jackets? (Score:2)
Actually, the professors down in the Auto Tech program wear flashy jumpsuits.
Re:ah (Score:3, Funny)
Good. Don't. We don't want you out here anyway.
Re:but, the "real" programmers" (Score:3, Insightful)
- The new and impressive system that you've been coding (with love and tenderness) for the last 3 months gets shelved just before regression test phase is over because some middle manager changed his mind.
A crappy manager can easily undo the work of a thousand first rate coders.
If you stick to coding and don't look around (like an oostrich with it's head on the sand), you will constantly be hit by surprises at work (a lot of them not nice).
Pop your head once in awhile and smell th
Re:Praise Bob? (Score:2, Funny)