9 ms·

> When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration." Attempt to make the committees as large and bureaucratic as possible. H

> When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration." Attempt to make the committees as large and bureaucratic as possible. Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done. I assumed that every place I ever worked was just managed by morons. I never considered that they could be infiltrated by saboteurs!

mikeash 11y ago
Where do you think the CIA got all their ideas from?
- giardini 11y ago
  Are you kidding!? They got the ideas from people who work in these areas! Reading part of the text drives me nuts because I've seen people essentially do many similar things inadvertently and had to enlighten them to the potential hazard/damage that could result. Ever had a mechanic with filthy grit-covered hands start to grease your front wheel bearings? Ever seen someone start to clean a paintbrush with gasoline? The book simply compiles these errors in one place and presents them as "sabotage". Most of the time when they occur in the real world they're chalked up to Hanlon and human ignorance: "Hanlon's Razor: Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
RodericDay 11y ago
This is somewhat unrelated, but it's funny that today a favourite short story of mine happens to have hit the front-page ("The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10490198 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10490198) and it contains the following: > Time passed, and they resented the defects no longer. The defects had not been remedied, but the human tissues in that latter day had become so subservient, that they readily adapted themselves to every caprice of the Machine. The sigh at the crises of the Brisbane symphony no longer irritated Vashti; she accepted it as part of the melody. The jarring noise, whether in the head or in the wall, was no longer resented by her friend. And so with the mouldy artificial fruit, so with the bath water that began to stink, so with the defective rhymes that the poetry machine had taken to emit. all were bitterly complained of at first, and then acquiesced in and forgotten. Things went from bad to worse unchallenged. > It was otherwise with the failure of the sleeping apparatus. That was a more serious stoppage. There came a day when over the whole world - in Sumatra, in Wessex, in the innumerable cities of Courland and Brazil - the beds, when summoned by their tired owners, failed to appear. It may seem a ludicrous matter, but from it we may date the collapse of humanity. The Committee responsible for the failure was assailed by complainants, whom it referred, as usual, to the Committee of the Mending Apparatus, who in its turn assured them that their complaints would be forwarded to the Central Committee. But the discontent grew, for mankind was not yet sufficiently adaptable to do without sleeping.
guiomie 11y ago
I always knew all those Agile conferences were just competition trying to sabotage our work.

mikeash 11y ago

Where do you think the CIA got all their ideas from?

giardini 11y ago
Are you kidding!? They got the ideas from people who work in these areas! Reading part of the text drives me nuts because I've seen people essentially do many similar things inadvertently and had to enlighten them to the potential hazard/damage that could result. Ever had a mechanic with filthy grit-covered hands start to grease your front wheel bearings? Ever seen someone start to clean a paintbrush with gasoline? The book simply compiles these errors in one place and presents them as "sabotage". Most of the time when they occur in the real world they're chalked up to Hanlon and human ignorance: "Hanlon's Razor: Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

RodericDay 11y ago

This is somewhat unrelated, but it's funny that today a favourite short story of mine happens to have hit the front-page ("The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10490198 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10490198) and it contains the following: > Time passed, and they resented the defects no longer. The defects had not been remedied, but the human tissues in that latter day had become so subservient, that they readily adapted themselves to every caprice of the Machine. The sigh at the crises of the Brisbane symphony no longer irritated Vashti; she accepted it as part of the melody. The jarring noise, whether in the head or in the wall, was no longer resented by her friend. And so with the mouldy artificial fruit, so with the bath water that began to stink, so with the defective rhymes that the poetry machine had taken to emit. all were bitterly complained of at first, and then acquiesced in and forgotten. Things went from bad to worse unchallenged. > It was otherwise with the failure of the sleeping apparatus. That was a more serious stoppage. There came a day when over the whole world - in Sumatra, in Wessex, in the innumerable cities of Courland and Brazil - the beds, when summoned by their tired owners, failed to appear. It may seem a ludicrous matter, but from it we may date the collapse of humanity. The Committee responsible for the failure was assailed by complainants, whom it referred, as usual, to the Committee of the Mending Apparatus, who in its turn assured them that their complaints would be forwarded to the Central Committee. But the discontent grew, for mankind was not yet sufficiently adaptable to do without sleeping.

guiomie 11y ago

I always knew all those Agile conferences were just competition trying to sabotage our work.