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I can say this absolutely exists in Corp tech shops. I worked in an environment where the CIO would frequently refer to the tech staff as “the factory”. I ofte
by rubyfan 8y ago
I can say this absolutely exists in Corp tech shops.
I worked in an environment where the CIO would frequently refer to the tech staff as “the factory”. I often encouraged this CIO and others in the management team not to because it was demoralizing and not true - the work was highly skilled, highly dynamic and not repetitive.
Oh and if you treated tech work like a factory it looked like lots of management overhead, poor execution from low skilled workers, predictable timelines (long timelines), and last but not least higher cost.
- kopo 8y agoWell it has existed throughout history. We haven't discovered great ways of winning wars or building empire without being inefficient and treating people like pawns. Our history books don't spend time making us think about the morale of the front line soldiers in Alexander/Genghis Khan/Napolean/Stalin's armies. Instead we have entire shelves of books devoted to the mindlessly ambitious guys at the top of the food chain. We make Edison an icon and give Marconi a Nobel, but if you know your history, these guys ended up at the top of the food chain because they were ruthless. It hardly mattered what Oppenheimer/Einstein/Feynman thought about the nuclear bomb. Because they were the "factory". Much like the "factory" of people at the pentagon/wall st/google/facebook etc. We still haven't figured out a good way to keep "factories" running or expand/defend empires without propping up mindlessly ambitious people. The inequality rates suggest our faith in them is at an all time high. Our current default method much like the cold war or a chimp troupe, is to keep mindlessly ambitious people at the top of the food chain constantly paranoid about each other. Ofcourse we can do better. But the agency isn't there yet. For example, Facebook could turn into a Wikipedia type entity by tomorrow if the "factory" of workers revolt.
- rubyfan 8y agoI’m not sure Oppenheimer/Einstein/Feynman would have been referred to at the time as “the factory” nor would I imagine anyone consider their work needing to be highly efficient nor would I imagine anyone would dream the appropriate management style to be to eek out all the efficiency in what they were building. I don’t disagree with your thoughts on charismatic leadership but the response seems misplaced or slightly off topic. I think factory management and motive is slightly different than dictatorial/power leadership.
- maxxxxx 8y agoIn my company they have started to refer to people as "resources". It feels really dehumanizing.
- collyw 8y agoThis has been the case for years there is usually a department with it in the name - human resources.
- throwaway080383 8y agoD.E. Shaw apparently uses the term "human capital".
- gaius 8y agothe CIO would frequently refer to the tech staff as “the factory”. I often encouraged this CIO and others in the management team not to At least he was being honest in revealing management thinking. Worse would be a guy who said the company was like a big family, while planning which kids to lay-off next quarter.
- rubyfan 8y agoWe have some of those too but they are usually junior managers who have a single level team (and likely haven’t had to fire or lay someone off). Org leaders usually have more perspective than to call it a family.