6 ms·

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management

26 points by wallflower 15y ago

danbmil99 15y ago
The article seems to say he first presented these rules in a powerpoint presentation, and then they were published in 1944.
- frobozz 15y ago
  The timeline of the narrative does seem a little confusing, but it's not wrong. Some of the rules were published by King as part of The Unwritten Laws of Engineering in 1944. The whole collection of rules were published by Swanson as The Unwritten Laws of Management, after his own powerpoint presentation.
SoftwareMaven 15y ago
If anybody knows how to get a hold of the book, I would greatly appreciate the pointer. Apparently, once upon a time, Raytheon would send you a copy for free if you asked nicely, but the request mechanism is gone now.
- dhs 15y ago
  It seems like Raytheon stopped distribution because it was discovered that most of Swanson's "unwritten rules" had actually been written before, by other people, and he had just copied them without attribution: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/business/03cnd-raytheon.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/business/03cnd-raytheon.ht... (hat tip to brl)
JanezStupar 15y ago
> Never direct a complaint to the top. A serious offense is to "cc" a person's boss. All right, I have seen nothing good come of breaking this rule - for many complex reasons. However what is one to do, when his PHB is incompetent/misinformed and supposedly damaging the company? Just quit? Is quitting the appropriate response to everything? Where are we (as species) going if we resign when something bad happens. Go away start anew and have people resign on us for our misbehaving? Edit: Also what does one do when lets say - working as a contractor and people that hired you intentionally/out of stupidity do everything contrary to what they were supposed to do (a mission critical project and you wait 2 weeks for any response). You quit? You let yourself be sacrificed as a scapegoat. Or do you just roll over and die?
- PakG1 15y ago
  This is really tough, and the question relies on the nature of your organization. If your organization is well-run and has clear escalation paths, then you follow the process, and the process will sort out the situation out for you. If there are no such processes in place in your organization, then you either rely on your direct relationship with that guy's boss (if you have one), or more commonly, escalate to your own manager, and your own manager dialogues with that guy's manager.
- brl 15y ago
  The first step should always be to confront your boss directly with your concerns. If that isn't a realistic option, it's probably for the best to go work somewhere else under competent leadership.
erikpukinskis 15y ago
I was certain this was going to go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIZ4ckmd9-I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIZ4ckmd9-I

26 points by wallflower 15y ago

The article seems to say he first presented these rules in a powerpoint presentation, and then they were published in 1944.

frobozz 15y ago
The timeline of the narrative does seem a little confusing, but it's not wrong. Some of the rules were published by King as part of The Unwritten Laws of Engineering in 1944. The whole collection of rules were published by Swanson as The Unwritten Laws of Management, after his own powerpoint presentation.

SoftwareMaven 15y ago

If anybody knows how to get a hold of the book, I would greatly appreciate the pointer. Apparently, once upon a time, Raytheon would send you a copy for free if you asked nicely, but the request mechanism is gone now.

dhs 15y ago
It seems like Raytheon stopped distribution because it was discovered that most of Swanson's "unwritten rules" had actually been written before, by other people, and he had just copied them without attribution: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/business/03cnd-raytheon.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/business/03cnd-raytheon.ht... (hat tip to brl)

JanezStupar 15y ago

> Never direct a complaint to the top. A serious offense is to "cc" a person's boss. All right, I have seen nothing good come of breaking this rule - for many complex reasons. However what is one to do, when his PHB is incompetent/misinformed and supposedly damaging the company? Just quit? Is quitting the appropriate response to everything? Where are we (as species) going if we resign when something bad happens. Go away start anew and have people resign on us for our misbehaving? Edit: Also what does one do when lets say - working as a contractor and people that hired you intentionally/out of stupidity do everything contrary to what they were supposed to do (a mission critical project and you wait 2 weeks for any response). You quit? You let yourself be sacrificed as a scapegoat. Or do you just roll over and die?

PakG1 15y ago
This is really tough, and the question relies on the nature of your organization. If your organization is well-run and has clear escalation paths, then you follow the process, and the process will sort out the situation out for you. If there are no such processes in place in your organization, then you either rely on your direct relationship with that guy's boss (if you have one), or more commonly, escalate to your own manager, and your own manager dialogues with that guy's manager.
brl 15y ago
The first step should always be to confront your boss directly with your concerns. If that isn't a realistic option, it's probably for the best to go work somewhere else under competent leadership.

erikpukinskis 15y ago

I was certain this was going to go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIZ4ckmd9-I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIZ4ckmd9-I