From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Tue Sep 04 2001 - 22:52:56 MDT
Charlie Stross wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 03, 2001 at 11:25:38PM -0700, Robert Coyote wrote:
> > So if you would share what beliefs or presumptions you have dispelled it
> > may be valuable
>
> "Running your own company is hard/complex/abstruse and difficult". Also,
> "people at the top of industry are there because they're somehow
> superhumanly good at what they do, and mere mortals can't compete."
Corollaries:
"Large organizations, or even just the heads thereof, are generally
aware of what their member offices are doing."
...alternately, "Large organizations are necessarily competent and
efficient." (That may have been the hope, but few achieve it in
practice. But they are large.)
"Complex tasks which are not undertaken, are usually not undertaken
because of their technical difficulty." (Finances and politics are far
more often the idea killers.)
"There are monolithic large entities." (There are the appearance of
such, certainly, and many people use the illusion as an excuse to do
acts, both good and bad, in an entity's name. But it's like large
crystals: past a certain size, the best one can get is a collection of
similar smaller pieces, perhaps adjusted to be even more similar over
time, packed together in the resemblance of a gem. Close inspection
gives it away; one hard tap can spin a piece off.)
"You shall have one and only one type of job for your entire working
life."
"People always learn to do their job better as time goes by." (Some
do.)
"Older means wiser."
"Younger means cleverer."
"Your boss rose through the ranks, and knows how to do your job better
than you do."
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