__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Thursday 23 March 2006 07:03 \__
> begin oe_protect.scr
> Linønut <linønut@xxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> After takin' a swig o' grog, Roy Schestowitz belched out this bit o'
>> wisdom:
>>
>>> Vis-a-vis Office, I have just read that the head of their Office division
>>> is moving. He is rumoured to be put in charge of Windows. What in rotten
>>> hell is going on there in Redmond? Jointly with last night's announcement
>>> on the delays, this reflects very badly on administrative, _as well as_
>>> technical issues, which are kept hidden from public sight. Here'e the
>>> link:
>>>
>>>
http://news.com.com/2061-10805_3-6052452.html?part=rss&tag=6052452&subj=news
>>
>> What? Putting an apps guy in charge of systems software?
>>
>> Something's rotten in Redmond.
>>
>
> Does seem a strange thing to do, although it should be noted that the
> 90s MBA/HR thinking was that if you're senior enough, it doesn't matter
> too much what you're managing, as you don't need to know the details.
> Personally, having seen this approach in action, I know that what it
> results in is a huge growth in internal political wrangling, as once
> middle managers realise that senior managers are technically inept, they
> start spinning all kinds of tales (at least the politically motivated ones
> do), so that the real story, whilst in there, become indistinguishable
> from the tosh which flies around. A technically capable senior person
> would be able to spot which is the proper solution in a face-off, but
> a non-technically capable one simply hasn't got the toolbox to do this.
> What they do instead is try to determine which of the middle managers is
> most likely to be telling the truth - naturally, this tends to favour the
> skillful politician over the perhaps less slick but knowledgable engineer.
> Hmm, did I sound like I've lived this :-)?
>
> This is a real Dilbert moment...
That's just the way business works. I was astounded to see how ignorant, both
technology-wise and presentation skills-wise, a vice president at IBM truly
was. I went to his public lecture a few days ago. The level of technicality
was /so/ utterly poor. It would scare the socks out of you to believe that
the guy is heading strategy for such a large and influential company.
Again I say: that's the way business works, as flawed as it may be.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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