Slashdot Mirror
The Management Secrets of T. John Dick
In fact, the resemblance to Dilbert is confined to the setting (a dysfunctional company) and a general atmosphere of corporate absurdity that will be only too familiar to many of us. This is a novel which is closer in tone to British humor of the 1950s. For 268 pages we go inside the head of T. John Dick, a hopelessly incompetent but supremely self-confident marketing manager, transferred from Boston to a small company in the fictitious town of Falling Rock, North Carolina.
Dick immediately goes about licking the company into shape, with disastrous and frequently hilarious results.
The humor derives chiefly from the character of TJ himself and the stark contrast between his self-image and reality. In his mind, he is a dynamic leader in tune with the latest management techniques. He is fond of sharing with us some of his "greatest strengths," including his ability to see "the big picture." In reality, he is a bumbling nincompoop, obsessed with petty details like the tidiness of his employees' desks and his mind-numbingly complex Meeting Room Reservation Procedure, the constant flouting of which drives him to distraction. He is completely unaware of the source of amusement he provides for his colleagues, particularly his nemesis, the laconic VP of Finance, and Hans Kartoffel, the German acting President of the group.
TJ applies the same cutting edge management techniques to his marriage, with similar results. He is completely oblivious to his wife's frequent affairs. We would feel sorry for him, if he weren't such a jerk. In fact, we do occasionally find ourselves sympathizing with him, but we soon get over it.
TJ's unusual management style leads him into some unique (and very funny) situations. His arrangements for a celebration of two million accident-free work hours lead to a fire which burns down half the factory. He attempts to struggle through a violent attack of diarrhea during an important presentation. He accidentally locks the company's president in a restroom stall and endeavors to free him without being noticed. So accident-prone is he that we are hardly surprised when his golf pants catch fire. Of course, no matter what happens, TJ always has a perfectly rational explanation - and it's never his fault.
The character of TJ is an exaggerated but nonetheless very recognizable version of bosses we have known. I laughed, but I also squirmed at the thought that there is no shortage of TJs running around gumming up the gears of industry. The book will appeal to anyone, engineer, product manager, secretary or other corporate wage slave, who has ever had to deal with an incompetent boss or colleague.
The Management Secrets of T. John Dick concludes with a series of completely absurd topics for readers discussion groups. My favorite: "TJ's obsession with trivial details....might be described as a serious personality defect. Discuss some of your own personality defects. Bet you've got some real doozies! You might like to help your co-members by pointing out some of theirs."
The book's back cover reveals little about its author, Augustus Gump, so I turned to the publisher's web site www.mainlandpress.com. Gump has previously published a number of short stories and his humorous articles have appeared in the Charlotte Observer and other regional newspapers. This is his first novel. I will be looking out for his next one.
You (or your boss) can purchase The Management Secrets of T. John Dick from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Perhaps you should ponder the section on obsessing over trivial details.
Since many of us work for T. John Dick I would disagree.
Start your own website, "Slasherdot: Strictly News for Nerds. Stuff that matters to one particular Anonymous Coward."
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
But if you count total man-hours, what's the big deal about having the accident at the celebration? Isn't it supposed to be consecutive man hours?
Oh, wait, he's a PHB. Maybe that's the point...
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
Dick immediately goes about licking the company into shape, with disastrous and frequently hilarious results.
I can't believe the Slashdot editors would allow a sentance like this to slip by.
So... how's that corner office working out for you?
My TPS report will be ready by the end of the day.
but I haven't yet seen this title in the non-fiction aisles. Strange.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Because we already know where it is? The +1 informatives this got scare me.
--Fesh
Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.
I am MORDAC, The Preventer of Information Services!
...at least, everyone in my office thinks so...
Everyone will start to cheer when you put on your sailin' shoes.
This book has nothing to do with technology or nerds or anything that nerds care about!
Exactly. Why would engineers care abou humor in the corporate atmosphere.
You should include a link to your resume, since you obviously aren't yet working in the field.
FYI, "Kartoffel" is German for potato.
No, it's what a German says, in English, when looking at an American luxury car.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
mind-numbingly complex Meeting Room Reservation Procedure
something tells me that Outlook© is somehow involved with this.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I would like to point out, for a moment, that the United States of America claims no responsibility whatsoever for Ms. Alanis Morissette.
Canada keeps trying to pawn her off on us, and we just keep trying to ship her back. It would seem we can never seem to add enough postage, though. Next time we'll be stuffing her into a toaster and passing her off as something equally crumby to see if we can trick customs.
That green slime had it coming.