The Management Secrets of T. John Dick

Craig Habeck writes "As a Dilbert aficionado, I was intrigued when a colleague handed me a book that he described as 'like Dilbert written from the point of view of the Pointy-Haired Boss.' I read it over the weekend and came into work on Monday with my sides still sore from laughing." Read on for the rest of what sounds like a good antidote to the plague of management/motivational airport books. The Management Secrets of T. John Dick author Augustus Gump pages 268 publisher Mainland Press rating 9 reviewer Craig Habeck ISBN 0970874693 summary Dilbert in Prose - Sort Of

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.

Comments

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Re:3rd post!

[Anonymous Coward]

methinks its a bit premature m'lord.

Perhaps a Frosty Piss is in order?

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Hmm, how to describe this review?

[Anonymous Coward]

-1 gay

FIRST POST IF YOU THINK I FAIL IT YUO ARE = TEH SUCK

dont use so many caps

Write a letter if you have something to say.

Re:Hmm, how to describe this review?

[Anonymous Coward]

How to Describe this Post.

TEH F4ILUR3!!!111!!

Amazing new Technology from Microsoft!

[scumbucket]

Enhancing PC Disk Performance
Bruce Schafer
Multisoft Corporation
May 22, 1986

Introduction
From the beginning, the main benefit of personal computers has been increased productivity. Just as we become familiar with the advantages of personal computers we begin to notice that we spend an increasing amount of time waiting for the
computer to finish its task. This is partly due to the natural human tendency to always want more. But, there is a more objective reason as well. Usually, when we begin an activity on a computer, we begin small -- a small document, a small spreadsheet, a small database, or a few weeks of
accounting information. Inevitably the data grows, resulting in slower responses from the computer, especially when disk access is involved.

This article discusses a way of improving the speed of personal computers using a software technique called disk caching. Put simply, a disk cache is a collection of copies of recently used disk sectors. By keeping a copy of recently
used disk sectors in extra RAM memory, a disk cache can reduce the number of times the application actually accesses the disk. This, in turn, can dramatically speed up the
performance of the application.

History

In the early days of computing, memory was a very expensive resource. Large rooms were filled with many hundreds of thousands of dollars of memory, and still there never seemed to be enough. Much research money went into developing the concept of virtual memory. (See "Virtual Memory" by Peter J.
Denning in Computing Surveys, September 1970). Much of this research amounted to answering the question, "How can I get my programs to think I have more memory than I actually do without losing to much in performance?" Much of this research into minimizing the loss of performance in creating virtual memory applies equally well to increasing the performance of disk transfers.

Since the time large virtual memory systems were developed, the price of memory has dropped dramatically. Just in the short time since the IBM PC was introduced, we have seen memory boards go from 64K bytes per board to 256K/384K, and
more recently to 2048K. The price of these boards at the time they were introduced was about the same in each case. In short, the price of personal computer memory has dropped by at least 10-to-1 in four years. This dramatic drop in the
cost of memory provides an opportunity to use memory in ways that would have previously been too expensive. In particular, RAM memory can be used to create a disk cache that dramatically improves the performance of applications which access disk storage.

Related Technologies

You might ask why isn't disk caching built into MSDOS? In fact, we might anticipate that it will be added in some future version of DOS. At the time DOS was originally designed, however, it was clearly out of the question. Memory was still too expensive to seriously consider it. On the
other hand, DOS did provide for a related technique, namely buffering. Starting with Version 2.0, DOS even gave the user the option of specifying the number of buffers to be used for
disk access. (If you are not familiar with this command, look up the BUFFERS command in your DOS manual.) While buffering provides some performance improvement, it falls far short of what can be accomplished by a disk cache.

Another technology related to disk caching is called RAM disk. The idea of RAM disk is similar in that it takes advantage of extra memory to increase disk performance. The major difference is that a RAM disk creates a completely separate virtual disk. A typical use of a RAM disk involves
copying frequently used programs to the RAM disk at the beginning of a session. Later, when it is time to run one of these programs, they are loaded from the RAM disk rather than the conventional disk. As a result, they begin executing in
a fraction of the normal time. As you can see, this approach is particularly beneficial when the same progra

This post is dedicated to Amanda

[Anonymous Coward]

who is hopefully in her cube reading slashdot. I love you. You complete me.

Re:This post is dedicated to Amanda

[An ominous Cow art]

Amanda Huggenkiss?

Re:This post is dedicated to Amanda

[Anonymous Coward]

No, Amanda Touch

two million accident-free work hours?

[Mr. Sketch]

2000000/24 hours a day = 83333 days/365days a year = 228 years? I don't know of any companies that have been around that long. Unless, as a proper manager he counts each persons time separatly, so maybe they have 1000 employees and they've been accident free for 90 days. How bizarre.

However, the book does sound like it would be a fun read, so I might pick it up at some point.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[eoyount]

You forgot to divide by the number of people. You're exactly right in your second sentence. Companies count man-hours, so you would contribute 8 accident free hours for every shift you worked.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[momerath2003]

It probably means "two million accident-free man-hours," or (people) times (amount worked). This would make considerably more sense: 22 people for 10 years would be about two million man-hours (people-hours for the PC :) ).

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Cesaro]

Correct, you count each person separate for that. So if you have 10 people working 8 hours, that is 80 hours.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[thebatlab]

Actually yes, accident free hours are counted per employee and then added up together.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[seeesesk]

Perhaps you should ponder the section on obsessing over trivial details.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[jdavidb]

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...

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe the Hudson's Bay Company has been in operation since the XVII century.

tmegapscm

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[clintp]

Lloyds of London has been operating as a shipping underwriter since the 17th century. Although I doubt they've been accident-free that long. :)

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[TJ6581]

I don't know of any companies that have been around that long.

If you are looking for a few companies that meet this age criteria try Zildjian Cymbal Co. It is in Norwell, Mass., founded in Turkey in 1623 and now in its 14th generation of management by the Zildjian family.

for a more complete list of companies with some time behind them try this list.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[gort3]

>2000000/24 hours a day = 83333 days/365days a year = 228 years? I don't know of any companies that have been around that long.

LLoyd's of London was founded about 1688.

http://www.lloyds.com/index.asp?ItemId=2622

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Tumbleweed]

The Hudson Bay Company springs to mind, as does Bowne (a former employer - formed in 1775, I think).

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Shoreporters of Aberdeen - Scotland:

Founded 1498

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Otter]

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?

Hint: it's like rai-ai-ain on your wedding day, a free ride when you've already paid, ten million spoons when all you need is a knife...

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Contribute 8 hours for each shift one works? What kind of shifts are you working?

Look outside and smell the economy - 27 hours a day is now standard :)

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[azav]

Weihenstephan brewery.
Founded 1040 AD.

http://www.brauerei-weihenstephan.de/

I win.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[agallagh42]

The Hudson's Bay Company was granted a Royal Charter from King Charles II on May 2, 1670. That's 333 years, 2 months, and 16 days, making it the oldest incorporated company in the world that is still in existance today.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Note: key word is "incorporated". There are much older family run companies out there, but The Bay is the oldest corporation.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[malraid]

Good one!!!

When I read the parent I was thinking exactly about Zildjian

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Em Emalb]

Universe.

Founded 5 billion..erm, 6 billion...erm, a long time ago.

http://www.universe.com*

I WIN. ;)

*warning. I have no idea where this link takes you. Click at your own risk.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[nojayuk]

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry started in 1570 on its current site. Later research indicated the company could trace itself back to 1420.

Some famous bells they have cast include the Liberty Bell (damaged in transit, they offered to repair it properly but a little war got in the way) and Big Ben. They recently cast a bell donated to the City of New York by the City of London on the first anniversary of 9/11.

http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[jpsst34]

US^HCA

The United Corporations of America was founded in 1776. That would make it 227 years old. Damn, just 1 year too short. Maybe they rounded.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

228 years, yes.

But if you have 228 employees, they can jointly log 228 man-years in a year, Einstein.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[frovingslosh]

Although I doubt they've been accident-free that long

paper cuts don't count

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[loosifer]

I think you are referring to irony, but one wouldn't know so from your post:

irony, n - Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" (Richard Kain).

Your statements just describe things that suck, not things that are ironic. Please, base your definitions of words on actual reading, not music, because apparently musicians are just as illiterate as the rest of America. It's crappy when it rains on your wedding day, but it's ironic if it happens after you chide all your friends for not preparing for rain on their wedding days yet you yourself don't prepare for it on your day. It's lame when you've got lots of spoons but need a knife, it's ironic when you've been slowly trading knives for spoons and you never actually need a knife until you run out of them.

My favorite, most poignant story of irony is a racist skinhead who decided he couldn't stay in any longer. When he informed the rest of the skinheads, they beat him up and left him almost unconscious on the side of the road. Multiple white people passed him by and did not help him, and finally a black couple saw him and helped him. See, that's irony, not just crappy

Please, read more, music less

.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Zork the Almighty]

...so you would contribute 8 accident free hours for every shift you worked

They wish ! There needs to be someone around here that resets the odometer.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[JWW]

Try 13 billion, but thats just the astronmers best guess. Your're about right on age of the solar system, though.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Jason1729]

Yes, but you only get paid for 8 hours/day, so as far as the company is concerned, that'll all you contribute.

Jason
ProfQuotes

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

please, fuck more, whine less.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[banzai51]

Lighten up, Francis.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Optic7]

Every bottle of kikkoman soy sauce says either "since 16xx" (don't remember the exact date), or "for over 300 years... etc".

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[azav]

Silly Rabbit, that's not a company!

Universe, Co., ltd. would be the company.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Xaroth]

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.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[jhylkema]

The Henokiens is an association of family-owned companies that have been in business for at least 200 years and are still controlled by the descendents of the founder.

I got ya beat anyway. Beretta Arms Company and its U.S. counterpart have been around since 1526.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[jhylkema]

Oops, I should have looked before I hit the "submit" button. Beretta's US counterpart hasn't been around that long, but the company has.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[KeeferD420]

....I wouldn't have spent that year in college! WOO HOO! I love Lewis Black and I am going to see him live on Sunday night... Nice observation on the UCA, btw! :)

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Conspir8or]

228 years? I don't know of any companies that have been around that long.

Guinness, maybe Bass (of Ale fame), and Kikkoman come to mind. Brewers of one essential liquid or another. :)

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm.. I'll take her off your hands if you'd like.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know Alanis is Canadian?

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Knara]

Main Entry: irony Pronunciation: 'I-r&-nE also 'I(-&)r-nE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -nies Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirOnia, from eirOn dissembler Date: 1502 1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning -- called also Socratic irony 2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance 3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play -- called also dramatic irony, tragic irony Your definition, while accurate, is only one of many. While I myself am no great fan of Morisette, at least I recognize that to be a subjective preference. Types like you, which need to _justify_ why something subjective like music is bad irk me to no end. It's even more ironic(!) when your objective reasoning for disliking something is, in fact, erroneous.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[KanSer]

The Hudson's Bay company has been existence since 1670. When Canada was formed as a country it was already 200 years old. They still operate stores all over Canada. You can still buy the same blankets at these stores that you could at the Hudson's Bay Company's trading post. Except now you give them paper or plastic instead of a corresponding number of Beaver pelts. Mmm... Beaver Pelt...

For those who have no idea who Zildjian is, know this. They are undoubtedly the manufacturers of the finest cymbals in the entire history of the world. I cannot describe for you the feeling I get when I hear their perfect resonance. (For the cymbal nerds, I have 60 year old beauties, but I don't read Arabic so I don't know what they are)

They are my benchmark for digital audio. When a speaker can reproduce that high, it is done. No further development is required, the upgrades will have to be made on us.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[mausmalone]

Actually... an accident at the "2,000,000 consecutive accident free hours" party is ironic.

We are led by the author's narration to believe that the company is actually an extremely safe one, but events show that it isn't. After all, one man's mistakes shouldn't lead to burning down half a factory if the company is inherently safe.

And your definition of Irony is lacking at best. By your definition, anything that happens that isn't quite as expected is irony.

10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife is implied irony. 10,000 spoons implies an expectation that spoons will be necessary, and events show that to be false. From the point of view of the person with the spoons, this is ironic.

A black fly in your chardonay(sp?) is ironic because chardonay is expensive. If you order chardonay at a restaurant, the expectation is that this restaurant (most likely high-class) will give a good presentation. events show that to be false, hence irony. From the point of view of the restaurant customer, this is ironic.

Rain on your wedding day could be ironic, assuming you set the date according to weather reports, but that's a stretch.

A lot more is ironic than you think. Which is, according to your description, ironic. You present a great defninition of irony and a persuasive argument, and all expectations point to you being right. Events, however, show that to be false because your strict interpretation neglects implication and point-of-view.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I get it. The parent is +5 insightful, but the correction to the parent is +0 Offtopic. Makes perfect sense to me!

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Writing a song about irony without having a clue what irony is.... Now that's ironic.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Precisely. Which means the song is metacircular and Ms. Morissette is a freaking genius.

Eh, maybe not.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Sgt_Jake]

What he's probably referencing (or maybe not) is a professor emeritus of English, Paul Fussell who discussed this topic in an editorial for the Washington Post.

None of the situations in her song (no, not even the plane crash) are 'ironic'. There was a fair amount of debate over it in the academic community, and while there were a few dissenting opinions about what 'could' constitute irony, not one of those English professors would concede that her song contained a clear case of actual irony.

The irony is that her song is about irony, while containing no actual irony. To which she replied something to the effect of 'how ironic.'... correctly.

Are we done here?

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[4of12]

Pardon my recursive tight loop, but with whom does Lloyds of London deal with about obtaining insurance for catastrophes that might happen to themselves?

Certainly if they had a terrible catastrophe at the same time as their policy holders, then there'd be some unhappy customers.

From what little I recall, they have Names of investors that shoulder the risk in return for the premiums. Maybe the individual underwriters are distributed so broadly that they wouldn't all be wiped out in the same catastrophe.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Lozzer]

Chardonnay isn't expensive, at least by Western standards. I can get drinkable examples for GBP2.99 a bottle (75cl). We have high duty on alcohol. In France you can get reasonable stuff for around GBP1 per bottle.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[dopaz]

"Please, base your definitions of words on actual reading, not music, because apparently musicians are just as illiterate as the rest of America."

Alanis Morissette is from Canada, so perhaps she's as illiterate as the rest of Canada.

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Morissette,+Alanis

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[kubrick]

What about the Church? They've been around for 1800-1900 years, according to the historians...

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[mausmalone]

my mistake, I'm not a drinker, so my knowledge extends so far as "chardonay is a wine." Heck, I believe it's a red, but I'm not even sure on that.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[mausmalone]

I don't see where all this debate comes from. Obviously, a lot of people are reading good 'ol Webster's definition of the word and interpreting it in completely different ways.

I think one of the problems we all have with trying to define what's ironic and what's not is that we don't all interpret the meaning of irony in the same way.

So "good advice that you just shouldn't take" isn't ironid? Good advice gives an expectation that you should take it. The reality is that you shouldn't. In what way is that not ironic? You have an expectation, which is then shown to be false. Where's the debate?

It's not that I'm a big Alanis Morrissette fan, it's just that these are easy examples to remember. A debate with a mneumonic device... that helps a bit.

The thing is that, with a lot of these examples, there's no stated expectation or percieved truth, but instead it relies on our social perceptions and expectations. She doesn't build an expectation that good advice should be followed. We already have that expectation from our own experiences.

And that's what most of this differrence of opinion comes to. Even though Irony itself is defined in reasonably stringent terms, deciding what's ironic is entirely subjective. A lot of people do misuse the term, but some of them aren't flat out wrong. They just might have a broader interpretation of the term than you.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[delong]

Yes, but you only get paid for 8 hours/day, so as far as the company is concerned, that'll all you contribute.

Guy never heard of salary, obviously. Duh! :)

Derek

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[j-pimp]

Its white. Its rather dry.

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah because so many tech workers are salaried. Duh!

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[delong]

Just because you're on the bottom of the pay scale doesn't mean everyone is. Duh!

Derek

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[Hognoxious]

After all, one man's mistakes shouldn't lead to burning down half a factory if the company is inherently safe.

They could do if:

1. He (the one man) was a member of the US armed forces
2. operating any kind of weapon
3. and supposed to be aiming it at a totally different factory

Re:two million accident-free work hours?

[gfim]

And, last I looked, Canada was part of America. However, I do agree that "illiterate as the rest of America" is a bit harsh on the Chileans.

Graham

I Love DICK!

[anthrax_spork]

I really do!

This is the...

[Anonymous Coward]

First post worth modding up.

Like, Hello???

[rylin]

Why the lack of links to dilbert.com?

Re:Like, Hello???

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the lack of links to dilbert.com?

Because neither this book or the review really has anything to do with Dilbert. The reviewer just did a little clever name-dropping to get his submission accepted by the ever-vigilant editors of slashdot.

Re:Like, Hello???

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the lack of links to dilbert.com?

Ditto for Goat sex.

Re:Like, Hello???

[Anonymous Coward]

this week's episode deals with witch hunts. :)

Re:Like, Hello???

[Fesh]

Because we already know where it is? The +1 informatives this got scare me.

Nerds for Nerds?

[Anonymous Coward]

And this book review is of interest to nerds WHY EXACTLY? The reviewer makes a comparison to the lead character of this novel and a supporting character in a technology-based cartoon and that's enough to get this accepted on slashdot? WTF? This book has nothing to do with technology or nerds or anything that nerds care about!

This has about as much relevance on slashdot as Martha Stewart's latest "Cooking Simplistic Crap For the Masses" book.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[Anonymous Coward]

It might be relevant because a lot of the bitching and moaning seen on slashdot are basically managerial issues IMHO. That would include the political (DMCA) and financial (Lexmark, et al.) topics. Just for example.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[mofochickamo]

Thank you for speaking for all nerds. You, epotimizing nerds everywhere, are the authority on nerd tates and can speak, without prior authorization, on behalf of nerds everywhere. Thank you, Mr. Nerd Chairperson.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[ivanmarsh]

Uh... business in general and management fubarary appeals to this nerd.

Speak for yourself Mr. Spokesman.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[dreadnougat]

I needed a book to read, I now have one, and if I didn't want another book to read, well gosh darnit I think I would've skipped this article over!

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[gerf]

And this book review is of interest to nerds WHY EXACTLY? The reviewer makes a comparison to the lead character of this novel and a supporting character in a technology-based cartoon and that's enough to get this accepted on slashdot? WTF? This book has nothing to do with technology or nerds or anything that nerds care about! This has about as much relevance on slashdot as Martha Stewart's latest "Cooking Simplistic Crap For the Masses" book.

Engineers deal with business too. Do you think that every geek/nerd sits in a cube all day, working on crap, and never has to manage? Please, don't feed me that.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[whoppers]

This is probably just PR for the book. All the suspects are in NC.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[hoggoth]

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."

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[Yogurtu]

It has a LOT to do with nerds. Some day your parents will demand that you work for a living, and then you'll see.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[AntiOrganic]

Are you kidding me? Haven't you ever seen Throw Momma From the Train? That's what the parents of Slashdot regulars are like.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[PetWolverine]

Wow, makes me feel lucky I'm not a nerd. Wait, how'd I get here? I was looking for this place.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[inode_buddha]

Thank you for clarifying things. Yes I get called on to run things by default on occasion, in addition to my regular work. No, its not easy, but the "to-do" list done. And no, I don't necessarily agree with my superiors.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[DoofusOfDeath]

The review interested me. I'm glad it appeared.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[mr_z_beeblebrox]

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.

Re:Nerds for Nerds?

[PetWolverine]

Overrated? It was scored 1, the default score, with no moderations yet either way.

Come on, people--if you're going to moderate, use it to express an opinion. "Overrated" is meaningless.

Does timothy...

[Anonymous Coward]

...want to suck T. John's Dick?

SORRY, SHE'S SMOKING MY POLE RIGHT NOW, SAYS "MMF"

[Subject Line Troll]

Winston Groom aka Augustus Gump?

[Anonymous Coward]

There must be something about being having a Gump around to remind you that anyone of any ability, intelligence, and rationale can skate through life in their own little way while affecting others non-so-subtlely.

For a TV show that's funny in a similar way...

[PancakeMan]

...check out "The Office" (I get it on BBC America)

Re:For a TV show that's funny in a similar way...

[BlackEmperor]

Yeah that's exactly what I thought of too while reading the review. It's a very funny BBC sitcom set in an office (tada) centering around an incompetant manager and the staff who work for him, some of whom are as equally bizarre as their boss. you'll notice hundreds of similarities to an office you've worked in, especially if you've worked in the uk! the macho bravado and sexual innuendoes are perhaps not as prevalent in american companies.

Re:For a TV show that's funny in a similar way...

[Cryptnotic]

the macho bravado and sexual innuendoes are perhaps not as prevalent in american companies.

The macho bravado and sexual innuendoes are definately not as prevalent in American comedies.

See also: Coupling.

Re:For a TV show that's funny in a similar way...

[Optic7]

See also: Manchild Man, all those shows are good... the business consultant/trainer episode of The Office was priceless, when the boss starts playing guitar etc... lol how self-centered can a character get?

Re:For a TV show that's funny in a similar way...

[davesag]

I think "the office" was considerable more sublime than this book. I only saw it once on a sort of marathon DVD 'the office' fest and it's about as funny as TV can get. I think I may have actually vomited from laughing so hard. They really captured the various 'office personality types' perfectly in that show and I am eager for a second series if such a thing is possible.

The scene where the have the fire drill and the boss and his assitant carry the only wheechair bound employee halfway down the fire stairs then the drill is called off so they just leave here there half way down the stairs while they head off to the pub just had me in stitches. I mean i know it's sort of evil but honestly it was such a funny scene. the germans would use the term 'schadenfreude'.

See also Come Friendly Bombs and fall on Slough - it isn't fit for humans now.".

I will probably buy this book though, as i love a laugh.

well, ok... I'll try that

[inode_buddha]

little challenge at the end of the review to explain my own failings.

1. I usually don't bother to care what I seem like to others; Instead, I concentrate on my goals and not much else.

2. I should pay attention to detail with the rest of life too, not just the contents of my hard drives.

Conclusion: I'm gonna buy this one, because it seems to provoke thought as well as laughter.

Re:well, ok... I'll try that

[saskwach]

Let me help you there...You're dumb and a crappy guy!

Re:well, ok... I'll try that

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever notice how strongbad and his fans never get laid...

Re:well, ok... I'll try that

[saskwach]

Just because this is true in your experience does not mean it applies to _everyone_

Mr. Bean = Boss?

[sssmashy]

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.

Sounds like the pointy-haired boss, portrayed by Rowan Atkinson.

Re:Mr. Bean = Boss?

[Anonymous Coward]

My thought exactly. A picture of Mr Bean formed in my mind as I read that sentence.

Maybe a book from the PoV of the PHB where the serfs really _are_ the problem would be fun. There must be _some_ material in that direction.

Can't think of any though.

Re:Mr. Bean = Boss?

[lpp]

Nah, part of the attraction to things like Dilbert is the powerlessness of those who realize how bad things are to change them. If a "boss" knew there was a problem and it was with the underlings, he would presumably have the power to do something. If neither the boss nor the underlings knew there was a problem (or what it was anyway), then there might be a problem creating a character that readers would relate to.

Just my thoughts...seems there's a reason the current format does so well.

Re:Mr. Bean = Boss?

[jazman_777]

Nah, part of the attraction to things like Dilbert is the powerlessness of those who realize how bad things are to change them.

This is an old thread in humanity. On the religious side, it's Calvinism. On the atheism side, it's selfish genes. In psychology, it's Freud's stuff. It's all a form of demonology, and it all sells. We all would like to know it's not our fault, we can't help it.

Re:SORRY, SHE'S SMOKING MY POLE RIGHT NOW, SAYS "M

[Anonymous Coward]

Friggin funny SLT. :D

I can't believe I read down this far through troll posts....

Like a box a choc'Olates

[dcw3]

author Augustus Gump

I see Forest's son is following in his footsteps

Re:Like a box a choc'Olates

[Anonymous Coward]

Forrest's son's name was Forrest, like his dah-dee.

Re:Like a box a choc'Olates

[Jeremi]

Hm, I was reminded more of Augustus Gloop.

Re:SORRY, SHE'S SMOKING MY POLE RIGHT NOW, SAYS "M

[Anonymous Coward]

and I'm also surprised someone else came this far down just to mod it down to a "-1 Offtopic".

FUCK TEH GH�Y LAMEASS FILTER: FP BITCHEZ

[Anonymous Coward]

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Now broom you must now sleep for me the dust it fills my room
No John, I will not sleep for you for I am not your broom

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Now broom you must now sleep for me the dust it fills my room
No John, I will not sleep for you for I am not your broom

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Now broom you must now sleep for me the dust it fills my room
No John, I will not sleep for you for I am not your broom

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Now broom you must now sleep for me the dust it fills my room
No John, I will not sleep for you for I am not your broom

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Now broom you must now sleep for me the dust it fills my room
No John, I will not sleep for you for I am not your broom

FUCK THE LAMEASS FILTER!

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Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[sphealey]

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.

The early Dilberts were quite funny. They started going downhill IMHO when the character of the boss changed. Originally, the boss was a typical boss-guy: sometimes clueless, sometimes wrong or wrong-headed - but not always. From time to time the boss would demonstrate that his employees were not the proto-gods that they believed, but were also fallible human beings subject to stapler misfires.

Then when the drawing of the boss changed from the taller, more jowly look to the shorter, fatter-but-thinner-face guy, that changed. After that the employees were 100% godlike and the bosses 100% clueless.

At that point I found it to be a lot less funny. Because let's face it: a lot of the stupidies of the workplace are caused by the worker bees themselves, not just the evil bosses. And when Dilbert lost the balance that recognized that fact it started to slide (a slide which got worse when Scott Adams was fired from his real technical job).

sPh

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Kierthos]

Are you reading the same Dilbert? The one where Wally is a lazy good-for-no-work coffee drinker? Where Alice is frequently violent to fellow co-workers? The one where Dilbert causes most of his own misfortune when the PHB isn't involved?

The entire company is disfunctional. If they were godlike in skills, they wouldn't be working there. A recent comic even had Dilbert noticing that he wasn't even qualified for his own job any more.

Incompetence has _never_ been limited just to the PHB, nor just to the people who read those damned management books.

Kierthos

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[mark_lybarger]

Because let's face it: a lot of the stupidies of the workplace are caused by the worker bees themselves, not just the evil bosses

spoken like a true middle management drone ;). management often determines the direction of a company; be it practices, procedures, technologies or who to partner with. they often also fail to listen to (or ask) the worker bees in the company their thoughts or ideas. when the worker bee quietly asks "WTF are you thinking?!?" they're often put into their place with some mumbo jumbo about "leveraging synergies across the organization in order to maximize the value provided to the customer".

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[sbillard]

So... how's that corner office working out for you?

My TPS report will be ready by the end of the day.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[NaturePhotog]

At that point I found it to be a lot less funny. Because let's face it: a lot of the stupidies of the workplace are caused by the worker bees themselves, not just the evil bosses. And when Dilbert lost the balance that recognized that fact it started to slide (a slide which got worse when Scott Adams was fired from his real technical job).

I agree that the nature of Dilbert has changed over the years. Both bosses and workers are more exaggerated now. Scott Adams was sad to see one of his best sources of material go when he left PacBell (now SBC) -- many of the incidents in Dilbert have been based on real-life events.

But while I disagree that it's a lot less funny, I have to admit your misspelling stupidities as 'stupidies' was a lot funnier than today's Dilbert :-)

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Fesh]

A recent comic even had Dilbert noticing that he wasn't even qualified for his own job any more.

Funny, I read that one as a comment on the absurdly inflated requirements listed in job postings these days, not that he was actually unfit for the job he was doing.

Although to be fair there's probably an arms race between the hiring managers and the buzzword-weilding resume-writers occuring.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[DaveAtFraud]

Even scarier: maybe the original poster thinks these *are* "godlike" levels of infallibility.

I sure hope not but then again, he may be in management or marketing.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Anonymous Coward]

The Management Secrets of T. John Dick.. PACKS YOUR FUDGE

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[batkins]

Hmmm, this appeared two days ago.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Anonymous Coward]

But not as funny as when you criticized his "misspelling".

HINT: When you post a spelling nazi troll, use the "pree-vyoo" button.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Anonymous Coward]

Absurdly inflated requirements?? oh, c'mon.. I'm sure there's people pounding on their doors with 10 years of Win2K experience, and at *least* 5 years of experience with Oracle9i.

I *sorely* laughed one time when I was job-shopping online, and found a posting for a company that was looking for someone with a PhD in IT Security, 10+ years experience with internet firewalls, and certifications up the wazoo... and then they say "we've had this job posted for over a year and have only had two applicants". Gee, I wonder why? Meanwhile one of the best firewall/security people I've ever met was in his mid-20's, a consumate geek with no college degree, and totally security-paranoid.

Now unemployed, I've seen a *lot* of jobs out there with totally rediculous requirements. Luckily, my old boss from a previous job (who loved me and knows how capable I am of *learning* new technologies on the fly) has a job lined up for me (although I've enjoyed my month off ;-) ).

I've interviewed people with certs and education up the wazoo, who couldn't pick up anything new without 6 months of training (and even then would do everything by 'rote'). And I've interviewed people who have no certs and not much post-HS education who would jump in and pick up anything in a week. Education is *not* everything, attitude and ability to learn is the most important.

I prefer the latter. I'd rather have someone who can jump in and pick something new up in a short time, and who is *interested* in what they do.. rather than just a paycheck. I was amazed in college (I didn't graduate) with all the people who were in a particular major just because it would 'pay well when they graduate'. I remember a senior year EE major asking for my help (I was a freshman CS major... who grew up tinkering in digital electronics - building my own boards, etc) in designing his final project so he could graduate. I took his design that was like 40 IC's and would never have worked and got it down to 10 IC's and something that actually would work in an hour. I was spouting off 74xxx series chip #'s, knowing exactly what they did off the top of my head, and he had to keep looking them up in the databook to find out what their function was (this is early 80's). The difference was, it wasn't a 'job' for me, it was something I enjoyed doing and was interested in and had done for years as a hobby at that point.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[voxlator]

Those inflated requirements ?

Perhaps it's an obvious clue that the job being offered is about to be taken by someone wielding a H1-B visa - it wasn't posted in some obscure journal too was it ?

:o)

--voxlator

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Anonymous Coward]

One might suggest the same to you before you accuse someone of misspelling.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[YourMissionForToday]

You're analyzing Dilbert? You think that one strip is different from another?

Let's just agree that the strip is for assholes and that anyone who analyzes it to the extent that you just have should be castrated.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Anonymous Coward]

The book sounds funny... I'll definitely look it up. The one thing I can't figure out, though... Why T. John Dick, rather than R. John Dick?

(rot2 (PHB) = RJD, not TJD)

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[pmz]

Although to be fair there's probably an arms race between the hiring managers and the buzzword-weilding resume-writers occuring.

Are hiring managers smart enough to know that a resume that actually has all the requested buzzwords is lying profusely?

It seems that most job positions advertised could either be filled by gods or liars but not honest schmucks like me.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Anonymous Coward]

Mark Twain said it best -- "It's only 'work' if you'd druther not do it..."

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[whatch durrin]

I'm currently job hunting, and yes, some of the requirements listed are inflated. I especially like how employers will super-marginalize the job so that only those that have worked for the company would have any experience as listed.

As for your college experience...I find it regrettable that an EE senior had to ask you for help with their project. Obviously the student had no grasp of the concept of logic and how it applied to ICs.

But to down an EE student for not having TTL chip numbers/functions memorized is ridiculous. I don't know how CS is, but in EE memorizing part numbers is not a priority - understanding concepts to know how to make silicon perform a particular function is.

If we spent class time being quizzed on part numbers our education would soon become obsolete. Reference books like the TI TTL book are published for a reason.

Also, I commend you for your "can-do" attitude and your tinkering with digital electronics as a kid, but why didn't you graduate? There's something to say for getting taught theoretical concepts that a Rat Shack hobby kit can't provide.

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Anonymous Coward]

Golly - all that, and you're modest too!

Re:Similar to the downhill slide of Dilbert

[Beliskner]

Funny, I read that one as a comment on the absurdly inflated requirements listed in job postings these days, not that he was actually unfit for the job he was doing.

Depressingly, I'm in this situation for real :-(

My manager is within earshot and I overheard him getting calls from the welfare office, I go to the welfare office's job postings website and to my horror I've found my own job on offer PLUS requiring certifications that I don't have. Despite the fact I've finished all my projects on time, they want someone with certification because that person would "seem" to be able to do the job better than me is my guess. I'm starting to lose faith in Capitalism, it just doesn't work, Sales teams can sell unfinished software (and regard selling bad software as a macho challenge), marketing teams can make the shoddiest trash look great. To be honest, after reading their description of my product, I feel like I'm making candy with all the toppings, not software

My manager told me "The Bug list for the software you just released is empty. Clearly our clients are unhappy with us and intending to switch to a different provider, I feel you have just lost us one customer, I would take it out of your paycheck but that might be illegal; don't expect a bonus this year"

Funny thing is, my Managers love Dilbert, and have somehow mentally distanced themselves from it applying to them. Perhaps they see it as a science fiction movie? Miners don't get treated like this because they turn to violence, perhaps that's what us software developers must do to prevent our jobs being outsourced offshore?

The Brittas Empire

[fermion]

It does sound like a british comedy. In fact it sounds like The Brittas Empire. Except in that one Gordon Brittas destroys the entire lesuire centre and comes out a hero. I think it is called rising to your level of incompetence.

The question it really raises is that of inflated levels of self esteem, or perhaps self worth. I prefer to think it is the later. In any case, it certainly illustrates the notion that an ability to initially present yourself as competent may be more important than in fact being competent. Unfortunately being able to fool people for a little while is often all that is needed to succeed.

Off topic, is there any official news on the Red Dwarf movie? Is a vapour or something that might happen?

Re:The Brittas Empire

[RobinH]

I think it is called rising to your level of incompetence.

This is also known around here as the "Peter Principle"; I remember reading the book when I was much younger. The idea is that, you will continue to be promoted until you reach a job you're no longer suited for.

Re:The Brittas Empire

[Anonymous Coward]

He sounds like Mr. Bean.

Re:The Brittas Empire

[TrentTheThief]

I've spent many evenings watching Brittas. And, I must admit, lusting a bit after Pippa ;-)

I often wondered how a person with Gordon's personal "charm" could live long enough to breed. It hasn't been on the air in the NYC area for a couple years, now. I didn't realize how much I'd like to watch the series again (even though it's all repeats) until I noticed your post. Thanks!

I think I'll look for the DVDs ;-)

Cover shot

[pen]

here's a shot of the cover

Re:Cover shot

[blowhole]

Now you all better not be judging... by God if I catch you judging why I'll just go crazy!!!

Used, but cheaper

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/offeri ng/list/-/0970874693/all/ref=dp_bb_a/002-0957609-1 774466

Ha Ha!

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on, guys! His name contains the word "dick"! Why was this not pointed out? Dick!!! HA HA!!#!$$%$!#11!!!!111

Kartoffel

[LordNimon]

FYI, "Kartoffel" is German for potato.

Re:Kartoffel

[Anonymous Coward]

Since he's the president, I kinda figured it was more like "Cart offal"...

Re:Kartoffel

[pmz]

FYI, "Kartoffel" is German for potato.

No, it's what a German says, in English, when looking at an American luxury car.

Sounds like "The Office" ?

[devitto]

This is almost exactly like the office, in tone, if not setting.

"The Office" is a UK series that's won loads of the biggest awards, and is, I guess, something yet to make it over to the US on masse.

When it does, I think it'll be the next "Fawlty Towers"....

Re:Sounds like "The Office" ?

[gosquad]

The first season of the Office is shown regularly on BBC America and I have heard rumors Season 2 will be shown soon (I hope!). You can also get season one on PAL (I assume it's PAL) DVD in the uk if you have a way of playing it in North America.

Season 2 will be out soon on dvd from what I remember.

Re:Sounds like "The Office" ?

[anonicon]

Actually, "The Office" has just started over here on BBC-America (on cable TV). I've caught some of it and it's generally very funny (but not always). All-in-all, it's better than 90% of the shows on TV today.

Re:Sounds like "The Office" ?

[webster]

I don't think the PAL/NTSC video standard is encoded on the DVD. It would be up to the DVD player to get that right. It's the region code that would be the problem. The US is in region 1 and the UK is in region 2.

Re:Sounds like "The Office" ?

[Optic7]

I'm pretty sure PAL/NTSC is encoded into the DVD. Even on a region-hacked DVD player you still have to have a multi-system TV that can handle the PAL signals in order to view a PAL DVD. You can also find a handful of expensive DVD models (except one Daewoo model for $100) that transcode between the two standards.

Re:Sounds like "The Office" ?

[Angst Panzer]

Speaking as a UK-ian / Region 2 inhabitant, yes PAL / NTSC encoding is something you have to worry about in addition to region type.

I have a multi-region DVD player (in fact you have to try quite hard in the UK to find one that isn't), but I need to be using a TV that can deal with NTSC output when I play Region 1 discs. Luckily pretty much all new TVs in the UK will deal with both PAL and NTSC signals. However, I think the reverse is not true for US-ians and other natively NTSC folks -- you need to be careful your setup can deal with PAL if you are importing discs of that ilk.

SECAM is just a myth.

Re:Sounds like "The Office" ?

[Anonymous Coward]

PAL and NTSC have different framerates, and show a different number of scanlines on the screen. So the MPEG video on the DVD for PAL regions will have a PAL framerate and resolution, not the NTSC framerate and resolution. Although it's possible to resample the video with some fancy electronics, it's rarely done. This is why console games used to come in PAL and NTSC versions before region coding became a fad.

Re:Sounds like "The Office" ?

[mink]

In the USA, Sams Club sells the Daewoo (does PAL to NTSC and vice versa) for $50.

Gee golly that's good funny

[mao che minh]

Hahaha, wow, what does this have to do with anything related to this site again?

Oh yea, the editors are tools.

Mainland Press is requesting stories...

[Anonymous Coward]

and "anecdotes illustrating his theory that the business world is inhabited almost exclusively by knuckleheads."

For the "The most disastrous business decision you ever witnessed" I would have to say IBM's decision to license DOS from Microsoft. Either that, or the current deathwish that SCO has against IBM and the computing industry in general.

"The most ridiculous presentation you ever heard": Hasn't Mr. Gump seen, or even heard, of the conference where Balmer comes onstage, jumps around, and screams "DEVELOPERS!" repeatedly at the top of his lungs? I found that hilarious.

Those should definitely make it into the next book.

Re:Mainland Press is requesting stories...

[Javagator]

Actually, IBM got a sweet deal on the MS DOS license. They just didn't get an exclusive deal. They didn't foresee that other companies would reverse engineer the BIOS and sell "IBM Compatible" computers at a price much lower than IBM. Microsoft then got rich selling the OS for all of the non-IBM computers.

Re:Mainland Press is requesting stories...

[Anonymous Coward]

MCA suing Nintendo for copyright infringement on Donkey Kong, since it was similar in name to King Kong. At the time of the lawsuit, King Kong was considered public domain, and MCA's lawyers went through painstaking research to prove this. It turns out that MCA didn't have the rights for the product they were suing Nintendo for.

Re:Mainland Press is requesting stories...

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember watching a PBS special on the "revenge of the nerds" where it talked about how Big Brother Bill's mom got him the deal with IBM simply because she was, or knew someone who was, on IBM's board, so it's not so much a poor business decision, but a personal favor that ended up with consequences that no one could've foreseen.

Re:Mainland Press is requesting stories...

[len_harms]

To add to what the others say it was a very 'safe' decison at the time.

You can pressure the little tiny company to fix whatever goes wrong. Low cost to get things fixed.

Your not out the cost of developing some software for a piece of hardware that directly goes against the big iron your trying to sell.

Your fairly confident you have the patents and copyrights locked up. So you go ahead and do it. Someone makes a clone. SUE em, and they did. But they lost, they gambled.

It also worked out VERY well for IBM. I would go so far as to say it saved them. Apple and a few other companies were eating IBM's lunch in the PC market.

It was when people figured out you could build the same computer for 2k, for what IBM was charging 8k for, that IBM got busted. That was the bad decision. Higher prices than what others can build the things for is what eventually cost IBM the PC market. They had the sucker LOCKED up till about 1989...

Re:Mainland Press is requesting stories...

[sql*kitten]

For the "The most disastrous business decision you ever witnessed" I would have to say IBM's decision to license DOS from Microsoft.

That's second.. the first would be Digital Research not taking IBM's calls, thus forcing them to go see MS in the first place :-)

Another particularly stupid thing IBM did was ignoring the RDBMS market for as long as they did, and letting Oracle get such a huge headstart. But it makes you think... IBM accidentally created two huge industries, PCs and databases, and gave them away, and it's still one of the most powerful corporations in the world.

Re:Mainland Press is requesting stories...

[Vryl]

She was on the board of United Way with the president of IBM.

There is no proof that she got him the deal, but I think ppl treated Bill with kid gloves around IBM because of the connection.

brittas empire

[SprayThought]

sounds just like it

Did anyone read the review?

[MikeD83]

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.

Re:Did anyone read the review?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? Because there are no grammatical errors?

Re:Did anyone read the review?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's sentence, not sentance

Re:Did anyone read the review?

[jruschme]

I think he means that it should probably be "whipping the company into shape".

Re:Did anyone read the review?

[JanneM]

Well, he _is_ supposed to be incompetent, after all...

Re:Did anyone read the review?

[RenaissanceGeek]

In less informed times (back when people believed that mice would spontaniously form if you left cotton and grain in a box together for long enough), it was also belived that bear cubs were actually born as undifferentiated blobs of flesh and fur. In order for them to achieve proper "bear" status, they had to be "licked into shape" by their mother.

Now, what was the problem?

Dude,

[Anonymous Coward]

you are so a manager and you know it. really sad that dilbert picking on you bozos got you down. I guess it was all too real for you.

Let me guess ...

[hobbs]

... you are in management?

BRITISH COMEDY IS NOT FUNNY

[Anonymous Coward]

nights who say neep

oh ho ho ho

fuck you benny hill bucktoothed big eared snaglypussed limey polesmokers

well the princess di funeral show was funny as fuck, i'll give you that

Re:BRITISH COMEDY IS NOT FUNNY

[GoneGaryT]

You're not bitter, then?

Amanda is not reading slashdot, sorry.

[Medievalist]

Amanda is busy backing up to my big 9-inch.

Wait, are we talking about a chick here? Never mind. How embarrassing!

Re: '.. most disastrous business decision ..'

[talexb]

• For the "The most disastrous business decision you ever witnessed" I would have to say IBM's decision to license DOS from Microsoft.

IBM didn't have a lot of choice .. they were being closely watched by the federal government; this was during or just after the anti-trust suit against IBM launched by LBJ on his last day in office. Strategically it was way safer to license rather than buy.

In hindsight, a decision with huge ramifications. At the time, a fairly minor detail in a fairly routine deal.

I've been poking around various bookstores...

[idontgno]

but I haven't yet seen this title in the non-fiction aisles. Strange.

228 years?

[macshune]

Must be that new fangled RIAA math...

MOD PARENT DOWN!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Parent contains Goatse link!!!

Er, wait...

"Dilbert from the point of view of the PHB?"

[netringer]

"like Dilbert written from the point of view of the Pointy Haired Boss"

Wouldn't that really have the boss as the sane one in company full of nutso techies?

Maybe that wouldn't sell because there are a lot more cubicle victims in the population than bosses.

Re:"Dilbert from the point of view of the PHB?"

[jpu8086]

Maybe that wouldn't sell because there are a lot more cubicle victims in the population than bosses.

Yeah, but economies of scale can be made up with economies of another scale. Just price each book at $99.99, so only bosses can affod it. (If cubicle victims want it, they can look it up on kaaza ;-)

Re:"Dilbert from the point of view of the PHB?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently you don't know what the words 'point of view' mean.

To view from someone else's perspective. The PHB is a moron, and therefore we get to see life from the moron's 'point of view.'

MOD PARENT DOWN - REDUNDANT

[Anonymous Coward]

everyone knows he does.

Stora in Sweden is older than the USA

[Dog and Pony]

STORA's history

There is this really funny story from about 10 years ago or so (I think), when this.... well, very american (the stereotype type) American was negotiating some contracts with them, and asked them a bit condescendingly if they could handle such an order, and were they sure the company wouldn't go belly up. They just told him when the company was founded, and how long that was before the US was founded. :)

Re:Stora in Sweden is older than the USA

[leshert]

Ahh, yes, of course the fact that it's been around longer than dirt makes it invulnerable. Just ask anyone who works at Barings Bank..

What? You can't find anyone? Hmm...

Und...

[Anonymous Coward]

Scheißekopf ist für Deutsch...

Re:Und...

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if anyone ever called that general Stormin' Norman Schwanzkopf...

QUESTION

[donald knuth troll]

Was this book typeset with \TEX or not?

Re:SORRY, SHE'S SMOKING MY POLE RIGHT NOW, SAYS "M

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder how deep they will go to mod down.

The Office available in the States in BBCA

[Dave21212]

Definitely worth watching. You can find it on BBCA Channel 264. The DirectTV website has an online programming guide that will help you find your favorite shows.

Re:The Office available in the States in BBCA

[taniwha]

I can't stand it (and I like most english humour - I find Coupling wonderful to watch and dread what NBC will do to it) - I suspect it's because "The Office" close enough to reality that it's kind of like I'm having teeth pulled.

Re:The Office available in the States in BBCA

[jazman_777]

The DirectTV website has an online programming guide that will help you find your favorite shows.

We're boycotting DirecTV. We are, aren't we? I mean, they're an evil litigious corp, right? Somebody help me here, anybody. Bueller?

Re:The Office available in the States in BBCA

[Dave21212]

I hear ya jazman! But I'm more interested to see how a multiple award winning customer service organization responds to the problem... I'm giving them a week or two before I pass judgement (yes, very un-slash like I know!)

Re:SORRY, SHE'S SMOKING MY POLE RIGHT NOW, SAYS "M

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think it's so much moderators doing it, as editors. They usually handle the crap flooding, such as this post right here.

Need a book to read?

[saintan]

Two words:
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

Augustus Gump

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't he the character from Charlie and the Choclate Factory by Roald Dahl?

Re:Augustus Gump

[jerel]

That was Augustus Gloop, IIRC.

surprised no one has mentioned

[Maroon Corps]

"The Dilbert Hole". Now *that's* a Dilbert parody!

Original site was shut down, but it's still findable out there...somewhere...

Easter Egg?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hans Kartoffel - Hans is as common in German speaking countries as John, and is often translated as such. Kartoffel (plural Kartoffeln) is German for "potatoe".

Re:Easter Egg?

[Anonymous Coward]

That would be 'potato'...

Re:Easter Egg?

[Nexus Seven]

potatoe

Are you sure its not German for Dan Quayle?

Re:Easter Egg?

[easter1916]

John Potato. So. What's your point?

Re:Easter Egg?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mr. Potato-Head!

And Augustus Gump recalled August Gloop for me too.

There's only one godlike character in Dilbert.

[hndrcks]

I am MORDAC, The Preventer of Information Services!

...at least, everyone in my office thinks so...

The Office!

[dacetone]

Sounds like David from The Office (one of my favorite shows of all-time!). The most awful boss in the world, who thinks he's the greatest, everyone loves him and his 'artistic' soul. It's a show that makes you cringe while wanting more ;) I can't wait to read this book.

Plagiarism? You decide...

[Anonymous Coward]

From the /. review:

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.

Now the amazon review:

Although they are always seen through the filter of T. J.'s unique view of the universe of which he forms the center, other characters too are interesting and fun, especially Ronnie, T. J.'s laconic nemesis, Hans, the ebullient German acting President of the company, and Grace, T.J.'s less than devoted wife, who puts up a spirited and entirely successful resistance to all his attempts to apply his management techniques to his marriage.

Also, one reviewer on Jan 14 2002 titled his review "Dilbert in prose" which is more-or-less the summary provided by the reviewer

methinks something is fisshy...if you're going to re-hash you should at least site the source of inspiration...

Re:SORRY, SHE'S SMOKING MY POLE RIGHT NOW, SAYS "M

[tomzyk]

I never troll but I can see the attraction to it. :)
Just keep doing it to see what readers' reactions are to it.

Also, I don't think that it is any editor script that does the modding down of these posts; some are modded as Troll and others as Offtopic. I'm guessing it MUST be individual readers modding them down. *shrug* (Why would an editor waste his/her time doing this when they should be reading the articles that we've submitted and checking for dupes or bad articles that shouldn't be posted in the first place.)

Just my $0.02

Crapflood moderation (was Re:SORRY, SHE'S...)

[Anonymous Coward]

If you browse at 0, you won't see the whole chain - just the latest post by whichever AC posted last. Therefore moderators browsing at 0 don't have to dig down through all the crap; they just see this one offtopic post at/near the end of the comments and mod it down. In fact, you can try it right now with this post if it hasn't been modded down yet.

T. John Dick = Gordon Brittas?

[EricTheMad]

If you changed his job to Leisure Center Manager, that could be a perfect description of Gordon Brittas from the Brittas Empire. It was a British comedy that ran a few years back.

Re TPS Reports

[Hooptie]

Im sure you got the memo, but we are now putting cover sheets on all of our TPS reports. So, from now on if you could just put a cover sheet on your TPS reports, that would be great.

MRRP

[ch-chuck]

mind-numbingly complex Meeting Room Reservation Procedure

something tells me that Outlook© is somehow involved with this.

DTSMH

[hackrobat]

like Dilbert written from the point of view of the Pointy-Haired Boss

Why not pick up one written by Scott Adams himself? Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook

i like the way you work it

[Anonymous Coward]

no diggity

sounds influenced by Augustus Carp

[Willard B. Trophy]

Hmm... bumbling, pompous, convinced of their own greatness; sounds exactly like the classic of English humour Augustus Carp, Esq: by Himself (which is out of copyright in the US, and available for free download on Eric Eldred's site).

irony...

[Anonymous Coward]

Your statements just describe things that suck, not things that are ironic. Please, base your definitions of words on actual reading, not music, because apparently musicians are just as illiterate as the rest of America. It's crappy when it rains on your wedding day

While I definitely agree with the above sentiments, it's worthwhile to note that Alanis Morissette is Canadian, eh?, not American.

Unless you were referring to North Americans in general...

I remember getting into a heated debate with friends in college after this song had been out for a while. I tried to explain what irony was, and why nothing in the song was ironic.

Damn those Canucks for corrupting the impressionable youth of the world!

ironic

[Anonymous Coward]

what the heck is it with slashdot and people who
don't understand the definition of the word ironic,
then start to mock others who also don't know?

just stop. please?

Reggie Perrin

[CormacJ]

It reminds me a bit on The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin

Now theres the original dysfunctional show - check it out if you can.

For those who have never seen it, it's somewhere between Dilbert with a touch of BOFH and "The Office"

Re:Reggie Perrin

[easter1916]

Reggie Perrin was pure comic genius!

Make the movie

[sprekken]

Holy shit! That would be another great idea in the series of Mr. Bean movies. I can't wait to go see the new secret agent movie (whatever it's called) - I loved the first movie he was in, and think that he would be perfect in this type of movie.

To truly appreciate Dilbert

[plopez]

One must read it in the orignal Ferengi. What is lost in the translation is that the boss is always right. :)

MOD UP PARENT: INSIGHTFUL

[GoneGaryT]

Jolly good.

Interesting read

[Anonymous Coward]

That leads me to this.
The basic problem is that we live in a superficial society were most of us are involved in trival, non-essential work, so self-inflated egos are not a problem, since the work is not important. If this was a cold war, or even a real war, things would be different.

augustus gump = gavin sinclair

[scamper]

He wrote a humorous wee screed here...

bn doesn't have it in stock.

[Anonymous Coward]

But Amazon does....

psychopathy

[sniggly]

If youre concerned about psychopaths in management read this article and google for the author of Bully in Sight, Tim Field.

Who insurers the insurers?

[Hanzie]

It's called self-insurance and re-insurance. Re-insurance is when insurance companies have complicated contracts amongst each other to re-insure in case of unexpectedly large liabilities. It's pretty common because sometimes it's entire neighborhoods that burn, floods can be huge or other problems.

And sometimes it just happens that a very large number of your drivers simultaneously lose control and drive into school playgrounds at recess simultaneously. It's not very likely, so insurance is a bit cheap for it.

The rule of thumb is a 40% payout for every dollar taken in. Your risk exposure is assesed in terms of: it is X% likely that you are going to wreck your car, burn your house, have CD's stolen from your car, or whatever causing $Y in damage claims to be paid.

Let's say it's 1% likely that someone in your age + gender + car model group is going to total your car, resulting in an average claim of $10,000 paid. Your insurance company will say that, on the average, you, and all other customers like you, are going to cost them 1% x $10,000 or $1,000 this year. Assuming a 40% payout target, your premiums will add up to $1000/.4 or $2500 per year.

In this case, you're actually paying $2500 for what is really worth $1000 worth of coverage. Most people consider this a good deal, because you are actually using your insurance every time you drive. You are able to drive knowing that if some motorcyclist drops his bike on gravel in front of you (or you don't see him turning left in front of you) that you won't spend the remainder of your life supporting his wife and children. You also know that if somebody knocks you and your bike into next week, that your million dollars of medical bills will be covered, and if you don't survive, that guy's insurance company (or yours, if he doesn't have any insurance) is going to pay for all of it. This safety net sounds so good that in most places it's legally mandated.

If you're an insurance company, re-insurance works the same way. Your company (A) takes out a policy with other insurance companies (B,C,D, and E) that says "I am very unlikely to be required to pay claims in excess of X million dollars, but if I am, B, C, D and E will pay all my claims over X million dollars in return for this premium paid annually"

The trick is that B has similar policies with A, C, D and E. Likewise for C, D and E. and none of the companies really pay much in the way of re-insurance premiums, because you're all just trading checks for the premium payments until a rash of tornadoes hit (like tornadoes have been doing since air was invented). Then, of course, you call your congress people that you also took out re-insurance policies with, and remind them that Federal Aid is required to deal with the horrible losses, because if you have to pay out these huge claims, you might not have any left over for the next campaign donation.

One can only imagine what T. John Dick would do managing an insurance company. It would be a nice fantasy, but any insurance company stupid enough to leave Mr. Dick in charge would probably go bankrupt in a hurry.

Re:Who insurers the insurers?

[Tyler Eaves]

Ahh, Slashdot math. 2 + 2 = 40?

Re:Who insurers the insurers?

[Hanzie]

ok, my bad. It should be $100 or an assumed payout of $100,000 at 1%. Yes there was an arithmetic error, the general information is still accurate, including the 40% payout target, or at least was when I was forced to take a Risk Management class for my accounting major.

Obviously, I'm now in another field.

Tell me that's not a pseudonym (nt)

[PleaseDontBeTaken]

topic

Slashdot and amazon sales rankings

[Chairboy]

I saw this story when it was originally posted and there were less then 5 comments. I went to Amazon.com and looked up the title. The sales rank for it was in the 400ks, like 450,000 +/- 10%.

An hour later, I checked and its sales rank had gone up to 800 something.

Tonight, I check and it is now the 40th most popular book being sold on Amazon.

Behold the power of slashdot!

(not to mention that not every slashdotter avoids amazon like they claim)

As a Brit, I agree with all the above.

[Anonymous Coward]

Then again, watching your President in action, we don't need any comedy of our own, so...

MOD PARENT UP - Guardian article fascinating...

[ContemporaryInsanity]

Very interesting read.