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Harnessing Conflict in the Workplace (video)
Nigel Dessau has written a book titled Become a 21st Century Executive: Breaking Away from the Pack. One thing he mentions both in his book and in conversation is that you should harness conflict in the workplace rather than try to stop it. And the first name that came to mind was Linus Torvalds, and how kernel developer Sarah Sharp recently quit the kernel development team loudly and publicly because of Linus's 'Brutal' Communications Style. And now the Washington Post has put out an article under the headline, Net of Insecurity: The Kernel of the Argument, which is about Linus's management style and his recent conflicts with almost every Internet security maven within reach of his online writing. Meanwhile, at ZDNet, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols calls the Post article "re-bundled old FUD about Linux and the internet's security."
Nigel likes Linus (as do most people who've met him in person) and points out that Linus can get away with being somewhat prickly because he's a genius. The same could be said about the late Steve Jobs and a number of other interesting leaders in the computer business. And Nigel's book and this interview also talk about something that may be more important in the long run than this year's small spate of Linux publicity, namely mentoring and how it can help millennials become productive workers in knowledge fields -- which a whole bunch of them need to start doing PDQ because all the baby boomers everybody loves to hate are either retired already or will be retired before long.
Nigel likes Linus (as do most people who've met him in person) and points out that Linus can get away with being somewhat prickly because he's a genius. The same could be said about the late Steve Jobs and a number of other interesting leaders in the computer business. And Nigel's book and this interview also talk about something that may be more important in the long run than this year's small spate of Linux publicity, namely mentoring and how it can help millennials become productive workers in knowledge fields -- which a whole bunch of them need to start doing PDQ because all the baby boomers everybody loves to hate are either retired already or will be retired before long.
>> which a whole bunch of them need to start doing PDQ because all the baby boomers everybody loves to hate are either retired already or will be retired before long
Or...you could hire Gen X (in their 30's-50's)
Versions of Linux have proved vulnerable to serious bugs in recent years. AshleyMadison.com, the Web site that facilitates extramarital affairs and suffered an embarrassing data breach in July, was reportedly running Linux on its servers, as do many companies.. Those problems did not involve the kernel itself, but experts say the kernel has become a popular target for hackers building “botnets,” giant networks of computers that can be organized to initiate cyberattacks.
People in AshleyMadison.com also were reading Washington Post .. their hack was not related to this fact but many experts say badly edited newspapers become a popular and easy target for populists.
*Divide and Conquer*
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I mean I don't doubt that he may be very smart, but is he actually a genius?
And since when does being a genius somehow give one a free pass on being "prickly"? If anything, I think any forgiveness in that area which may be offered by the public would have more to do with what a person is known for, and how much they have actually done than it would to do with the person's intelligence.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Exactly. Most people feel this way too, which is why Jobs never got anyone to work for him very long and his company went under. Oh wait...
I can't believe how many people these days think high school is a model of how life should be.
High school is what life is when people are too immature and self-absorbed to deal with reality.
FWIW if Linus or Jobs ever talked to you they'd either appreciate your attitude and speak to you with respect because of it - or, more likely, they would dissect your fragile ego, smash the chip off your shoulder and leave you to spend the next five years figuring out why you were such a waste of biological matter.
Her problem was with unproductive and demeaning personal attacks
None of which she experience herself, until she decided butt in to a conversation that had nothing to do with her.
There is nothing inhuman about being managed by a straight talking lead who tells you exactly what you are doing wrong in blunt, uncertain terms.
What is inhuman and undignified is being managed by HR, to whom you are a number, and follow policies that dictate how your team is to communicate and what you are allowed to say.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
True. Unfortunately there is almost nobody to complain to, and if there is, they won't/can't do anything. From my experience HR is there to cover the companies butt from legal problems. They will tick off a list of boxes so if an issue lands before a judge the company can say they were fair and tried everything. When I refused to tolerate my managers crap the whole thing degraded into a high school popularity contest, with each of us trying to rally as many supporters as possible. Most of my colleagues would rather buckle under the pressure and become doormats than put up a fight. I don't blame them. It's simpler, quicker, and cleaner.
I hope workplaces become more cooperative in the future, rather than the rigid hierarchical structure older companies have now. The same old problems will always arise, but at least it puts everyone on the same level so people can't abuse power imbalances. Google X lets people self organize in such a way that good ideas/people gather the most support. People work on the projects they think their skills can be used best. I read a great article about a large tomato processing company that had a similar flexible approach. Each worker must negotiate a contract with each of their stakeholders. The services/resources/money they have to supply, and what they need in return. Management then becomes a service. Good managers are chosen by more people, and are therefore paid more. Bad managers need to find something else to do. Same for workers.
Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
Logic failure. We don't know how many people avoided contributing to the Linux kernel, or went to work somewhere other than Apple to avoid Jobs. I certainly wouldn't bother with either of those things, when there are plenty of other much better opportunities available.
I really can't understand why someone would want to work for someone like Jobs. If you have that much talent then your skills are in demand elsewhere, and it's not like Apple pays 2x market rate (in fact weren't they part of the scam to underpay tech workers that ended up in court recently?), so why put up with it? What makes that amount of stress and conflict worth putting up with?
While I actually agree with you that if my personal threshold is exceeded I'm willing to tell my employer to go fuck themselves, you're seem to be dismissing the fact that the most successful companies are those who you wouldn't work for.
Hell, you're saying that you don't know how many useful people avoided contributing to the Linux kernel because they won't take a public rant from Linus, but as a matter of fact we *do* know that they weren't needed to become successful. If they were needed, the kernel wouldn't be successful, ergo, they were not needed.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.