business as usual, eh?

Story: Microsoft's Patent Scare Tactics 'Not That Unusual'Total Replies: 5
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tuxchick

Oct 12, 2007
9:16 AM EDT
No wonder so many businesses suck, if this is considered acceptable and routine maneuvering. They're too busy puffing and posturing to actually focus on silly things like customer service and quality control. Oh, and making things that people actually want.
jdixon

Oct 12, 2007
9:51 AM EDT
> Oh, and making things that people actually want.

Nobody wants to buy a software patent, TC. Which is why they so often have to go to court to get people to buy them.
phsolide

Oct 12, 2007
6:42 PM EDT
>They're too busy puffing and posturing to actually focus on >silly things like customer service and quality control. Oh, and >making things that people actually want.

Alas, 23 years out of college, and several industries later (aerospace, mass storage, IT contracting, telecomm), I have come to the conclusion that "The Business" is all about puffing and posturing. Doesn't matter what "The Business" is, posturing and power plays rule the day. Half the thrill of management seems to be forcing your underlings to do your bidding, particularly on holidays and for nonsensical reasons. The other half of the thrill seems to lie in obtaining displays of humility from other managers.

And it seems to get worse as you go up the ladder.

But that's just my opinion.
dinotrac

Oct 13, 2007
1:59 AM EDT
>I have come to the conclusion that "The Business" is all about puffing and posturing.

Too cynical. Business is about a lot more than that, but it is about that, too. I have often wished that I hadn't been too smart to listen to others when I was younger. Had I been a bit more humble, I might not have been "too good" to waste my time with office politics.

I really wish I had learned that lesson because the politics of it all ain't really that bad. Mostly it's a matter of understanding what others in the organization are looking for and figuring out how to get what you want by winning allies and minimizing/overpowering enemies. Kind of like the rest of life.

The more extreme forms are repugnant, but, seriously, you've never run into egotistical developers who tromped all over others, monopolized meetings, and ignored any idea that wasn't their own, or, worse, stole them?



phsolide

Oct 14, 2007
8:01 AM EDT
> you've never run into egotistical developers who tromped > all over others, monopolized meetings, and ignored any idea > that wasn't their own, or, worse, stole them?

Seen such a developer? ;Heck, I've been that developer, maybe not all at once, but certainly serially. I've also been that engineer, having spent my first 8 years out of college in varous Stress Analysis divisions of rocket and missile projects. And that's the distinction between a technocrat and a business person: technocrats usually only do those things a few times before learning otherwise, while The Business actually attracts and sometimes temporarily rewards, borderline personality disorder types.

I've come to believe that graft and corruption is actually prevalent at the middle-management layer, rather than being the occasional abberation that most Business Types portray it. Between graft and corruption, and my dual-thrill theory outlined above, you've got a General Theory of Management Behavior that fits all the known facts.

But then, you have to be wary of any theory that explains *all* the facts, as some of what we know is false, and some other parts are just made up. Again, just my opinion.
azerthoth

Oct 14, 2007
8:17 AM EDT
Quoting:The more extreme forms are repugnant, but, seriously, you've never run into egotistical developers who tromped all over others, monopolized meetings, and ignored any idea that wasn't their own, ...
Quoting:But then, you have to be wary of any theory that explains *all* the facts, as some of what we know is false, and some other parts are just made up. Again, just my opinion.


*humor* Hey now, no fair bringing RMS into this, he's fighting (on) our side. */humor*

Couldn't resist, those setups were just too good.

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