The Dilbert Principle

I have been trying to justify the Peter Principle and could not make it fit but after reading this book all things became clear. It is impossible to keep a straight face in meetings with out seeing the different types of personalities doing their thing. I can even anticipate what they are going to say and the reactions.

Usually as most books and movies you recognize everyone but yourself. The most obnoxious person will laugh at his stereotype or just not get the point when it comes to movies and books. However this book is scary in the fact that I could see myself when Scott was describing engineers. And it took a little while to realize what he was talking about the ringing device that knows when to break your concentration.

I am going to leave a copy on QA's desk.

MY next must read is "Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook"


So good they should ban it   November 30, 2004
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Books like this really shouldn't be allowed. They impart dangerous information to receptive minds and reveal things about management that a whole industry has been labouring for years to keep hidden.

The chapter on writing your own appraisal, for example, is very, very dangerous. I have never allowed any of my staff to see it, although I did make use of it when preparing my own appraisal for my boss's signature.

Simple tricks like the 'big picture manouvre' are just too good and useful to be dished out in paperback format.

Scott Adams takes 'the Peter Principle' into an entirely new space. Instead of writing about managers who have been promoted to their level of incompetence, he takes on whole corporate cultures which have grown to their level of incompetence. Everybody who has ever recommended 'concentrating our assets across the board' or, indeed, 'zooming in on the big picture', ought to read this book. Everybody who has ever considered punishing staff for having poor morale should read it. And every pointy haired manager who believes that anything he doesn't understand can't be very difficult should read it.

But workers? They should not be allowed to read it. It should be removed from their bookshelves and libraries. People buying this book online should have to prove that they are management grades before they complete their purchases.

Books like this are just too dangerous.