On 9 Mar 2006 18:40:23 GMT
hfrarg@nttvr2x3.pbgfr.arg (I R A Darth Aggie) wrote:

> On Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:06:41 +0100,
> Stefaan A Eeckels <hoendech@ecc.lu>, in
> <20060309090641.dddc713b.hoendech@ecc.lu> wrote:
>
> >+ The organisation has no immediate direction (all too common :-) and
> >+ you're supposed to divine where they're going and take the blame
> >+ when you got it wrong :-)
>
> I thought "taking the blame" was what Marketing was for? am I wrong?

Dead wrong. Marketing is supposed to define strategic directions but
because they mistake "the next bonus" for long term their directions
are about as stable as a compass at the North Pole.

Technical management is supposed to optimise the use of expensive
equipment and the even more expensive technical staff (who are, by
definition, lazy whiners). But because they are totally non-technical
(an essential criterion for technical managers) they fail miserably on
both counts. Fortunately, this is easily solved by buying new equipment
and hiring youngsters without any experience. Both being less expensive
than what they replace, this cannot be anything else but superlative
management acumen. The most respected managers buy equipment before
knowing what to do with it, secure in the knowledge that there will be
a staff member to blame when it cannot be put to good use. They are
adored by the top managers of their suppliers, who happen to play golf
with the technical manager's top manager.

Apart from playing golf, top management is supposed to organise
take-overs, indulge in creative accounting (like mistaking combined
turnovers for "growth", leading to the concept of "organic growth" for
growth that is not the result of buying another outfit), outsourcing and
firing staff. This requires a brilliant intellect that can only blossom
when paid in excess of $1M per year while remaining totally
disconnected from the distractions of actually running a company.

--
Stefaan
--
As complexity rises, precise statements lose meaning,
and meaningful statements lose precision. -- Lotfi Zadeh