THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

OUR TIME: TECHNOLOGICAL PEAK, MANAGEMENT SEWER | 2008-02-23

The comic strip Iggy is wildly popular among those in THE demographic: Young Upwardly Mobile Professionals. That is because Iggy is NOT satire. Crazy satire gets old fast. But Iggy describes a reality that LOOKS like satire.

Management really is that bad today. It is so bad that it LOOKS like satire.

Iggy looks like a satire with his crazy tie. But the reader has no doubt that that guy can work technical miracles of the most sophisticated kind simply because, in today's world, a young person HAS to keep a job like that. We take that for granted.

It is the organization and management that provides the bitter humor.

I have listened to my young kinfolk describe the pain of dealing with sewer-level management.

SysOps is nodding vigorously.

The technical personnel have to PRODUCE. There has never been a time when the pressure was as great on them, and forgiveness for failure less obtainable. That produces technical heights.

Meanwhile management is selected by fitting people into a political maze, with the super-rich at the top. The process has no contact with reality whatsoever.