The Wetware Crisis: the Dead Sea effect (2008)

These things always have a grain of truth to them, in that they describe some places some of the time, but I also think there's so many things going on in any given place it's hard to generalize. A well-run organization will hire the right people, and then foster their development in such a way that they are productive, happy, and grow, and will compensate them sufficiently. If any of those things break down, you can run into any number…

It's thinkpieces like this that make me believe that IT professionals specifically and white collar workers generally would benefit greatly from a mandatory 24 month stint on a construction crew. One of the most important lessons any job foreman can learn is that every crew needs at least one lame duck. A single talented carpenter with an energetic but otherwise totally unskilled helper can accomplish more in a shift than two talented carpenters together. If you don't have someone to…

There's a complementary effect where the employers that are hiring tend to be poorer places to work, and the managers hiring within an organization tend to be the worst managers. Why? Because they're the ones driving off the best employees. Good employers/managers tend to have little turnover and thus need relatively fewer hires. And when they do, they often hire via word-of-mouth rather than the front door. This is yet another reason to grow your career network.