The Roots of Modern Management

[Todd Sundsted]

This post is in reference to:

http://notanmba.com/blog/2008/04/youre-too-stupid-to-manage-yourself

I hope no one was offended... haha...

One of the topics we want to explore in the book is "how we got
here". Why is management often so poorly done? Why are business run
like they are? After all, you'd think some of this would have
corrected itself by now!

So, the question is, did the post make sense?

If someone made reference to "Taylorist" thinking in a business/
management discussion, would you understand what they were referring
to? Any good counter examples to me argument?

Thanks,
Todd

[Julie Gomoll]

It's
This brings up far more stuff than I have time for... you guys need to
come back to Austin so we can talk through all this!

* Taylorist - I wouldn't have a clue
* I realize these behemoth organizations are still around, but I
wonder how many of your readers are familiar with them? I'm not, so I
really don't connect with the "managers are idiots" ideas.
* I manage projects more than people
* Many people need managers, and it has nothing to do with
intelligence levels. Many engineers, for example, are brilliant at
engineering, but really not very good at prioritizing their time.

... I have *so* much more to say on this, but I have to run. Damnit!

[Julie Gomoll]

And a quick qualifier: by "your readers" I mean "your blog readers"

[Todd Sundsted]

Time for a short confession... When Drew and I started writing the
blog, we thought our readers would be frustrated but aspirational
managers, programmers, designers, etc. caught in the corporate
grinder. After hitting the road and starting the coworking tour, we
thought we might introduce them to the hip, innovative coworking
crowd. I never expected the coworking crowd would actually read the
blog...! ;-)

Todd

On Apr 3, 1:41 pm, "Julie Gomoll" <juliegom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> And a quick qualifier: by "your readers" I mean "your blog readers"
>

[Julie Gomoll]

Hah! I love it :)

I imagine it would be difficult for frustrated but aspirational managers to read your blog. They already feel like crap - reading the "fuck you" attitude and hearing about all the awesome interaction going on in the coworking world would just make them feel worse. (Wild guess on my part here...)

How can we reach them and encourage them to make the leap to working independently? My experience has been that folks stuck in that world are often the most fearful...

[Tony Bacigalupo]

Tim Ferriss does a pretty solid job of teaching white collar types how to free themselves.

He speaks in pretty general terms, so it's hard to apply perfectly to a given position, but he definitely gives you the proper mental framework.

(4 Hour Workweek)

[Andrew Jones]

This thread here really boils down to the essence the larger
discussion we've all been having. At each other's blogs, at SXSW,
Twitter, etc. This essence is the future of work, as Julie and her
friend point out. Earlier today Todd and I spoke with Neil Goldberg,
of the now defunct Gate 3 Work Club in Emoryville, who spoke about
this quite eloquently. He framed it in terms of the tension between
Labor and Management, as a kind of renegotiation of the terms of work
itself. He talked about the larger disaggregation of work, of which
coworking I think is the leading edge. It seems that this is what
excites many of us (me for sure) about the energy surrounding
coworking is the sense that it is part of something much larger than
coworking. Maybe a canary in the coal mine?...where the canary
survives!
Drew

On Apr 3, 7:56 pm, "Tony Bacigalupo" <tonybacigal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Tim Ferriss does a pretty solid job of teaching white collar types how to
> free themselves.
>
> He speaks in pretty general terms, so it's hard to apply perfectly to a
> given position, but he definitely gives you the proper mental framework.
>
> (4 Hour Workweek)
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 8:15 PM, Julie Gomoll <juliegom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hah! I love it :)
>
> > I imagine it would be difficult for frustrated but aspirational managers
> > to read your blog. They already feel like crap - reading the "fuck you"
> > attitude and hearing about all the awesome interaction going on in the
> > coworking world would just make them feel worse. (Wild guess on my part
> > here...)
>
> > How can we reach them and encourage them to make the leap to working
> > independently? My experience has been that folks stuck in that world are
> > often the most fearful...
>

> > On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 7:02 PM, Todd Sundsted <todd.sunds...@gmail.com>

> > > > > > Todd- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Tony Bacigalupo]

Maybe a canary in the coal mine?...where the canary
survives!

...and the coal mine dies :-)