Stats for nerds
14recommend
22mentions
17people
2010–2026years
77% recommend23% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- For those looking for a "successor theory" to the Dilbert Principle, I highly suggest Venkatesh Rao's Gervais Principle [0].
To use Dilbert terms: Adams would say that PHB is dumb and he is promoted into management as that's where he can do the least damage.
Rao would say that PHB is actually put there by upper management to be a combination of:
- fall guy/lightning rod to take blame for failed projects
- dumb subordinates are less likely to try to take your job (dumb doesn't mean unintelligent. Rather, Rao uses the term "clueless" to highlight smart people who are not political)
- I'll suggest some, all very different.
1. The Software Developer's Career Handbook: A Guide to Navigating the Unpredictable by Michael Lopp
This is about all the things around being a programmer at work.
2. The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
This is a well regarded book about an engineering team building a Data General computer in the late 70s. So the lessons are indirect, but it's a pleasant and technical read. It reads almost like a novel.
Separately, I think it's worth reading at least a couple things that are more cynical. It's helpful for balance. On that front I'd say...
1. The Gervais Principle by Venkatesh Rao
This is a lengthy blog series (or ebook). It uses a metaphor about The Office, but it's still plenty relatable if you didn't watch that show. The abstraction this lays over modern knowledge work is quite interesting. It's a weird combination of demoralizing and liberating.
2. The Peter Principle by Peter and Hull
I remember reading this book and having trouble understanding if it was real or some form of satire. If I read it again now, many years later, I'd probably understand it better.
- The Gervais Principle by Venkatesh Rao
I did Not understand my work Environment anymore but this blogpost perfectly explained it
- Seems similar to what Venkatesh Rao has written about "The Clueless" in his "The Gervais Principle" article.
It is a really great read: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
- "Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution" (2015)
[A]s soon as subcultures start getting really interesting, they get invaded by muggles, who ruin them. Subcultures have a predictable lifecycle, in which popularity causes death. Eventually—around 2000—everyone understood this, and gave up hoping some subculture could somehow escape this dynamic.... The muggles who invade and ruin subcultures come in two distinct flavors, mops and sociopaths, playing very different roles. This insight was influenced by Venkatesh Rao’s Gervais Principle,[1] an analysis of workplace dynamics. Rao’s theory is hideous, insightful nihilism; I recommend it.... The sociopaths ... work out how to monetize mops—which the fanatics were never good at. With better publicity materials, the addition of a light show, and new, more crowd-friendly product, admission fees go up tenfold, and mops are willing to pay.
<https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths>
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Notes:
1. <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F9IV64W/?tag=meaningness-20>
- Books that I read (and re-read) in 2022 that I'd recommend to folks on HN. Ordered from most enjoyable / insightful to least.
- Edward O. Wilson - Biophilia
- Will Durant - The Lessons Of History
- Freeman J. Dyson - A Many-Colored Glass
- Venkatesh Rao - The Gervais Principle
- Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles
- Colin Wilson - The Outsider
- Stanislaw Lem - Cyberiad
- Antonio Martinez - Chaos Monkeys
- Ben Horowitz - What You Do Is Who You Are
- Alice Flaherty - The Midnight Disease
- Oliver Sacks - Musicophilia
- Ken Binmore - Rational Decisions
- Josh Kaufman - The Personal MBA
Edit: All these books made the cut, there were others that I never completed / disliked / wouldn't recommend, or were just plain mediocre / bad.
