What is Digg?40 Comments
- BuckNutty, on 08/19/2008, -0/+26“Everyone rises to their level of incompetence.”
- AphraBenn, on 08/19/2008, -0/+141969?
- BDOUG, on 08/19/2008, -2/+15Failing upwards has run corporations and governments for a very, very long time. Thank goodness for Peter's Parry. I don't make a lot of money but I do like to keep my hands dirty and my conscious clean at the workplace, and have turned down some promotion opportunites for this very reason. Of course I am on Digg on a Tuesday...
- johnleemk, on 08/19/2008, -0/+12http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peter_Principle
"work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence" - pumpelly, on 08/19/2008, -0/+11I thought "A Glossary of Incompetence" was a new book based upon the presidency of George W. Bush.
- roccanet, on 08/19/2008, -0/+11bump bump bump this article. I can count the truly competent management i have interfaced with over a ten year career working as a consultant for big organizations with one finger. the middle one.
- ApokalypseNow, on 08/19/2008, -0/+10I've always been a fan of the Dilbert principle myself - the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management.
- ronk, on 08/19/2008, -0/+9In the place I work, you get promoted based on how you suck up to higher ups and how you present yourself in staff meetings - it has nothing to do with getting the job done using best practices.
- icewalker, on 08/19/2008, -0/+9I first heard of the Peter Principle about 12 years ago from my first real boss. He was a huge believer in it and after 12 years in the work force, I now know why. There is no doubt that many of our political leaders have helped prove this axiom.
- tinybubs, on 08/19/2008, -0/+9Some things never change. This is as true today as it was 40 years ago.
- Animental, on 08/19/2008, -0/+9Ah. So my fear of success IS completely justified!
- inactive, on 08/19/2008, -0/+8Way back when, Adobe hired a guy from IBM (had been there for many, many years) to be Director of New Technologies (or a title close to that). He was hired without anyone in engineering interviewing him. This was back when we had just broken 300 employees.
The guy was slow to reply to emails, and didn't seem very bright. We just tolerated him as he "settled in".
About two months after he started, we had a very important meeting. He no showed, and didn't reply when we tried to get him to come over to the other building. I asked him why he missed the meeting. His answer? "My admin is out today, so I didn't have anyone to print out my emails and bring them to me."
Yes indeed, he was director of new technologies, but didn't even know how to use email. His admin printed them all out. This was a Dilbert strip come to life!
To Adobe's credit, he was gone within the month, once we discovered the charade. I can only imagine how crappy it was working for him at IBM for a decade or so... - grnarrow, on 08/19/2008, -0/+8I had a summer internship at a government agency once. There was a saying related to promotions there: "s**t floats". I decided not to work there.
- noupsell, on 08/19/2008, -0/+8like it was yesterday
- Apollyon0810, on 08/19/2008, -0/+8I've been in the US Army for 6 years now and this rings so true.
- zspade, on 08/19/2008, -0/+8The problem with this? Is anyone really compenant enough to run a humongous corporation? Maybe that's part of our problem. Companies are so large, and management comes to such a pyramid that at the top there must be someone who's surpassed their own incompetance level many times over and is just really good at faking it.
- inactive, on 08/19/2008, -0/+7The Peter Principle is one of those truisms that has demonstrated itself over and over.
However, there are many organizations where there is no incompetence level. You can't rise high enough to find that point. That is what saves many companies. - alphaterminus, on 08/19/2008, -2/+9Groovy article, man. Burn you cards.
- TheKillDoctor, on 08/19/2008, -1/+7Only the incompetent get promoted to upper management. Those who can actually do the work seem to never get promoted in that direction.
- BohicaTwentyTwo, on 08/19/2008, -0/+5Its too late.
- sarog, on 08/19/2008, -3/+7I'll stick with dilbert..thank you
- TheKillDoctor, on 08/19/2008, -0/+4It appears you must be a youngster or have not worked for large corporations. Management is hard? You've got to be joking. If a person has decent social skills that's all that's needed to be a manager.
- TVarmy, on 08/19/2008, -4/+8So, what job can we promote George W to?
- inactive, on 08/19/2008, -0/+4you have apparently already risen to your level of incompetence. It was a short climb...
- synarchy, on 08/19/2008, -0/+3No better example of this principle than TIME magazine itself.
- itspuddingtime, on 08/19/2008, -0/+2humongous, you say?
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/12/2007/12/l ... - zulfy26, on 08/19/2008, -4/+6Yeah um, what?
- chaiwalla, on 08/19/2008, -0/+2I like "nothing fails like success." What a nice, simple paradox.
- mountainweb, on 08/24/2008, -0/+1Many rise to and above their level of incompetence because the managers above them are even more incompetent.
- ADIDAS247, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1Judging from the headline, I thought this was going to be a political article
- BradOFarrell, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1"It could be argued that the world does not need a new science..."
What? - rebotfc, on 08/19/2008, -1/+2god
- Metasquares, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1If this were true, anyone versatile enough to learn to do anything well should rise to the very top of the organization fairly quickly.
- dafragsta, on 08/19/2008, -1/+1It's so true it hurts. Politics is a great example of this.
- mustbepatient, on 08/19/2008, -3/+1I think the truth is that management is *hard*. It's much harder than performing clearly defined tasks, and with so many aspects to it, every manager is going to have some shortcomings.
Of course, nobody on Digg probably wants to hear that...
BTW, if you've only known "incompetent managers", you might want to try figuring out exactly what they do. If you still think they're incompetent, you should go work somewhere else because you're not going to learn much from them. - jabelar, on 08/19/2008, -3/+0My peter is fairly principled.
- binaryjorgie, on 08/19/2008, -3/+0Is that why Edwards had an affair?
- LinuxAddict, on 08/19/2008, -14/+3You expect me to read all of that?
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