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How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

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Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#91

Post by type0 »

gozur88 wrote: post #77
ryandrake wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the first time in my career I encountered someone like this. I thought I was mistaken or crazy, or just naive since I was new to corporate work. This person MUST do something or he'd have been fired! But after watching for weeks, then months, as he literally accomplished nothing, instead spending all his time self-promoting, taking credit for other people's accomplishments, and "managing upward", I was con…

In my experience small companies, which can't afford to carry dead weight, are pretty intolerant of these kinds of people. But at a large company someone who does this well will be there as long as he wants. I work with one who's been at our company for at least fifteen years. My favorite trick is the Strategic Vacation. Somehow he always has a long vacation planned months in advance that allows him to dump whatever…

> "It's basically done, but I haven't added Y or Z yet" is always the prelude to receiving something he's been "working on" for three months and actually put in, charitably, two or three days of actual work.

Reminds me of the Typical Day interview (from Office Space): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iiOEQOtBlQ

Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#92

Post by dTal »

XaspR8d wrote: post #16
loup-vaillant wrote: post #9

> Can you see a cow? Looks like a blurred Japanese painting. I see 2 samurai, one standing on the left, one dead on the right (face down, you can see his hair). I can't explain the horn helmet the standing samurai is wearing, though. > If you still can't see the cow, please search "visual intelligence cow" in Google images Oh. A cow indeed. (It's head, facing the camera.)

Is this a notable photograph for visual elicitation? I saw a cow immediately so I thought the references were some weird sarcastic humor... (Not bragging about recognition by any means. Grew up in dairy country so I probably see too many cows in things overall!)

Yes, it's famous. I remember seeing it as a child and taking ages to see the cow, and feeling a "hidden picture" sensation when it finally popped out. Now, decades later as an adult, it immediately and unambiguously looks like a cow. I wonder if that's due to 1) learning the picture, 2) learning more about cows, or 3) learning more about high-contrast images.

I do remember hearing that it's one of those things you can't ever "unsee".

Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#93

Post by fuzzfactor »

Not a link to an article, just the linkedin signup page.

Too bad linkedin has declined in usefulness, it was almost getting good.

Anyway, pure political posers are nothing new.

Not everybody has it in them to actually make worthwhile efforts, or make efforts worthwhile to anyone but themselves.

Plus most BS proponents are not in the pure category, with significant to considerable raw ability but who still draw from the BS deck when threatened or with opportunities that might fall to truly higher quality operators instead.

Often motivated most strongly by greed, and without real value-creating talent or productive performance to fall back on, there's not much else they can do to survive.

A great many have been this way for life, and know it well, therefore have a lifetime honing their survival skill. Some get especially good at inserting themselves into the background BS of particulary vulnerable or susceptible bureaucracies, where they can often thrive (exclusively to their own advantage). They sometimes accomplish this without becoming a destructive enough parasite to be well recognized by those who should care. And sometimes those who should care, actually don't care to begin with, or have had their doubts diverted by carefully crafted BS fields.

For technical or scientific concepts to thrive instead, there must be none of these BS operators between the technical creators and the resources the creators rely on (such as funding resources from capitalists, income from clients, or customers).

Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#94

Post by thegayngler »

cesarbs wrote: post #66
thegayngler wrote: post #32

I comfortably and certainly fall into the first category. I'm not ever more than 90% confident...if you ask me directly what my confidence level is. I tend to be one who is labeled as not "smart".

You're not alone. To make it worse I tend to start stuttering when asked things on the spot, even though I know the answers or could easily look up whatever info was asked for. I'm painfully aware this makes me look like I don't know what I'm doing. People generally don't have the patience to let me gather my thoughts and give a coherent explanation/answer.

Exactly. I think that is actually their own failure and not mine. About 50% of the time thinking fast just gets you a rushed answer which is likely not to be the correct answer. My manager literally said he can't trust me with on the spot questions. I'm like well duh. You shouldn't trust the off the cuff for certain types of questions. I try to actively limit the amount of company specific information that goes into semi/long-term memory.

Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#95

Post by ivansavz »

flukus wrote: post #89
Spooky23 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're fortunate. My colleague and I almost spat out our drinks laughing, because we were literally sitting in a discussion with all three archetypes locked in a similar struggle. In many scenarios, it's easy for a person to be in the "S-W" role and get a great deal of success. I've watched the career of one in a large organization. At first they stumbled a few times and were "outed" as idiots. Then this person found…

> The true master bullshitters are insecure & smart and surround themselves with pliable people who will work like donkeys. If the pay was good it might be worth teaming up with them. I can handle the work if they can handle all the other shit.

That's a good point. A bullshitter in a middle management role can serve to shield developers from all the bullshit that comes from above. That's a very useful contribution—so the productive devs can focus on working rather than attend endless meetings. It's like a sacrificial lamb offered to the business side so they can use him/her in their rituals (meetings, client calls, etc).

Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#96

Post by Aaargh20318 »

gozur88 wrote: post #77
ryandrake wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the first time in my career I encountered someone like this. I thought I was mistaken or crazy, or just naive since I was new to corporate work. This person MUST do something or he'd have been fired! But after watching for weeks, then months, as he literally accomplished nothing, instead spending all his time self-promoting, taking credit for other people's accomplishments, and "managing upward", I was con…

In my experience small companies, which can't afford to carry dead weight, are pretty intolerant of these kinds of people. But at a large company someone who does this well will be there as long as he wants. I work with one who's been at our company for at least fifteen years. My favorite trick is the Strategic Vacation. Somehow he always has a long vacation planned months in advance that allows him to dump whatever…

> In my experience small companies, which can't afford to carry dead weight, are pretty intolerant of these kinds of people. But at a large company someone who does this well will be there as long as he wants.

I've worked for a small startup that got reasonably big. We started out with several really good and hard working people. The problems started when we started to get successful and got some investors on board. We were quite well known in the industry we were in and when word got around we got a bit of investment money and we were hiring it attracted a lot of management-types who mainly applied for the status we had. Lots of people with negative productivity. Took a few more years before the company went belly-up.

Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#97

Post by rplst8 »

ivansavz wrote: post #95
flukus wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The true master bullshitters are insecure & smart and surround themselves with pliable people who will work like donkeys. If the pay was good it might be worth teaming up with them. I can handle the work if they can handle all the other shit.

That's a good point. A bullshitter in a middle management role can serve to shield developers from all the bullshit that comes from above. That's a very useful contribution—so the productive devs can focus on working rather than attend endless meetings. It's like a sacrificial lamb offered to the business side so they can use him/her in their rituals (meetings, client calls, etc).

Isn't it a bit like the Jobs + Woz combination?

Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#98

Post by crawfordcomeaux »

Apfel wrote: post #46
chairleader wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could also try the Getting Things Done approach to todo lists, particularly project-specific lists and only writing items that are the next actionable items. With both Pomodoro and GTD, ideally you'd learn to switch more quickly between the planning brain and the doing brain. This allows you to decide what to focus on, acquire full confidence that it's the right thing to do now, and act on it. This helps you tie…

Just bought the GTD book. That's the planning brain part accomplished, right? Here's hoping I can actually find the motivation to read it and then apply the lessons!

Audiobooks are great for when I'm lacking motivation to read.

Also, in today's world, learning how to control my attention is one of the most powerful tools I've picked up. I've done it through mindfulness practices, and boosted it through the use of high CBD:THC pot. If you don't live in a state with legal weed, CBD oil is available online and can be legally shipped.

I can't tell you how nice it was the first time I noticed I was able to sit still for 45 mins without fidgeting.

When I apply my attention to distracting beliefs getting in my way, I recognize I have the choice to believe the thoughts and choose to believe their opposite instead. Choosing to believe a thought isn't a skill many people practice, so most people change their beliefs through the use of affirmations. I do that, as well, and write them on my bathroom mirror with dry erase markers. When I'm brushing my teeth, I read them in my head. When doing anything else in front of the mirror, I read them aloud. If writing your own affirmations, make sure they start with "I," are in present tense, use positive language ("I am ____," as opposed to "I am not _____"), and are emotionally powerful (look for a physical reaction when you say it, like warmth in your chest).

Re: How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

#99

Post by ivansavz »

rplst8 wrote: post #97
ivansavz wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point. A bullshitter in a middle management role can serve to shield developers from all the bullshit that comes from above. That's a very useful contribution—so the productive devs can focus on working rather than attend endless meetings. It's like a sacrificial lamb offered to the business side so they can use him/her in their rituals (meetings, client calls, etc).

Isn't it a bit like the Jobs + Woz combination?

Kind of, but Jobs was a "product guy," not just a manager type.
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