GENWiki

Subject: Rinaldo's laws of organizations

( I think I got this of Usenet years ago. –r$ )

                      Rinaldo's Laws
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As I will be leaving the Washington area in early May, I thought it appropriate to share the wisdom that I have accumulated thus far. These truths have come not as a vision but by observation over time. Accordingly, I have synthesized the following laws.

Choreography is its own reward

  Some things are done only for the sake of form.  Don't fight it by
  looking for substance in everything.  Do it long enough and you'll
  find enjoyment in an elephant dance.

He who does the work shapes it

  As applied to computers, he who writes the code rules (the Coding
  rule).  In meetings, he who writes the minutes determines the
  outcome.

The less the knowledge, the more jealously it is preserved

  Societies with only a few precious facts make their people memorize
  them and pledge to faithfully abide by them.  In contrast, highly
  developed disciplines quit worrying about losing knowledge (unless the
  computer crashes and there is no backup).

Excellence increases demands

  Critics gather to spot tinier flaws as work nears perfection.
  Promptness invites impatience.  In correspondence, the faster you
  answer a letter, the faster your correspondent will answer giving you
  something with a shorter deadline.  This reaches a fever pitch with
  electronic mail.

Skills diminish professionalism

  Engineers who admit to drafting skills are vulnerable to assignment of
  drafting work, just to help out.  Similarly, female professionals
  should hide any clerical skills lest they be asked to pinch hit for
  one of the secretaries in the event of illness.

What separates the competent from the incompetent is the ability to cover up mistakes

  Many successful sales demonstrations have been made with defective
  products in the hands of competent persons who avoid demonstrating the
  features which don't work.  Beautiful Xerox copies can be made from
  originals riddled with correction fluid.  Recovery from some grievous
  errors can be attained by simply announcing, "No problem.  We'll just
  put it back in the word processor!"  The computer software profession
  seems to be the exception; who else is so blatant as to have a term
  such as "debugging" to let the world know that they need extra time
  funded by the customer to correct their own errors.

Silence is not acquiescence

  Contrary to what you may have heard, silence of those present is not
  necessarily consent, even the reluctant variety.  They simply may sit
  in stunned silence and figure ways of sabotaging the plan after they
  regain their composure.

Quick-reaction and slow-reaction facilities rotate

  Once people discover that there is a quick-reaction facility (QRF),
  they will try to get all their work done there, bogging it down in
  work and leaving the slow-reaction facility (SRF) nothing to do, thus
  becoming the faster of the two.

Complexity attracts brilliance

  The KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle is no fun and certainly
  not a professional approach.  If you want brilliant people to do work
  for you make it complex and demanding.  The true professional will
  spend 20 hours at the computer writing a one-time-use program that
  will replace 10 hours of clerical work.  Anyway, 20 hours at
  professional rates pays more than 10 hours at clerical rates.  Also,
  it's more intellectually rewarding.  The greatest achievement is to
  use one's finest professional talents to accomplish something that
  didn't need to be done.

Bad guys are replaced

  Did you ever rejoice over the departure of someone that you couldn't
  get along with only to find that a replica has shown up?  When you are
  trying to make a U-turn and you have someone tailgating you, have you
  pulled off on a side street, then into an alley only to find that two
  other cars are right behind you?

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