Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I have met managers who acted as though electrons, concrete, steel, wood, and other things could hear them screaming, “Work Right!” I never quite understood that, but the idea seems popular.

I have overseen and managed many projects in the last few decades. Back in the mid-1980s (yes, I am that old), I was overseeing a set of tests for a computer-controlled system. We had a detailed test procedure that we executed one keystroke at a time. As is common with software tests, some of the tests failed in that the system did not do what it was supposed to do, i.e., the software failed.

When we hit a failure, I would turn to see the programmers standing several feet away and backing further away. Where were they going?

Finally, one of them told me, “You don’t act like the guy who has this job before you?”

I inquired to the meaning of that.

“The other guy would yell and scream when a test failed,” he explained.

It was as if the electrons on the disk would go in the desired direction in response to the yelling. Hmmm, electrons can’t hear, or at least that is what I always thought.

I have seen people also yell at concrete, steel, wood, fabric, and other materials as if those materials could hear them. Hmmm, I’ve never seen those materials react.

Let me emphasize something: this is not a theory.

This is my experience. If had seen electrons respond in a desired manner if I screamed, I would scream a lot. Since they never seem to react, I don’t scream.

Am I missing something here?