Conference 7.286::digital

1205.0. "In the beginning was The Plan" by SICML::LEVIN (My kind of town, Chicago is) Fri Sep 28 1990 12:21

My son came home from college last night with this.  Surely there's no relation
to projects and planning here!


	In the beginning was The Plan.
	And then came The Assumptions.
	And The Assumptions were without form.
	And The Plan was completely without substance.

	And the darkness was upon the face of the workers.
	And they spoke amongst themselves, saying,
	"It is a crock of shit and it stinketh."

	And the workers went unto their Supervisors and sayeth,
	"It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof."

	And the Supervisors went unto their Managers and sayeth upon them,
	"It is a container of excrement and it is very strong,
	such that none may abide by it."

	And the Managers went unto their Directors and sayeth,
	"It is a vessel of fertilizer and none may abide its strength."

	And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another,
	"It contains that which aids plant growth and is very strong."

	And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents and sayeth unto them,
	"It promotes growth and is very powerful."

	And the Vice Presidents went unto the President and sayeth to him,
	"This new plan will actually promote the growth and efficiency of
	this company and these Areas in particular."

	And the President looked upon The Plan and saw that it was good.
	And The Plan became Policy.


	This is how shit happens.
[EOB]

	... there are at least 10 copies posted in cubes around this office!

	But it's still good !!!  :>)

    
    
    whisper a secret in one persons ear and follow it down through about
    10 repetitions and then, "OOOOH -- what you said!!!".

    I saw "The Plan" in MLO about 2 years ago and since, in many other
    places including NYC (my daughter sent it to me, she had received it in
    her office...)
    
    It must have a larger distribution than many newspapers!

    .2:
    
    I don't think that .0 is meant as an example of simply how repitition
    can change the original quote;  I think it is an excellent, concrete
    example of what some people in other notes here have called "managing
    upwards".
    
    Dick