First, Break All the Rules

Have you ever read a book that seemed to say the obvious, but whose words of wisdom you then started using as a day-to-day framework to explain to others what seemed so obvious to you?
Well, “First, Break All the Rules” is a book like that. It explains how management should be handled, and more importantly how it should NOT be handled, and takes a stand against Dilbertism of all kinds. Should seem obvious, but Dilbertism is quite entrenched in a lot of corporations, and a book with a lot of quotable sentences comes in handy.
To the content: Gallup is famous as a polling company. They have been polling a lot of employees of companies, though, and provided management support services by creating cross-sections of best practices. This book is the summary of that experience.
There are a few surprising results that come out this book. The very first one is that the immediate manager of anyone is the main focus of attention. If you like the way you are managed, you will like the company you work for, and vice versa. This means that all the best speeches from upper management are worth nothing unless they change the behavior of your manager.
The second thing that is really surprising is that the best management style is to reward the able and to punish the unable and lazy. That hardly seemed surprising to me, until I worked myself under a manager that thought everybody is entitled to the same treatment.
With these two pearls, I pretty much summarized the book. Everything else is a list of examples of managers and their real life interaction with their managed. And of course an enormous list of validation. Lots of quotables, as mentioned, will help you get through your day. Whether it’s worth it, your choice. I found the book way overpriced and wished they had a softcover edition.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (A. Franken)

Once in a while there is a book that leaves a strange taste in my mouth. This year, it was Al Franken’s “Lies”, a self-declared “Fair and Balanced Look at the Right”.
It’s my first book by this author, and I read it on a fabulous vacation in Maui. The fact itself I finished it is witness to the fact it was, if nothing else, interesting. But the taste…
The premise is that the right consistently accuses the left of all sorts of things, while claiming for itself virtue and honesty and competence. Of course, so the book goes,if you look closely, a lot of it is lies.
Franken goes through a lot of different chapters where he ‘debunks’ a lot of conservative myths, demolishes a lot of conservative people and writes to anyone’s funny bone. A lot of the time you have to agree with him, a lot of the time he is totally hyperbolic, and a lot of the time it’s up to you to guess whether he is closer to one end or the other.
Rarely have I seen something that seemed entirely wrong, albeit I confess most of the time I have to go for his research, since I don’t have time or desire to do it on my own.
And that’s pretty much where the strange taste came in. Now I feel the only way to be fair is to read a book by a conservative author, and none of the ones I have seen so far is in any way funny or humorous. If you know one, please tell me!

Bad Weather

New job, and the ardent desire to test the new route – but rain will prevent me and I’ll have to drive, much to my displeasure.

This means a new chapter in my life is starting, and as usual things are going to be a little chaotic in the beginning. I’ll have to move out of this place, too, and soon. I am already looking at new sites, and finally I’ll make the step and move to the city again. I am aiming for the South of Market area, as far down as 25th Street.

Maui for Bikers

I am always surprised at how biker friendly Maui has become. There are the almost ubiquitous bike lanes, the only ones I know that have explicit ‘Yield’ signs for cars turning right. The average speed limit is absurdly low (20 in towns, 45 on the fastest highway you can share) and some of the rides are really worth your money. Take the Hana coast ride, for instance, with its world class views (and the hidden 7000 ft ascent). Take the wonderful ride around the West Coast.

Haleakala Ride

Was it worth it? Going up Haleakala in one day, 10,000 ft ascent from sea level, from the ocean to the top of the world?

Well, depends… It was a dream of mine, one of the most famous descents in the world, an adventure like no other.

From a biking perspective, it was less of an achievement than I thought it would be. Every time I do Old La Honda I am humbled; this time, I wasn’t. Should have pushed harder, but I was taught that having your gear with you makes all the difference.

Rain

Looks like the chill of fall has given way to the rain of winter. It has been dark and cloudy all week, now, and I stopped riding to work entirely for the moment. Who knows when it’ll get nice again.

I am leaving work and will be commuting twice as far, now. Instead of a half hour, it’s going to be more like a full hour to get there. I won’t be able to do that every day; there must be a life besides work and biking somewhere!

Completed Spectrum

Finally, I made it all the way through Spectrum!

Well, kinda… I was getting cold at the meeting point, so I decided to start on my own and to let me get caught up. I had started to doubt they keep to the route, so it was to no surprise that I hadn’t seen them all the way to Canada. But I was pretty sure that I had taken the usual route:

YAF - Yet Another Flat

Guess what? On Saturday morning, of all days, I get hit by a tack on the bike lane. She was hiding on the smooth surface of Foothill while I was riding back to catch up (or down?) with Spectrum.

At first, it didn’t sound bad: she hit me while I was staring to the side, and all I heard was a repeated whacking, as if a leaf had been caught in the brakes. Then I saw the whitish grey think stare at me on each revolution of the wheel. Conscientiously, I slowed down (after making sure nobody was around) and look at her: big, fat, painted white, she must have jumped out of a piece of plywood on the bed of a truck.

Fall in Full Swing - New Clothes Needed!

Today we had an annual rite in this little humble abode: we turned on the furnace for the first time this year. It is officially cold!

Gone are the days of easy slumber and bare feet on the stone floors, gone are the lazy evenings at the pool, and gone are the bike rides in nothing but skinsuit. Now it’s time for new gear!

Slow Sunday

I am so embarrassed! I made it all the way to the end of Canada and back, passing the Stanford group twice – but I was tired all the way. Maybe it was yesterday’s chasing after the Spectrum ride, maybe I am turning sick – I barely made the 19 average on my way home! I even had to stop at Stanford to just eat something. I was so starved that I needed a kick of sorts.