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xxxxxxxxxxxx5. Boss spelled backward is double SOB

xxxxxI spent a few years teaching and at that time it was not a very high paying profession. You could get salary increments for getting more degrees as well as for your experience. From year to year you'd get a raise but you could get a larger increase with a masters degree. You could also make extra cash by coaching basketball or being director of the drama club. I made a few more dollars by coaching on one assignment and being the chess club moderator at another school. For some people all these possibilities still weren't enough as they may have had a family to raise. Their option was to move on from teacher to guidance counselor or even further up to vice principal.
xxxxxThis move could be a very good thing as a person who was only an adequate teacher could turn into an excellent administrator. However, it could also result in the opposite effect. As people go from teacher to principal or move up the ladder from position to position in the business world, they will eventually reach a level of incompetence. At this point their advancement is brought to a screeching halt. This idea is brought home in the book "The Peter Principle" by Dr. Laurence J. Peter. He also touches upon a solution to this scenario in "The Peter Prescription." I recommend both books. This certainly explains why some managers have difficulties in their occupation.
xxxxxIf you think that I never was a manager, consider the time I was teaching; you'll realize that I had to manage my classes. If not, I wouldn't have survived very long. If you own a home, you have to manage that as well as your life. If you have a family you must manage them as well. No matter how you feel about management, we all belong to that class on some level.
xxxxxAs should be clear from a previous discussion, you can get paid more if you are a manager. You can also get more stressed out, have more migraines and higher blood pressure and wind up with poor health. That's the price you could pay. But someone has to do it and there are opportunities in those areas. This better salary will also result in longer hours and weekends at the company.
xxxxxWhen I taught high school in one school district I was asked to teach five different math classes, algebra, geometry, computer math, general math and trigonometry. Ordinarily teachers get one or two preparations or possibly three dissimilar courses on occasion. A few years before that I had five classes, all of first year algebra. By the fifth class I was asking myself as I stood in front of the class if I hadn't already stated what I had just uttered. Of course I had, in the previous four classes. But the five different classes I really didn't mind, since one of these was a computer course that I had developed. I would certainly not be bored.
xxxxxIn this instance my department chairman was a good manager since I was very capable and agreeable to the situation. He would have been foolish to assign the computer class to another teacher, since I developed the course and the other teacher would have been unfamiliar with it. Nonetheless there are management people in education who have a subordinate who thrives as a geometry teacher and yet they let someone else teach it while this person has to teach calculus or some other subject in which he is weaker. Someone who specializes in world history who is stuck teaching American history soon realizes that his boss has made another mistake. The knowledge of a staff's unique talents and skills is necessary for good management no matter what type of work is involved. It's good for the worker as well as for the overall success of the endeavor.
xxxxxGetting back to my situation, at the same time I was moderator of the chess club, which took up at least an hour each school day and some weekends. I got paid extra but I figured that it came out to less than one dollar an hour. I didn't mind, though, as I enjoyed working with the kids. My principal also needed help with the concession stands at football games on the weekend and I agreed to help, without pay. He sat in on my class a few times and I wouldn't say that my some of my students were out of touch but one asked who the "dude" was (after he left, of course.) But my principal gave me good reviews and I thought my work was better than merely satisfactory. I also got along well with students and the faculty.
xxxxxI was not yet tenured and when it came time to ask me back to teach the following year, he said he couldn't do it. I was disappointed even though I wasn't planning to return to teach there anyway. I didn't mention that I grew my hair quite long, as this was the early 70's and a time of rebellion in the country. Because of this, you could say I got on my principal's feces roster! At the same time, the math department head went along with the head man's decision even though he had a better idea of how good a teacher I was. The former displayed his incompetence by his silence.
xxxxxThe other people I worked with in education were much more competent. I moved to another school district where both my principal as well as my department head took advantage of the talents and skills of their employees. It wasn't too long before I left that profession to see what the business world was all about. I soon found out that you run into bad management in corporate America as well as in education.
xxxxxBeing involved with information technology as a consultant, I have met quite a few different managers. On one contract I had done work for at least 5 supervisors, but that is the nature of the work I do. You have to be able to work in different areas and this will necessitate reporting to various people. I worked for one manager a few years ago on another contract, so the second time around was easier for both of us. You do run into the same people in different companies all the time. Unfortunately you run into some managers whom you probably wish you hadn't.
xxxxxThese people are the ones described by Dr. Laurence Peter. They have indeed reached that level and they aren't going anywhere. That means that if you work for them, you'll see their face every day until either you leave or they retire. They won't get fired because upper management fears litigation. The hope is that these incompetent "leaders" did and will continue to do minimal damage to systems and people around them. Thus we have unfit managers but you'll probably agree that the people over them are in the same category as they hired them and now don't have the courage to get rid of them. This sounds like a lot of bad management to me.
xxxxxTo complicate matters, these unworthy people are getting paid quite well. I wish I could say that my supervisors were not like this but I have been involved with bad as well as good management. I'd like to think that the better those in charge are, the less turnover there is in a corporation. Certainly people will depart one position for another that pays better but I believe that if management is doing their job, those subordinates will be satisfied and won't be searching for employment elsewhere.
xxxxxI worked at one company where people commuted from different areas of the state. Some had a ten-minute drive while others were in the car for over an hour each way as they lived 60 miles away or more. Some workers put in 10 hours per day but were only there for four days while others who may have driven more had to be at the company five days each week. The work performed was basically the same whether the employee worked four or five days. At this same company some individuals could work at home part of the week while others couldn't. This displays inconsistency on the part of management. Is this a company where you would care to work?
xxxxxThe reason supervisors don't let the hired hands work at home or if they do it is infrequently is because they can't control them there. I've seen some managers who can't control their charges even when they are on the premises! Either situation indicates that the boss isn't doing his job. As someone in control you should know your people and what they are doing no matter where they work. Allowing people to stay at home and function shows trust. Telecommuting can't be done everyday because of interaction and required meetings, although companies do have three or more way conferences by phone. However, consider an employee who drives an hour each way to work. If she works 40 hours, one week will find her putting in a total of 50 hours for work and drive time. If her boss allows her to telecommute three days a week, her total now drops to 44 hours of work and driving. Under which circumstance do you think she will be more productive? We can even assume that there are no frustrations from other drivers, the weather and road construction.
xxxxx If I am a manager, I have to be able to let my subordinates stay at home to work, if that is possible. This is nothing more than keeping my workers happy. Of course these men and women have to be productive under any condition. I need to hand out assignments and provide the staff with resources so they can achieve their goals without looking over their shoulders and doing everything for them. That's what a boss should do. She has to manage!
xxxxx I had another boss whom I asked if I could work at home since I had a 70-mile commute each way. He agreed and mentioned that I needed some software so I could dial in to the mainframe from my home. I procured the requisite tool and loaded it, did a trial run and the connection was good. When I told him I was all set to go and asked him again about working remotely, he said I could do so only in an emergency. At this point I wanted to mention times when I was stuck home because I couldn't get my car started (that does happen), or I caught a virus or there was a blizzard. We do get them in Buffalo every so often. Wouldn't those times be an emergency? Moreover, what we were working on was a Y2K project, which many people considered an emergency. But I didn't bring up any of these questions to him.
xxxxxI worked a few other Y2K projects and had two different managers whom I asked for a four-day workweek. The first said he would think about it and he took over a week before he said I could do it. But there was a catch...he insisted that it would be on a trial basis! At this point I had only been contracting for seventeen years and involved in the business world for twenty-one years. When the same request was asked of the other project leader, he said he would let me know also and when he finally made up his mind, he asked me not to tell the other people on our team! So on the day each week that I wasn't there if one of my co-workers asked him where I was, would he say that I was probably in the rest room?
xxxxxTelecommuting and the 4-day week help to increase productivity. Besides saving time on the road and reducing your time away from home, there are other benefits. The environment is better off since fewer cars are on the road and some resources are saved. There's less pollution, traffic and resulting frustration. I am all in favor of saving the earth, a reduction of cars and trucks on the highway and spending less time in my car. It really makes a great deal of sense.
xxxxxSometimes what a manager does is just as discouraging as what he doesn't do. One manager on a programming project that I dealt with was a last minute workaholic. Instead of starting the project ahead of time, he waited until the last possible moment and a few of us put in ten-hour days for a two-month period. My commute was ninety miles each way and I just made up my mind to manage this for that short period.
xxxxxThis manager thought that everyone had the same work habits and tolerances as he did. However, we did finish on time but it would have been a better idea to start a month or two earlier and work thirteen weeks at a normal pace. There would have been a great deal less pressure and stress!
xxxxxAnother contract I had began on an unusual note. The person I was to report to on the Monday I started was on vacation. Think back to the episode of Seinfeld when George reported to a new job not knowing if he was hired and you'll see a parallel to this day. If I am a manager and someone new is reporting for the first time, I will be there to greet him.
xxxxxAs this contract progressed, my workstation did not function, so I found another and temporarily located there to get my assignments done. My manager, who was not the same one who didn't show on my first day there, couldn't find me at first but when he did and I explained the situation, he still thought that I was taking it easy and not working. If he had been any kind of competent administrator he would have realized that I had taken great initiative. Had I stayed at my non-productive workstation, then I would have been "goofing off." Perhaps these two managers attended the same management seminar!
xxxxxI had another trio of managers who weren't much better than the previous two. I experienced their shortcomings at the rather abrupt ending of our contracts. For the first I lived in New Hampshire, commuted to Massachusetts to get to my desk where I logged into a computer in Maine while my bosses were in South Carolina. One other person and I developed a rather intricate system that was needed for a distribution system. It was a great deal of effort, quite challenging and we were approaching "pay dirt." We got a call one Thursday saying the contract was done, even though we were not quite finished...they had run out of funds. I mentioned that this contract was different.
xxxxxThe next two managers worked at the same corporation but in different locations at different times. However, their methods were similar. The first was my supervisor for a short three-month contract that was extended for another month. During the last month, we awaited word to see if there would be another extension. It was towards the end of the month when two other consultants and I were called to meet with this manager. This person then said that the contract was over. One of the others asked as of when and we were told, "Right this minute!" We were forced out the door so fast that I really didn't have time to clean out all my belongings.
xxxxxNot long after this I had another assignment for the same corporation in a different location. This was a five-month deal but into the fourth I could see that the end was approaching. I accepted a call for another opportunity and turned in my two weeks' notice. At the end of the first week, my boss told someone from my consulting firm that I should not come back for the final week. This manager didn't even have the integrity to speak to me herself!
xxxxxI have given too many examples of incompetent supervisors; now let me tell of some others whom I wish more people emulated. Just before I entered the consulting profession, I interviewed or should say was intensely questioned relative to my technological skills by individuals from a certain consulting firm. This took weeks rather than days but when I was introduced to the manager of a large metropolitan bank where I hoped to be working, I was pleasantly surprised. After initial greetings, just about the first words out of his mouth were more or less, "As far as I am concerned, you have the job!"
xxxxxThis shouldn't happen to any consultant because it really spoils that person, especially on their very first interview. But in reality this is how it should be as this illustrates the approach management should take. You will note that this happened on two levels: by the consulting firm but also by the bank manager. The latter trusted this firm to send people who could perform well in this environment. When I left six months later, this manager was not disappointed with my work. He must have had the same satisfaction with all the other contractors that the firm brought to him. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have experienced what I did at that initial meeting with him.
xxxxxOf course, his actions could never have been justified if the consulting firm was incompetent. But they knew how to determine if someone was right for a particular position. How many firms do you find like this? I haven't run into that many. In fact, if consulting firms needed a license to operate, I can think of a few that should have theirs revoked immediately. They send people in to a position without the required skills but make them appear to have the needed background by embellishing resumes. If the hiring people themselves know what's going on, this will be the last person the firm sends in, as he will be uncovered as technologically deficient.
xxxxxOther people whose "lights are on" but still are in the dark are the managers who get their hands into everything when they shouldn't. The bank manager whom I praised so highly before could have sat me down to a lengthy interview and then called in some project leader for a technical screening, but he didn't. Someone at the consulting firm already did that so why repeat the process? He didn't perform a task that had already been done and so he didn't micromanage.
xxxxxA good manager delegates authority. The bank manager hired me but then turned me over (it sounds like I'm an omelet) to a project leader. This person then gave me my assignments but he also introduced me to people who could help me if I needed assistance. Both supervisors also knew what had to be done to achieve success and filtered out the trivial. Each person was in control of his own projects and people and the latter respected them for that.
xxxxxLet me give more examples of bad management. The first is how managers downsize, or fire employees. This happens whether profits are up, down or unchanged. If people are purged because they are not productive, then that is a good thing regardless of what is happening to profits. That's the approach management should have. It seems, though, that the good people depart first, whether voluntarily or not.
xxxxxSuppose competent people are made redundant. This is the term used in England for getting canned. What happens now is that the others have to cover for these departures by working longer hours for the same salary. Do you think that will make these individuals happy? I had an offer on my first computer-programming job to learn a new system, put in more hours each week and keep the same pay. This sounds like another great offer from management, which I decided not to accept after much thought. It took me about ten seconds. I left that company sometime after this, and returned as a consultant. I learned the new system at their expense, got much better pay and I got paid for any extra hours I worked. I thought I managed that situation quite well.
xxxxxIf profits are stagnant or heading downwards, management may need downsizing! It doesn't appear they are doing their job in weeding out cubicle dwellers that do nothing but take up space, and they failed in the first place by hiring non-productive people. They also failed by not getting projects accomplished. Firing good employees when others should get the ax is the wrong alternative.
xxxxx I'm sure you've heard of just this situation. A corporation has a bad year so the necessary purge of workers is on. Meanwhile upper management, including vice presidents, winds up with huge salary increases. Shouldn't these people be downsized, undergo a pay cut, or at least keep the same salary? In some cases higher-level individuals are let go but not without a massive severance package. That doesn't sound like a bad deal to me, which should help the company profits in the following year!
xxxxxSo the incompetence could have started with the lowly employee, but it's very possible he did his best but couldn't turn things around. His manager may have gotten in the way of success. Upper management failed to do their job and thus profits suffered. Now managers are let go with huge payoffs but isn't someone above them guilty of bad management for giving them all that money to be on their way?
xxxxxIf you say this was done to prevent lawsuits, once again you are into the realm of horrific leadership. It doesn't matter at what level the severance occurs. If someone was made redundant because he didn't produce, let that individual take you to court but then counter sue for wages that weren't earned. Since you have documentation to back up your contentions, you should easily win enough in court to cover attorneys' fees and then some. All it takes is one case like this and people would think twice about legal action under these circumstances.
xxxxx Perhaps we should cut that expression down to size or more specifically the word "downsizing" should be eliminated from normal usage. I hope it's not in the dictionary. It has too nice a ring to it when in reality it denotes nothing but bad news, unless you are a stockholder. If the proper term "firing" were used, maybe management would do a better job to see to it that this whole scenario of elimination was reduced substantially. I could manage to live with that.
xxxxxA second example of managerial deficiencies has to do with the recent failure of so many Internet companies. Some survived but the majority didn't. I didn't get involved directly but like most people was affected indirectly. Over the last decade or so the number of Americans getting into mutual fund investing has proliferated. Even before this surge, I had begun my retirement accounts as well as a few other ventures with these funds, in an attempt to earn more than the banks' one percent yearly interest. The managers of the dotcom companies failed, and so did some of those who managed the mutual funds by sinking cash into ventures that appeared too good to be true. I left my investments unchanged, so at this point I'm managing better than either of these. The future will bring more information in this regard.
xxxxxAnyone who lost big on the dotcom companies did a bad job managing her money. They wanted instant riches and paid the price and now are hurting. There were some individuals who borrowed heavily with the hope of continued profits but their dreams weren't realized. Some companies and people who got involved did better but all in all this was a great example of incompetent management.
xxxxxThe next example of bad supervision I have already brought into view when I mentioned that offer for longer hours and the same pay at my first information services job. Ironically we had to only work about 38 hours a week. This was over a quarter century ago and yet, today, despite all the advances in technology, people routinely are at the office 40 hours each week. I would have thought the hours at the office would have gone down and not up. I can assure you that employees aren't too thrilled with this situation.
xxxxxWhen I became a consultant I went from getting a salary to getting paid by the hour. With the change, if I didn't work I didn't get paid which meant sick days, holidays and vacation days meant no cash. I also had to get my own insurance but if I worked 50 hours, I got paid for that amount of time and the hourly rate was higher than my calculated hourly rate before based on my salary.
xxxxxI have already mentioned working at home, the four-day workweeks and fewer hours would make for a happier work force. Twenty-five years ago, we did work evenings or over the weekends occasionally. If because of some new project we did put in an extra ten hours, we could have a paid day off sometime in the future to make up for it. This was called comp time. Usually it was a two for one deal where if you worked four days extra, you got two days off. It would have been better if it had been one for one but we were grateful for whatever time off management gave us.
xxxxxOf its very nature, comp time is an indication that someone didn't do his job. A wrong estimate was made, perhaps by a supervisor. Maybe some employee didn't test thoroughly and now the weekend will be the time to make up the difference. In the days when I got comp time, computers were in their infancy so these problems were to be expected. There is no excuse today. And if the job does not offer comp time, the employee works with no day off for his extra efforts. He may get a thank you!
xxxxxIt doesn't matter what your occupation is. The hours worked per week should decrease from year to year and I won't even get into burnout. Stress is one factor that forces this issue but advances in technology and procedures should have an effect too. Not only is there no reason to work more hours, you should work less. A job that took two weeks a decade ago should take half that time just because of improvements for getting a task done. If this is not the case, we are not advancing the way we should. I'll talk more about this in the chapter on technology.
xxxxxAnother failure on the part of management has to do with doubling the amount of people on a task in order to get the work done in half the time. If you agree with that philosophy, you don't belong in management because it simply won't work. The result will only be confusion and more frustration. It's much better to plan the project well and realize that the software that some manager thought was the solution to so many difficulties isn't all it appears to be. That may be why there are so many concerns with finishing the assignment.
xxxxxTied right in to hours worked is vacation. Consider the time off each summer for students in elementary and secondary schools. It's about a ten-week period unless you attend summer school, which may not be a bad thing. Once you get to college and avoid summer classes, your yearly break between the end of classes one year and the start of classes the next year is even longer. Upon graduation when you enter the real world, you'll probably get a two-week vacation. What's wrong with this picture?
xxxxx I'm not suggesting we lengthen the school year but maybe that's a good idea. Rather, why not have more than two or three weeks vacation for employees? It shouldn't take you five years to stretch your vacation from two to three weeks and then another five to get an additional week. In Europe people begin with four weeks vacation. As a manager, you might argue that you can't afford to do this but I say you can't afford not to offer more vacation time. People will be much more productive and happier on the job with more time away from the office. Management can do something about this situation.
xxxxxBeing on-call is another indication that management needs improvement in most cases. The exceptions to this are firefighters, doctors, nurses and crisis management people. Outside of these, having a beeper should be limited to a very small number of individuals. This would also cause less annoyance when you are out to dinner or a movie and those contraptions sound off!
xxxxxI have already stated that computers have advanced to the point that problems of the past should never be occurring today. If changes are being made to an existing system or a new system is being installed, things should go a lot smoother than they sometimes do. The reasons for the difficulties stem from poor planning and testing ahead of time, rushing projects into production and lack of insight. Management may be partially to blame for these screw-ups. Naturally, some problems could arise such as a space problem or a computer could crash. The latter could come about due to a power surge or outage but with today's environment, backup systems should virtually eliminate that possibility. Space difficulties should also be non-existent with a minimum number of people being involved and little supervision. Bad data should never be allowed to get into a system and cause a headache as edits and traps should enable this data to be bypassed with some sort of informative message. If these things are not being done, the system is missing something and should be modified.
xxxxxIf you insist that you need a cell phone when you are driving because the car could break down or you could get stuck in a blizzard or accident, consider this. Cars should be maintained or managed better so they won't leave you stranded and the automobiles of today are less prone to the problems of the past. They get more advanced with each passing day. Accidents could be avoided if more people managed their time better and didn't have to rush to get somewhere. As far as the weather goes, the solution is to not put oneself into the car when snow, ice or a tornado could be a factor. It won't hurt in the least if you stay home and delay going to work or shopping, although just the opposite could happen if you get into the car. Tomorrow's another day so why risk driving on icy or snow-packed roads? If your boss isn't happy with you staying home during a blizzard, maybe it's time for a new job!
xxxxx I always felt going to work day in and day out without sick time was to be commended. You would do all in your power to eat well and stay in the best of health. Some employers even reward you for not missing work over long stretches of time. This company practice is not such a good idea if individuals show up in their cubicle next to yours and cough all day long. Infecting others will soon keep many people home, so if you are sick you should not come to work based on consideration for others.
xxxxxPerfect attendance may sound like a good idea but due to the nature of work with all its stress, bad management and relentless pressure, a day off here and there is not only needed, it's also a great idea! You'll be better off when you return, more refreshed and healthier too. A manager who is not sympathetic to your needs to stay home when you are under the weather has to realize that your presence could infect some of your co-workers and that might affect the project deadlines.
xxxxx One of the last great examples of incompetence on the part of supervisors came about just recently with the Y2K problem. If people paid to lead others had done their job, this never would have occurred. Unfortunately this crisis resulted in a double dose of mismanagement. The first was the problem itself but the second was the way it was solved. Huge sums of money were thrown at the problem, and many who shouldn't have, profited from this fiasco. I worked on the Y2K mess at two companies and saw firsthand what was taking place.
xxxxxThe problem was simply this: if you compare dates with a four digit year such as January 1, 2000 against December 31, 1999, the former will be greater since 20000101 is greater than 19991231. However, things get messed up in your compare if you drop the first two digits of the year. In this scenario 000101 is not greater than 991231 but it should be and there is a big problem. Thus we had the Y2K boondoggle.
xxxxxYou may ask why anyone would use only two digits for the year. Actually, I worked on a system twenty-five years ago that used one digit for the year. Thus February 15, 1978 was stored in MMDDY format as 02158, where the 8 represented the year. One digit was sufficient because the system was to have been replaced by the end of the decade. Whether one or two digits were used, it was because of the early limitations of storage. Well anyway that was the claim but in reality this was another myth generated by people who should have known better. I will debunk the myth later.
xxxxxAssuming there truly was a space problem, you had to use less digits whenever possible, so the date took six positions and not eight. Of course, if eight were used all the time the Y2K mess would never have arisen. As it was though, you had six digits for the date in the early days of computing. As time progressed you had more space and now could use eight characters when you needed them. Some people were smart enough to do this and some managers had enough foresight to insist on it, especially in developing a new system. That was indeed a great idea!
xxxxxBut when it came to the old systems, changes weren't made to convert from 6 to 8 digits for the dates. The reason behind this thinking was that the system would be replaced by the time this would be a concern. Indeed many were gone and other systems took their place but some of the new systems still used only six digits for the date. Other old systems hung around and before long the year 1999 was here, and so was the Y2K phenomenon. In some cases the problem hit home even before 1999.
xxxxxProgrammers should have had more insight and took it upon themselves to see to it that the coming of the new century would never pose a problem. Some did and others didn't. I wrote a few systems and always took future dates into consideration. It really wasn't that much more work. However, management should have also seen to it that there wouldn't be a problem, but some didn't. Actually most didn't. Sometime in the 1980s an opportunity arose that would take care of any ensuing crisis pertaining to the year 2000. It probably wasn't a cheap solution and maybe that's why it wasn't pursued when it should have been. I don't think that there is any doubt that these costs would have been a small percentage of the money that was eventually thrown at Y2K. So management failed again.
xxxxxThe exorbitant sums of cash came about because people were scared and didn't comprehend what effect the year 2000 would have on their systems. In some cases it was vast, but for others not that devastating. It didn't matter as those in charge in each case dug up the funds and overpaid to clear up the mess. Changes were made, testing was carried out to extremes and consulting firms raked in the dough. In reality Y2K was a maintenance problem that should never have seen the light of day or night.
xxxxxLet's step back to see why this was so. I mentioned that the space problem was a myth even if you traveled back in time thirty years. Then, as today, data is stored on files and these files consist of records which in turn are made up of various fields, such as name, street address, city, state, transaction date, date of birth and so forth. There's a size to each field so suppose the name is 30 characters, the street address is 25, the city is 15, the state is 2, and 6 positions are left for each date. Thus it seems the dates are limited to 6 characters each. But if we take 2 digits each from the name and street address not to mention city, we should have extra characters for all our date fields. Thus we really don't have to worry about only 6 characters for the dates because we have 8.
xxxxx If you say that we definitely need all 30 characters allotted for the name and 25 for the street address and we can't afford the shrinking by 2 characters or there are so many dates in our records that they all can't be 8 digits because we can't get enough extra for them, here's another solution. This can be used today just as it could have been used in the early days. A byte of storage represents a character or digit so say that each date can only have 5 not 6 positions. I won't get into the technical explanation but through a process called packing of a number, we can store an 8-digit number such as a date in 5 bytes. It might sound complicated but programmers can perform packing as well as unpacking very simply. Thus there never really was a space problem as some people insisted, or at least it could have been overcome. Packing of the dates can be used quite easily but there are even more options if you don't care to pack dates.
xxxxx You can store a date by referring to a base date. Let's assign 0 to an arbitrary starting date. Our choice of date will be December 31, 1799. January 1, 1800 will have a value of 1, January 2 of the same year will have a value of 2, and January 3 of the same year will be 3 and so forth. The date January 1, 2000 will be 73049. You can do the calculations but I've saved you the tedious conversion. If we keep this up you will find that by the time our number is 999999, we will all be dead, unless the fountain of youth is discovered. But seriously, 999999 will fall on a date sometime after the year 4570.
xxxxxThis process of storing the date relative to a base date involves a process to convert to our usual date format and back but it will be great for date comparisons with no Y2K or Y3K problems either. Y5K can be avoided by adding a digit and having our dates stored as 7 digit numbers or you could even pack the date. Packing the date would give you a range of 2.7 million years. You could even use negative numbers and thus December 30, 1799 would be -1, the day before would be -2 and so on. Whether you pack the date or use negative numbers you will still need conversion routines but date comparisons will never be a problem.
xxxxxThese are just a few creative solutions that really work to prevent any future disaster relative to dates. There are many other alternatives. I hope you are convinced that the so-called space problem was indeed a myth. Years ago I wrote a book on the Y2K problem but it never got published. Of course, now it's too late but I should never have had the need to work on a book of this nature. Management apparently gives me a great deal of material.
xxxxxOver twenty years ago, I knew a woman who worked in the computer tape library of a major corporation. She asked for a raise but management denied her so she set out to find a better opportunity. It wasn't long before she resigned and left the company. As it turned out, the replacement process to fill her position resulted in making an offer that cost as much as what management would have spent by giving the original tape librarian her raise. Add to this the fact that the new person had to be trained and you can see that the higher ups messed up again.
xxxxxJust recently a person I know went through almost the same process with her boss. She, too, wound up with a better offer and management was downright shocked when she presented her letter of resignation. Perhaps they figured that she would stay there forever and they had no need to grant her the raise she certainly deserved for all her hard work and effort way beyond what was requested of her. Apparently this type of scenario happens quite frequently in the business world and it indicates that management is not doing their job in keeping their subordinates happy.
xxxxx Seinfeld had a very funny and interesting episode when George landed his position with the New York Yankees. He got the job after speaking his mind to George Steinbrenner about the latter's handling of the team. "Hire this man," were the words that Costanza heard and his reward for standing up to this owner. But that is exactly what a good manager has to do. He has to stand up to those above him on behalf of his troops, maybe in not so demonstrative a manner as the Seinfeld friend. That's a sign of a good supervisor and the ideal supervisor has to know just what to say without getting himself canned.
xxxxxThere are other types of management that all of us can't help but avoid although we wish that we could. Some of these include lawyers, agents, realtors and property management people. I have had my dealings with lawyers and realtors and overall these people have performed satisfactorily for me. On occasion, I have hoped for better efforts but in general I couldn't complain as these realtors and lawyers managed for me when I really couldn't do it myself. But that's what they were paid to do.
xxxxxI had some dealings with property management, as it couldn't be helped since I was a condominium owner. One was fine while the other was a classic example of mismanagement. I won't bore you with the details but when these companies change every two or three years, you know that they are not satisfying too many homeowners in the development. For me, it was not a happy experience trying to deal with these people. When I finally sold the unit, I was thrilled beyond belief to be rid of these incompetents. They may not be our bosses but they shouldn't make our lives miserable as they manage for us.
xxxxxBy now you probably think that management is basically incompetent. I like to compare this group of people to lawyers. Both for the most part get paid more than they should and both tend to be sleazy but each group does have good people within their ranks (this word is not used here in the sense of an offensive odor.) I mentioned coming in contact with good as well as deficient managers, so let me emphasize the difference between the two.
xxxxxA good manager knows your skills and takes full advantage of them. If I am a good programmer but not that confident with system design, it behooves my supervisor to see to it that I spend my time in programming away from design work. That's only reasonable. Indeed this has been the case on quite a few of my recent assignments. My boss took advantage of my strength in this case but for others I wound up doing work that a clerk could be handling at a much smaller salary.
xxxxxIf you work for someone who is a bad supervisor, there's an excellent chance that this person can't manage his home life either. If he is married, he may be on the brink of divorce and if he has children, he probably is having a difficult time dealing with them, whether they are teenagers or not. I don't think you will see someone with a great family life who manages the way he should evenings and on the weekend while at the same time struggles at the office.
xxxxxIn closing, let me relate an incident that I faced while coaching basketball some time ago. I was on my way to a game some time ago when my car broke down. I didn't make the game but I did call and have one of the parents take over for me. My philosophy as a coach has always been that coaching occurs at practice. On the day of the game, the leader of his or her troops is there only to guide and remind the team of their immediate mission. Yelling at anyone on the day of a game has no place if you are a competent coach. But getting back to the game on that day, I failed to tell you about the outcome: our team managed to win!

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