Monday, May 16, 2005
Miscellaneous Musings
Consulting: There is no more cynical reporting of the world of consulting than in Dilbert. It gets to the truth about consulting much too often to be considered just a comic strip. Sunday's Dilbert was just hilarious. The topic is hourly consulting rates. I have railed against executives hiring consultants on an hourly basis for almost my entire career. Tasks are for others to do; consultants should be paid because they achieve something, meeting some predefined objectives. If they're just doing tasks, they're temporary workers, not consultants. Here's the link to the Dilbert strip of Sunday, May 16, 2005, sent to me by fellow consultant Bill Farquharson (www.printtec.com):
http://www.comics.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20050515.html
Experts: I've been so amused this past week where oil prices have been declining and experts are whining that the decline in oil prices is a sign that the economy is slowing. These are the same experts who said that high oil prices would cause the economy to decline, and something should be done to lower prices to keep the economy vibrant. Get it? Higher prices are bad. Lower prices are bad. See? Anyone, even you, can be an expert. Just say what's happening is bad, no matter what it is. #$!(*&^%&*()&^$^&*(!^&*!*%^!&*^*&&*(!!!!!!! I tried to explain this over the dinner table, and it got quite a chuckle. A requirement for experts seems to be that one should be suffering from bipolar disorder.
My 5/13 and 5/20 WhatTheyThink.com columns are free: My column at www.whattheythink.com is normally reserved for premium access subscribers. Because the site has special sponsorship during the OnDemand show in Philadelphia this week, my column is free. See the 5/13 column at http://members.whattheythink.com/home/od05djw1.cfm
http://www.comics.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20050515.html
Experts: I've been so amused this past week where oil prices have been declining and experts are whining that the decline in oil prices is a sign that the economy is slowing. These are the same experts who said that high oil prices would cause the economy to decline, and something should be done to lower prices to keep the economy vibrant. Get it? Higher prices are bad. Lower prices are bad. See? Anyone, even you, can be an expert. Just say what's happening is bad, no matter what it is. #$!(*&^%&*()&^$^&*(!^&*!*%^!&*^*&&*(!!!!!!! I tried to explain this over the dinner table, and it got quite a chuckle. A requirement for experts seems to be that one should be suffering from bipolar disorder.
My 5/13 and 5/20 WhatTheyThink.com columns are free: My column at www.whattheythink.com is normally reserved for premium access subscribers. Because the site has special sponsorship during the OnDemand show in Philadelphia this week, my column is free. See the 5/13 column at http://members.whattheythink.com/home/od05djw1.cfm
