Yunderson Labs
  • yunderson labs
  • the yunderblog
  • #FTTF
  • #yundertainment
  • #yunderbooks
  • #bap is life
  • #yunderMOBILES
  • politics
  • NSFW
  • portfolio + partners
  • about me

CORPORATE POLICIES AND PROCESSES

4/7/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Recently, a miraculous arctic dig uncovered a perfectly frozen, preserved village of cavemen.

Start with a cage containing five newly thawed cavemen.  In the cage, build a set of stairs to some food at the top.  Allow one of the cavemen to go up the stairs towards the food.  As soon as he gets the food, violently spray all the other cavemen with ice cold water.

After a while, allow another hungry caveman to get some food.  Violently spray the rest of the cavemen with cold water.
Repeat the process until all the cavemen have tried to get some food.

With all this repetitive training, when any of these five starving cavemen tries to climb the stairs, the other cavemen will restrain and possibly beat the one trying to get some food because they know the consequences.  The hunger is not enough reward for the punishment of the ice water spray.

Now make two small changes: replace one caveman with a newly thawed caveman from the village and eliminate the cold water spray.

Watch the brand new starving caveman go for food.  Without understanding the history and the training, he will get mercilessly pulled off the stairs.  There is no explanation.  After a few attempts, he knows not to go for the food.

Now replace another original caveman with a brand new caveman.  Without understanding why, that first replacement caveman will now participate in the brutal restraint of this second new caveman.  He doesn’t know why.  He was never even been sprayed with the water.  He just knows that when he tries to get the food, he is beaten and restrained.  So now with this second new caveman, he willingly joins in on the violence.

All the original five cavemen will be replaced one by one.  Eventually, no one in the cage will have ever been violently sprayed with ice cold water.  But each time a brand new caveman is introduced into the cage, he learns not to go up the stairs for the food.  He also learns to participate in any physical cruelty necessary to keep the new caveman off the stairs.

Why?  Because that’s the way it’s always been around here and no one knows why.

And that’s how CORPORATE POLICIES AND PROCESSES are developed.



epilogue: this thought experiment is not mine.  I adapted it from a piece I randomly read at least a decade ago online.  To the guy who originally wrote about the monkeys going for the bananas: you are my HERO.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    My name is Dae Yu.
    I am an fossil from the Neolithic Stone Age who has adapted to the work style of Millennials.
    I started out with 14.4kbps dial-up  internet connections and X.25 Wide Area Networks.  Now it's all about SIP, MPLS and cloud with FastE and GigE connectivity.

    I am a CCNA, CCDA, and CCSA  specializing 
    in Voice and Data WAN Design, Deployment, 
    and telecom vendor management.

    Available for 
    semi pro bono, limited engagement consulting contracts.

    Archives

    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© 2017 Yunderson Labs.  All rights reserved.  All content is my own except for occasionally borrowed images with hyperlinks to their true source and owner.
yunderson labs          

the yunderblog         

#FTTF

#yundertainment

#yunderbooks

#bap is life


#yundermobiles

politics

NSFW


portfolio+partners          

about me
  • yunderson labs
  • the yunderblog
  • #FTTF
  • #yundertainment
  • #yunderbooks
  • #bap is life
  • #yunderMOBILES
  • politics
  • NSFW
  • portfolio + partners
  • about me
✕